Where I live if the wind blows hard enough the power goes out, and I was just thinking now that we are moving into spring and it usualy means big storms and power outages that can last from a few hours to a few DAYS. I have a 35g tank with 2 roughly 4 inch red belly piranhas in it (I'm going to upgrade in the future don't worry) what should I do to keep them alive if the power goes out for an extended amount of time?
What to do in case of power outage?
- Thread starter RedBellyRhen
- Start date
Do a bunch of water changes if your water is still running, float the bio media from your filters in the tank, try to keep the heat up with warm water from the changes.
): usually when my power goes out so does the water so that would be a no-go and whey you say "bio media" what exactly do you mean?gt1009;4002601; said:
You can use the UPS to keep power on your tanks very cheaply!. Even the puniest UPS (Battery Backup ~ $30) at Staples/ Office Depot can keep your tanks life support running for days. Please keep in mind that if you have major expensive filters, then it is FAR BETTER to use somewhat costly PURE SINE WAVE UPS that start at ~ $100.
I refer to your tanks life support as Water Filters and air pumps, which use extremely low wattage in their operation. Do not plug your Heaters and Lights into the battery backup plugs on a UPS though. They require much higher wattage and the UPS will not support these for a vlong time. Most UPS have a bank of surge protected plugs to go along with the battery backup bank of plugs. This is where you should plug in your UV's, heaters, lights etc...
The ambient temperature of your home should be able to withstand any power outage outside of the winter months, and lack of light exists everywhere in nature. It would just seem like a prolonged night to your fish!
I refer to your tanks life support as Water Filters and air pumps, which use extremely low wattage in their operation. Do not plug your Heaters and Lights into the battery backup plugs on a UPS though. They require much higher wattage and the UPS will not support these for a vlong time. Most UPS have a bank of surge protected plugs to go along with the battery backup bank of plugs. This is where you should plug in your UV's, heaters, lights etc...
The ambient temperature of your home should be able to withstand any power outage outside of the winter months, and lack of light exists everywhere in nature. It would just seem like a prolonged night to your fish!
I use my son's 150W laptop car adapter. I plug it into the car's cigarette lighter plug and run an extension cord down to the tanks. I have had some long outages where I had to periodically start the car to recharge the battery.
The 150W allows me to keep one HOB going in each tank.
The 150W allows me to keep one HOB going in each tank.
You can buy even from bait shops battery operated air pumps. They are cheap and saved my fish more than once. Two cheap air pumps ran for 36 hours straight on my 80 gallon and saved all of its inhabitants.
i had one. just keep adding boiling water to the tank every couple hours. stir the tank and the bio media to keep the BB and the water aerated.
Best thing is a generator.... i think the investment is totally worthwhile especially that i have parrots too.. so i would not want to lose heat in the house as well .. For the fish... if you hear that theres a possibility of storms coming try to get all your water changes done ahead of it.. and buy batteries ..... the most important thing is too keep the oxygen levels up at all times...so use battery operated equipment during those times..