Power Failure

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HumanBean

Redtail Catfish
MFK Member
Nov 4, 2014
1,940
538
150
Toronto Ontario, Canada
How long tropical fresh water fish survives without heating ? What you guys do when power goes out ? Being in great white north I have observed that the temperature went down 2 degrees in my tank located in unfinished but heated basement within 2 hours. Little paranoid that's it :D
Power outages are rare BTW.
 
It really depends on the species. Some are more resilient thank you might think. Having said that, I have a generator and 20 gal of gasoline on hand at all times.
The biggest problem is your filtration, quite honestly.


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HumanBean said:
How long tropical fresh water fish survives without heating ? What you guys do when power goes out ? Being in great white north I have observed that the temperature went down 2 degrees in my tank located in unfinished but heated basement within 2 hours. Little paranoid that's it :D
Power outages are rare BTW.
Click to expand...

Look into a backup battery power source - I have a thread i've started on which ones people use here http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?604581-Backup-Power-supply-(6-Viewing)
 
I already have 2" styrofoam insulation panels on the 2 sides, and back of tank, but also have a sheet to cover the front and top, at the ready, in case of a power outages.
While it doesn't stop the tank from cooling, it slows heat loss. And the darkness puts fish into a sleep mode, which slows metabolism so they require less 02.
 
Alot of tropical fish are pretty hearty and will survive at temps around 60°+ especially if the temperature drops slowly due to a lack of heating. It's not optimal and some fish will not tolerate it, but you'd be surprised. I haven't had a power outage in a couple years but I've had my share of heater failures in that time period.... Explosions, thermostats sticking on, sticking off. my community tank dipped down to the low 60's (room temp) after a fluval heater failed. Nobody died, some fish actuay laid eggs, I guess it was a spaening cue. I had corydoras, zebra danios, angelfish, bolivian rams, and some other miscellaneous community fish. They all lived.



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When we had that massive 5 day power failure, I kept my reef alive by floating bottles of hot water every few hours.

The other tanks got nothing but a few thick towels wrapped around them. Didn't lose anything, temps hovered in the mid 50's...

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HumanBean said:
Impressive. That is a genius way. What's the size of your reef tank ?
Click to expand...

Was only a 10g at the time. Between the bottles and the towels i kept it in the low to mid 70's... Thank god for gas powered water heaters. :D

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