Urgent help needed!! Power outage!!

ab-774819 · Mar 6, 2023

Hey everyone... so I lost power due to the storm on Friday at around 4 pm. It came back on at around 7 pm on Saturday (last night) so just over 24 hours. I ran a battery powered air pump for about the last 10 hours (couldn't find one until then) but had no way to heat or light the tank. The temp dropped down to around 60 degrees and my corals did not far well unfortunately. My bubble tip anenome is in the worst shape out of all of them. Ice attached some pictures and need advice on what to do from here/if this guy is gonna make it. I did a water change today of 2 gallons (11 gallon AIO.) Any advice/words of encouragement are appreciated!!

vpierce3 · Mar 6, 2023

I don’t know much about anemones….but here is a bump.
if you are able, get a small generator for the future.

Cyanohater · Mar 6, 2023

ab-774819 said:
Hey everyone... so I lost power due to the storm on Friday at around 4 pm. It came back on at around 7 pm on Saturday (last night) so just over 24 hours. I ran a battery powered air pump for about the last 10 hours (couldn't find one until then) but had no way to heat or light the tank. The temp dropped down to around 60 degrees and my corals did not far well unfortunately. My bubble tip anenome is in the worst shape out of all of them. Ice attached some pictures and need advice on what to do from here/if this guy is gonna make it. I did a water change today of 2 gallons (11 gallon AIO.) Any advice/words of encouragement are appreciated!!

there isn't much you can do, try not to raise temp rapidly make things go to a steady incline to what they were. The ben may or may not make it. but as I said if you slowly raise the temp back maybe it'll get better. To my knowledge this is all you can do.

ab-774819 · Mar 6, 2023

Cyanohater said:
there isn't much you can do, try not to raise temp rapidly make things go to a steady incline to what they were. The ben may or may not make it. but as I said if you slowly raise the temp back maybe it'll get better. To my knowledge this is all you can do.

Right now it's at about 70-72 and it was at 80 before the outage... I wasn't sure if I should be holding back AB+ or aminos or if I SHOULD be giving those to help regenerate tissue.. I guess time will tell how extensive the damage is.

vpierce3 · Mar 6, 2023

ab-774819 said:
Right now it's at about 70-72 and it was at 80 before the outage... I wasn't sure if I should be holding back AB+ or aminos or if I SHOULD be giving those to help regenerate tissue.. I guess time will tell how extensive the damage is.

Don’t add anything to the tank for now. Just keep getting the tank back up to temp as @Cyanohater said.
77-78 is a good temp for a reef tank.

HelloReef · Mar 6, 2023

Really sorry to hear that. If the power is still out and you're desperate, you have options. You can heat some water with a BBQ. Pour it, into a single walled stainless steel bottle or similar container and place the container of hot water in the tank. It's not perfect and extreme caution and patience should be used to do this, but it could save your tank. Slow and steady and use tap or preferably RODI water to warm the tank. I wish you the best of luck.

Big G · Mar 6, 2023

I had a similar experience a few weeks ago. Slowly raising the temp and reduce the flow of any powerheads, etc. that maybe blowing the anemone around too much while warming, and for a few days after temp is reached too. Best of luck.

ab-774819 · Mar 6, 2023

Thank you everyone that has replied! I do have power now, thankfully. I'll use caution while continuing to raise the temp for sure and just let them be... I'll turn off the powerhead and just leave the return pump going for flow. It's so sad seeing all them struggling

Seansea · Mar 6, 2023

Ya power outsaes really a detriment in this hobby. Definatly a generator of some type is almost mandatory. Even a small cheaper craftsman just to run heaters and return pump(and refrigerator of course) to keep things in check. Just remember dont run it in indoors. The fumes will kill you

ab-774819 · Mar 7, 2023

Unfortunately the nem didn't make it.. but now I'm really concerned about my torch... at least 1 head is a goner but what about this other side? It looks like it's flesh is melting away but I can still see tentacles... has anyone ever seen one come back from damage like this?

HelloReef · Mar 7, 2023

Unfortunately there isn't much you could do unless you have a hospital tank to keep the torch separated from the rest. It also looks like your water is quite cloudy. If possible adding a bag of carbon would help after doing a 20% w/c

ab-774819 · Mar 7, 2023

HelloReef said:
Unfortunately there isn't much you could do unless you have a hospital tank to keep the torch separated from the rest. It also looks like your water is quite cloudy. If possible adding a bag of carbon would help after doing a 20% w/c

It's just my crappy camera making it look cloudy.. I've got carbon, chemi pure blue and GFO running incase any really deteriorate to hopefully protect the others from contamination. I unfortunately don't have a hospital tank but I did move it significantly lower in the tank and turned off the power head to limit flow. Thank you, genuinely, for the input!

Bucs20fan · Mar 7, 2023

I think out of all you could have lost, losing a bta and a torch is a serious win. The torch may make a comeback but its going to be hard to tell. You can try to medicate it, but its a 50/50.

If you cannot afford a generator, buy a power inverter for your vehicle and run the vehicle for an hour every other hour at a time to keep the temp up, literally run an extension cord from the vehicle to your heater. this is not ideal, but it stops the shock from the temp drop. Go to walmart and buy a bait bubbler at a minimum, these run on batteries and are far better than nothing.

vetteguy53081 · Mar 7, 2023

ab-774819 said:
Hey everyone... so I lost power due to the storm on Friday at around 4 pm. It came back on at around 7 pm on Saturday (last night) so just over 24 hours. I ran a battery powered air pump for about the last 10 hours (couldn't find one until then) but had no way to heat or light the tank. The temp dropped down to around 60 degrees and my corals did not far well unfortunately. My bubble tip anenome is in the worst shape out of all of them. Ice attached some pictures and need advice on what to do from here/if this guy is gonna make it. I did a water change today of 2 gallons (11 gallon AIO.) Any advice/words of encouragement are appreciated!!

Return temp to normal temperature changing 2 gals of water daily ( it reduces toxins and replenishes traces) and place anemone in a fresh container of tank water in case it declines- does not cause tank problems. Buy heat packs (to tape to tank) and have blankets to wrap tank with should this ever happen again)

ab-774819 · Mar 7, 2023

Bucs20fan said:
I think out of all you could have lost, losing a bta and a torch is a serious win. The torch may make a comeback but its going to be hard to tell. You can try to medicate it, but its a 50/50.

If you cannot afford a generator, buy a power inverter for your vehicle and run the vehicle for an hour every other hour at a time to keep the temp up, literally run an extension cord from the vehicle to your heater. this is not ideal, but it stops the shock from the temp drop. Go to walmart and buy a bait bubbler at a minimum, these run on batteries and are far better than nothing.

I completely agree. I've very greatful I didn't lose some of my more expensive corals! Unfortunately my car is a point of sale and the charging port doesn't work, so unless what your talking about can be hooked up directly to a car battery, I wouldn't be able to use it. I've now bought a small 10w heater that will run off of a power bank you'd use to charge electronics and I have a battery powered air pump incase this were to ever happen again. Just didn't anticipate this happening, and now I'm paying for it.

ab-774819 · Mar 9, 2023

vetteguy53081 said:
Return temp to normal temperature changing 2 gals of water daily ( it reduces toxins and replenishes traces) and place anemone in a fresh container of tank water in case it declines- does not cause tank problems. Buy heat packs (to tape to tank) and have blankets to wrap tank with should this ever happen again)

The heat packs on the tank is a really good idea! Thanks!