Gustav Dealt a Blow

[SpencerG]

With the power out here in New Orleans for several days, my small reef tank crashed with very little surviving. Seriously nasty stuff awaited my return from evacuation. Can anyone give some tips on how to quickly restore water quality and stabilize the tank? Thanks!

[IFbettas]

First of all I'd do a good sized water change.

I'm really sorry that you lost alot.

[shaggy14]

sorry to hear of your losses. as ifbettas said, i would do a large water change, followed by a series of medium sized ones until yuou get your water quality back. and of course remove all the dead stuff you can find

[SpencerG]

Thanks for the advice! I changed about 2/3 of the water, and I'll do it again. I put new carbon and poly pads in. The skimmer is foaming like crazy.

Tested the water and the ammonia is high, no nitrate. So, it looks like I have to cycle the tank and pretty much cure the rock. At least I can see into the tank now.

The LFS recommended the plug-in and battery operated air pump as a way to try to keep the tank alive next time. They claim 7-8 days operation on batteries once the power goes out. Do you all have any experience with them?

[NCSUsalt]

I don't mean to seem harsh, but I'd probably wait to see what Ike does before you start putting alot of work into setting back up the system only to have it crash again in a few days

[fishdoc11]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13308865#post13308865 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by SpencerG
So, it looks like I have to cycle the tank and pretty much cure the rock.
The LFS recommended the plug-in and battery operated air pump as a way to try to keep the tank alive next time. They claim 7-8 days operation on batteries once the power goes out. Do you all have any experience with them?

Very sorry to hear:(

Yes recycling is pretty much what you will have to do at this point.

IME the battery powered pumps work well. I'm not sure about that length of time but I don't know for sure either. I know mine will run at least a day or so, maybe longer. I have the Penn Plax silent air ones that come on when the power goes out.

Chris

[Agu]

The PennPlax B11 airpump turns on when power goes out so you don't even have to be home. Reports are that they'll run about 48 hours before depleting the batteries. That's from when the power goes out, not when you evacuate.

I have one on each of my nanos ............. they wake me up when the power goes out while I'm sleeping. :D

[SpencerG]

Sounds great - I think I'll get that air pump after Ike. I'm not going to put anything in there for a while. Our electricity is strung together right now with hot glue and duct tape, so it won't take much to knock out the grid again.

The only good news is I evacuated many of the corals and the two fish I could catch to Dallas. They're all very happy in my brother's big tank, much more so than their fallen comrades.

The survivors - bumble bee snail, nassarius snail, numerous juvenile snails, starburst polyps, and a few button polyps. Orange cap still has a little color and may rebound.

[limitdown]

Although i don't usually recommend AmQuel or AmGuard in the DT, but since you'll probably get a huge ammonia spike from die-off, you might consider dosing some.

[Leosdad]

Memorial Day weekend our power went out for 3 days and 4 nights.

I ran to Petco and bought two of the battery powered air pumps they had. I ran them both in my 180 gallon reef aquarium 24/7.

It scared the XXXXX out of me, but never had to change batteries and everything survived just fine. I swear by them, but a generator in in my future.