Scheduled Power Outage, Need Advice

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arkmann

Piranha
MFK Member
Apr 24, 2007
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I received the postcard below and man did I feel down. I have a scheduled power outage on Saturday which is scheduled from 8:00 A.M to 3:00 P.M. The outage can last the whole period or may be turned off more than once during the mentioned time range. What would you suggest I do before/during that outage???

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Get battery operated pumps?

Use oxygen tablets?

Using a car battery as a source of power is out of the question because I live in an apartment. I can't really spend that much money on a battery operated pump because money is kinda short at the moment.

I currently have the following in a 60G. All of them are 6" or below except for a 10" red belly pacu that I will most likely have to leave for adoption SOON.

2 Indo Dats
2 Silver Dats
1 Clown Knife
1 Peacock Bass
1 RBP
1 Ugly Catfish
1 Pleco

On a 10G QT/grow out tank, I have 2 NGTs and 1 Indo dat.

I am planning to do a 60-70% water change on both tanks on Friday night to keep the water parameters "decent."

Oxygen tablets also sounds like a good idea. Anyone know of a place around 90502 where I can get oxygen tablets. Petsmart doesn't have it.

Should I unplug the filters and air pumps so that none of them might "short" or cease to work?

Need advice now....

By the way, I will be out of my apartment at around 8:30 hopefully to pick up a 100G tank. I will most likely be out most of the day as well.

Man... this sucks...
 
Buy a battery operated air pump with spare batteries and use it when the power is cut.
Try to insulate your tank with styrofoam and secure all openings to prevent heat loss. If the temp does get low, throw in a hot water bottle. (Not those rubber bags you sleep with).
Oxygen tablets have been known to save countless lives so throw them in according to the manufactures recommendations.

The best and safest option (Although probably not the most practical) is to hire a fuel powered generator and run that for the period that you are away.
 
Did some research and found out that Petsmart sell a cheap battery operated air pump manufactured by Hagen.

http://www.petsmart.com/product/ind...w=battery+air+pump&parentPage=search&keepsr=1

Would 1 pump be sufficient for the 60 gallon? I think 1 pump should be enough for the
10 gallon but I am not too sure about the 60 gallon.

Tomorrow, I will do phone calls and drop by the fish stores that will have oxygen tablets.

Should all my beneficial bacteria be ok after the 7 hour power outage? Should I leave them in the filter or dump them in the tank? On the 6oG, I have 2 Penguin 350 and one Jebo CFS4 canister filter. On the 10G, I have a Penguin 150.
 
The main thing I would worry about would be loosing all of my bacteria colony due to the filters being off. I would buy the battery operated pump...and a regular air pump and a sponge filter. Bacteria would colonize the sponge between now and then, and when the power gets cut your battery operated one could keep it going for that time to keep atleast some bacteria colony alive. After the power gets cut back on Id add one of those bacteria in a bottle/so called instant cycle products to also help replenish your bacteria colony. For the 7 hours your power is out in a well insulated home and with 60G of water your fish should survive just fine. The next week or so will be worse because no matter what you do your tank is going to go threw a mini-cycle and with that stock level be prepared to do alot of waterchanges to keep things decent. Good Luck :)
 
^Thanks! I will definitely follow your advice with regards to the sponge filter. I' will purchase 3 battery operated air pumps and probably a couple maybe three sponge filters as well. I am pretty sure that I will loose some of my BB but like what the other thread said, the whole tank is full of beneficial bacterial and a loss is apparent but it should be able to adjust... hopefully immediately.

On Friday night, I will also do about 60 - 70% water change to compensate to the waste that will be produced on Saturday. I will be feeding them this morning and not on Friday and Saturday. Water change shouldn't be a problem, I used to do 30 - 40% water changes twice a week on the 60G. I'll also drop in 2 or 3 oxygen tablets if I can source them.

I live in a sunny region of the West Coast and I keep my tanks at 84F at all times with 8 - 12 hours of light each day.
 
arkmann;1376136; said:
http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=48578

Great thread, it should be a sticky. I found all that I needed from that thread.
Click to expand...

It already is...:ROFL:

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arkmann;1376374; said:
^Thanks! I will definitely follow your advice with regards to the sponge filter. I' will purchase 3 battery operated air pumps and probably a couple maybe three sponge filters as well. I am pretty sure that I will loose some of my BB but like what the other thread said, the whole tank is full of beneficial bacterial and a loss is apparent but it should be able to adjust... hopefully immediately.

On Friday night, I will also do about 60 - 70% water change to compensate to the waste that will be produced on Saturday. I will be feeding them this morning and not on Friday and Saturday. Water change shouldn't be a problem, I used to do 30 - 40% water changes twice a week on the 60G. I'll also drop in 2 or 3 oxygen tablets if I can source them.

I live in a sunny region of the West Coast and I keep my tanks at 84F at all times with 8 - 12 hours of light each day.
Click to expand...

Take your filter media out of the filters and rinse it in the old W/C water and float them in the tank. If you leave them in the filters and turn them back on after 7 hrs you will damage or kill fish.

Walmart carries the oxygen tabs here and several fishing tackle shops for bait buckets.

And whatever the air pumps say for battery life...half it (get twice the amount of batteries).

Good Luck and atleast you had some prior notice.

Dr Joe

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^Thanks. I'll check with Walmart. I'll get some Energizers to be sure that I can suck the most power out of those dry cells. I'll also save 2.5 gallons of water from the WC that I will be doing tomorrow night so that I can rinse the filter cartridges and the media in the canister filter.

I appreciate all your input. And yes, the advance notice do help.
 
I bought a couple of battery operated air pumps last night. It kinda sucks though because it is not the one that automatically turns on when the power goes out. I also bought a couple of sponge filter and hooked it up last night as well. Hopefully, it should be seeded by tomorrow morning.

By the way, I have Penguin filters. I know I float the wheels in the tank but do I also float the cartridges? Thanks again.
 
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