How long does beneficial bacteria last?

[cigars]

Ok guys have a question how long will beneficial bacteria survive when submerged in the sump “no electricity” (all the media stayed submerged)? I’m on the east coast and lost power yesterday around 5:30pm I watched my tanks closely I was up at 2:30 a.m. dumping buckets of water from the sump to the tank went back to bed around 4:00 a.m. Got up this morning treated the tanks with prime and found a Home Depot 25 or so miles away that had a generator got everything running again around 11:30 a.m. Water column looks cloudy I’m hoping I don’t loose my beneficial bacteria. I’m trying to get my 2.5 yr old down for a nap so I can test water parameters. Would it be ok to shut the generator off at night and restart in the morning? If not I have a inverter that I can run half of the filtration system off my jeep all night long. Any and all help will be much appreciated thank you

 

[cigars]

Ok junior is down for a nap here are what the parameters looks like......

Ammonia .25ppm as of right now
Nitrite 0ppm
Nitrate 40ppm

Water change is done on Monday’s about 500 gallons if I do not have electricity as of then it will have to wait no hot water. I may just do multiple small water changes maybe 100 gallons everyday until power is restored give the heaters a chance to keep up.

 

[mrrobxc]

Good luck. What a nightmare.

I wish I had the answer to your question.

 

[Drstrangelove]

I've had my power go out for three days (on a 55 and a 75.) The water had zero circulation during the outage. (I didn't know any better, so I left it as is.)

Didn't have any problems when I got power back. So my guess is three days is probably safe. However, if I was doing it again, I'd get a battery powered pump or even just physically stir the water.

I have family close to you and they have power, but it goes on and off all the time.

 

[cigars]

Good luck. What a nightmare.

I wish I had the answer to your question.

Thanks man, it’s definitely a nightmare I knew this would happen some day but didn’t prepare for it. I may

 

[cigars]

I've had my power go out for three days (on a 55 and a 75.) The water had zero circulation during the outage. (I didn't know any better, so I left it as is.)

Didn't have any problems when I got power back. So my guess is three days is probably safe. However, if I was doing it again, I'd get a battery powered pump or even just physically stir the water.

I have family close to you and they have power, but it goes on and off all the time.

I’m hopeful, the parameters don’t look horrible I guess I will have to wait and see. I will be honest I would be devastated if I loose my fish I have grown very attached to them all.

 

[mrrobxc]

I’m hopeful, the parameters don’t look horrible I guess I will have to wait and see. I will be honest I would be devastated if I loose my fish I have grown very attached to them all.

Pick up some safe start or something similar just in case.

 

[Leebtattoos]

Good luck! That is horrible and I hope they get yalls grid up soon!

I would pick up some prime if you can just to play it safe and also make sure you have lots of air pumps ready. I’ve found the worst part of power outages is the anaerobic bacteria that can build up in media. When power comes back on it pumps in the tank and depletes the o2 super fast. So wc’s And pumping a bunch of o2 is the only real way to combat it.

But hopefully you keep that gen keeps everything going and they fix it before this happens.

 

[tlindsey]

Periodically manually just use a fish catch cup or anything fish safe and fill from sump and repour back into sump this will agitate the surface provide some oxygen until you can get a battery operated pump. Also do the same for the aquarium. Hopefully your electricity will be back up and running soon.

 

[cigars]

Good news powers back on will retest parameters in the morning. Thank you all who have posted it is very appreciated mrrobxc Drstrangelove tlindsey Leebtattoos