How long can a tank with no power survive

[fatboyracing]

How long would a tank be ok with no power

I am trying to decide how far to go for backup power

[d2mini]

If you can keep the water circulating with a power head and keep temps in check, you can go for a very very long time.
But if you are talking about the tank being completely stagnant, not very long at all. More than an hour or two and things start going south.

[slief]

How long would a tank be ok with no power

I am trying to decide how far to go for backup power

Too many factors involved to answer that. The total gallons of the display, the amount of dissolved o2 in the water when the power goes out, the number of fish, size of fish, ambient temperature of the water (higher temps = less dissolved o2), will the house drop the display temp fast etc. Every tank is different. My 480g display with 60+ fish can go 4+ hours without power but I have a lot of dissolved o2 in my water from the surface agitation, overflow and my skimmer. Then again, I keep a generator on hand for prolonged outages and my Apex lets me know if the power goes out.

There are some tanks that won't last but a couple hours or less without power. As Dennis mentioned, a power head (pointed towards the surface) is generally sufficient for keeping a tank alive during a prolonged power outage.

[fatboyracing]

Ok so what is the suggestion for powerhead that would run with the power off till I get home with a genorator

Do you just run a ups on them or go dc

[Sk8r]

My own record, last week, was 178 hours---in snowy weather. My blog (blue number under my avatar) has the account of it, but let me say---it was no walk in the park.

In easy practicality, it depends on the fish load and the processing power of rock and sand. Figure on 8 hours with no issues.

My recommendation is get a battery powered bubbler to have on standby, with a supply of batteries.

If you are not home when it happens, that is a wholly different issue. You can set some devices to phone you if power goes out, but with nobody home to engage the systems and take care of things, bad problem. And it's different summer to winter.

[fatboyracing]

My own record, last week, was 178 hours---in snowy weather. My blog (blue number under my avatar) has the account of it, but let me say---it was no walk in the park.

In easy practicality, it depends on the fish load and the processing power of rock and sand. Figure on 8 hours with no issues.

My recommendation is get a battery powered bubblier to have on standby, with a supply of batteries.

If you are not home when it happens, that is a wholly different issue. You can set some devices to phone you if power goes out, but with nobody home to engage the systems and take care of things, bad problem. And it's different summer to winter.

wow what was the hydrogen peroxide for that you put in your tank

I am more worried about when I am not home. We have a generator so if I am home its no big deal but when I go to work I am stuck here no matter what.

I think I am going to look into a back power supply or a ups running 1 power head

[seamonster124]

Our power went out and it took me 3 hours to get home. Outside temp lower 40's. Tank temp dropped 4 degrees on those 3 hours.

A small generator is a must.

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