Power Outage

[Jascee]

Tropical Storm Michael paid a visit last night and have been without power now for around 13 hours. Any tips on keeping tanks going for potentially a couple of days outage?

Fish are still hiding in the rocks and coral so they know something is up.

125g, 45g and two 25g reef tanks to nurture through this period.

And I know we are luckier than some.....

 

[gtrider]

i used 2 battery powered air stones when i lost power for 48hrs last winter. i also used a propane heater in my office (where the tank is) to keep the room warm.

i'm not sure you have access to either of those of if any store is open at this point.

What's the outside temp?

The most important things will be air circulation and water temp

 

[Florida Sunshine]

The most important thing is oxygen exchange. Battery powered air pumps work great or if you have to even scooping up a cup of tank water and pouring it back into the tank will provide some surface agitation and help a bit.
Or if you have a generator run your skimmer and that will help with the oxygen exchange a lot for a little bit of power.

 

[Jascee]

Thanks for the insight! Scooping water as we speak!!

Ambient temp in the room is around 71F big tank is currently sitting around 73F smaller tanks dripping to around 70F.

May have to turn the heating up!

 

[gtrider]

sure thing. good luck! All my fish and coral survived the 48hrs so there's hope!

 

[sacremon]

We took the plunge to get a standby generator this summer, figuring that hurricanes are just getting more common and it doesn't take much to knock our power out. With a 300g and a 32g, the tanks were the highest priority. Already had it kick in twice for about an hour each time. Fortunately Michael passed far enough south of Atlanta to just give us some rain and a little wind (at least on the north side of the city).

You can also try wrapping the tanks in blankets to try to help maintain temperature. Same principle as insulation on a hot water heater.

 

[Dr. Dendrostein]

Tropical Storm Michael paid a visit last night and have been without power now for around 13 hours. Any tips on keeping tanks going for potentially a couple of days outage?

Fish are still hiding in the rocks and coral so they know something is up.

125g, 45g and two 25g reef tanks to nurture through this period.

And I know we are luckier than some.....

Gas generator?

 

[Jascee]

Tank update: bit the bullet and spent $800 on a generator!

Spent an hour scooping water to hopefully help the oxygenation.....fish seemed fine if a little reclusive.

By the time I’d set up the generator and about to connect the first plug.....the power came back on!

Unfortunately not soon enough for my 125g tank. I’ve lost the Tang clan. The Yellow tang, the Kobi and the Sailfin have all succumbed I’m sad to say. Foxface and the Hippo Tang, Melanaris (sp) and oscellaris seem fine but keeping close eye on them.

We’ll see in another 24 hours.

Smaller tanks seem to have come through unscathed.

Thanks for the advice!

 

[Scorpius]

I was going to say a generator, but then your post beat me to it. Sorry for your fish loss, but you won't make the same mistake next time. It sucks we as humans have to learn the hard way most times.