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View Full Version : Panic Time! 15 Hours No Power!!


TimmyB
07/03/2006, 06:54 AM
Went yesterday and spent over 200 dollars on new additions for my tank.

No big fish purchases... but a new Pearl Bubble Coral, Cleaner and Fire Shrimp and a few Chalk Bass (think that is what they are called). Also some critters, blue leg hermits.

Put them in my 58 gallon tank at about 5 PM (after acclimating them for a while).

Big wind/thunder storm blows through the Norther Virginia area, and WHAM. 6:15 pm, I lost power.

Not really worried about temperature because it so damn hot in my house now, but am worried about flow.

This morning when I left for the office at 6:30am everyone looked ok, no heavy breathing or anything, but am worried. Really hoping power comes back on before I get home.

But if it does not, what should I do?? Buy a battery operated air pump and stone? Swish the water around with my arm for some movement? Do I need to worry about flow in my refugium?

Any tips are appreciated.

Thanks
Timmy B

Billybeau1
07/03/2006, 07:12 AM
Well if your at work you better hope you get power back soon. I dont think the tank will survive too much longer without air.

A battery operated air pump and stone is great insurance. Tell your boss your sick and get to the store quick and buy that pump.

mikeatjac
07/03/2006, 07:17 AM
I agree, after work is too long. Lot's of options; UPS, converter and of course battery operated air pump.

Ralistin
07/03/2006, 07:22 AM
I siphoned water out of my refugium and poured it into my tank many times an hour during the hurricane last year until I got a generator. I had no choice since I could not buy anything at the time and had no emergency equipment for such a case. It was a ***** but it saved many things.

I agree though, if you do not have any flow, water movement, or oxygenation going on this long you had better get some quickly. My tank started to suffer about 8-9 hours after no power.

Sk8r
07/03/2006, 07:40 AM
I once made it from Washington dc to Oklahoma City with airline and airstones rigged to 6 different tanks in the back seat, for fish ranging from a half grown piranha to 4 breeding pairs of angels, and only a single squeeze bulb. I could connect electricity at night in the motel rooms; for the rest [I wasn't driving] I sat cramped in the back seat of a Buick with the fish, and used my hands and feet in rotation to keep the fish alive. We all made it. Took nearly 4 days. My hands weren't worth much by then.

This was before the days of battery-powered bait bubblers.

Seems to me, if you could get two such squeeze-bulbs you could run them like a bicycle or foot-treadle, or rig some Rube Goldberg mechanical way to do a no-electricity-at-all tank-saver.

TorryRx
07/03/2006, 07:42 AM
I lost power during Hurricane Wilma last year. I have to work during the storms (I work in a hospital), so I used the battery powered air-pumps until I was able to come home. I will guess I was out power for at least 12 hours before I could hook up the generator, and those pumps worked wonderfully!! I didn't lose so much as a hermit crab.

I agree, tell the boss you're sick and run to the pet store to get them. The oxygen gets depleted pretty quickly after losing power, and I don't think you will have much left after 8 hours. 3 pumps will work for a tank that is 4 feet long, and don't use air stones since the larger bubbles will move the water around better.

HTH...good luck. We all feel your pain down here in South Florida!!!

Torry

original-reefland
07/03/2006, 09:51 AM
Welp, if your at work, can't leave early, have internet access, read this for next time:

http://advancedaquarist.com/issues/aug2002/feature.htm

TimmyB
07/03/2006, 09:53 AM
Thanks for all your help and replies!

Found out that power came back on at 7:30am.

Things still looked ok when I left at 6:30 so I assume there are no losses, but will check when I get home at 2.

Thanks for the link to the article original-reefland.

Tim

mimmies11
07/03/2006, 08:12 PM
Was everything okay when you got home?

xtrstangx
07/03/2006, 08:15 PM
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7672294#post7672294 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by mikeatjac
I agree, after work is too long. Lot's of options; UPS, converter and of course battery operated air pump.

Yep.

We live in a pretty dependable area for electricity, no power outages over a minute for years. So I use a battery operated air pump and I will stir the tank around with a plastic stick I have to get the water moving a little bit around the corals.

keinreis
07/03/2006, 09:00 PM
generators are a must! especially when you live in florida.