Power outage- how long before you should start to worry.

[Tonycass12]

Well it finally got me. High winds in northern michigan just knocked out power at my home and I'm at work. The wife is nervous about getting our generator going because she's not familiar with it. Im already getting stressed out but I know I have some time.

My system is just under 60gallons total.

My 2 issues right now are temp and O2. Temp runs at 78 normally and I know it will take some time for that to really start plummeting. As far as O2 goes the tank is currently sitting with no flow going. So 0 gas exchange happening.

I'm curious as to how long I can get away with this. Power is hit or miss all around our region right now so I'm not holding high hopes that our electric provider will be on top of this right away. Just looking for opinions on when I should start to go into panic mode and possibly bail out of work to make sure I'm not going to loose everything. My shift at work won't end for another 8hrs and I won't be home for 9hrs if I decide to stay all day.

 

[Paul B]

Do you have a gas stove that works now. If so, heat some water and put it in glass bottles to float in the tank. Not to much of course. Then every 10 minutes or so, remove some water and dump it back in. Like a couple of gallons.

I once went 24 hours like that.

 

[Tonycass12]

Do you have a gas stove that works now. If so, heat some water and put it in glass bottles to float in the tank. Not to much of course. Then every 10 minutes or so, remove some water and dump it back in. Like a couple of gallons.

I once went 24 hours like that.

Sadly everything outside of our furnace is electric. I live out in a heavily wooded area with no natural gas service.

 

[ying yang]

Not sure on answer on 02 but if I had a power cut and no flow, no heaters I would wrap the tank in blankets ( if temp dropping) and just get a jug every so often and swish water around and be trying to go to an lfs to buy a battery operated bubbler.
I live in a 2nd floor flat so a back up diesel generator isn't really am option for me and can't even remember last time we had a power cut ( but sods law says it will lol)
I wish you best of luck with your tank.
For future scenarios I have read " oxydators" will help give tank oxygen in a power cut and just help the tank in general but no first hand experience with them and even if readily available to buy.
Good luck

 

[Dom]

Throw an old blanket over the tank to retain any heat. Remove it only to stir the water in the tank every hour. You should be good until you can start the generator.

Also, a deep cycle marine battery with inverter to support critical systems is a good idea.

 

[ying yang]

Sadly everything outside of our furnace is electric. I live out in a heavily wooded area with no natural gas service.

Not sure if something your wife could do but if could dig a small hole and got some metal grills from say a barbecue,then could make a little fire with a pan on boiling water to add to glass bottles ( if Had metal grills from bbq then could just start fire in that Instead of digging a hole )

 

[vtecintegra]

Two to three hours is where I start to worry.

 

[Tonycass12]

Well wife had to leave for work. So everything is just sitting right now. She has got a battery backup at work she's going to bring home so I can get a small heater and airstone going in the display but its still going to probably be another 5-6hrs before that happens. I will keep you all updated with what I really really really hope will be good news later today.

 

[littlebeard]

Fish die pretty quick without air. I had a gfci trip due to a cheap pump while on vacation and having A tank sitter check in on it. Depending on your Tank size and bioload 5-6 hours may be too late. Mine were dead in 12 ish and that was a 125 with a light bioload. If it was me I would leave work right now, hit the bait shop buy 1 or 2 battery powered aerators.

 

[BZOFIQ]

Go home and get things going. You might face issues if you wait for after your shift.

 

[dennis romano]

Do not hesitate. Things can go south very quickly. Try to find a battery power bait bubbler just to add oxygen and movement to the tank.

 

[snorklr]

tell your boss you have covid

 

[ying yang]

tell your boss you have covid

Yeah seems government's, shops,buses,taxis you name it use it as excuse/ reason why we can't do something or they haven't got it.
Only last night at 2 am waiting for mini bus,after 30 minutes we message and ring driver several times and finally got a tx back saying got covid and in hospital,not sure why that means leave us stranded at airport as her husband also got mini bus,they just managed to get a driver who was 5 minutes away from home and going to bed and apparently he was last hope as all there other contacts wasn't answering phones or wouldn't get put of bed ( personally I think she just forgot about us and blamed it on covid ^_^ ) but alls well that ends well and didn't end up paying £ 150 for taxi home so just hour and half sitting in cold car park waiting lol

 

[Tonycass12]

Well the covid thing doesn't really work in my area most of our management thinks its fake. But I dont really want to get into that right now.

GREAT NEWS! I got a message 30minutes ago saying that power should be restored. Logged onto my red sea app and my reef dose is communicating again then checked my inkbird and its up and running. Temp only dropped to 75' for the little over 3 hrs that power was out. Ive got low temp alarms going off but its slowly heating back up. I think I got lucky this time. Getting a battery backup to at least run my heater and airstone of needed for the next time around.

 

[Tonycass12]

Thanks again everyone. I'll post another update this evening with how things are doing.

 

[Just John]

I have a battery backup that shows how much time is left before it runs out. Running the lights shortens the backup time by at least 30%, so I have them plugged into the non-backup portion. Just something to think about when you set yours up.

 

[Tonycass12]

I have a battery backup that shows how much time is left before it runs out. Running the lights shortens the backup time by at least 30%, so I have them plugged into the non-backup portion. Just something to think about when you set yours up.

I'll have to do a couple tests to see what my best options are. Preferably it would just be running the return and the heater and in a pinch for a longer outage I could run a smaller heater and an airstone in the display.

 

[Oregon Grown Reef]

Heaters suck up power like crazy. They'll make the battery die much faster. My tanks got down to the high 60's at the beginning of this year during a 24 hour power outage, but I lost nothing because I had circulation going in the tanks. Deep cycle RV battery and a power inverter is all you need. Keep them on hand and on the trickle charger during this time of year.

 

[Lbrdsoxfan]

I picked up one of these for short outages, it happened on Tuesday. I got home and it was business as usual with the fish.

Aquatop BREZA Battery Powered Air Pump w/ AC Power Failure Sensor
I do have a battery backup for about 24 hours of use, but I need to unplug a device from the Apex outlet and plug it up to it.

 

[HuduVudu]

I bought a battery back up for my pumps to buy time before I need to start up the generator. This takes the stress out.