how long can fish survive in the tank without electricity/water flow?
 

i am sure it varies from tank to tank. i saw a thread where several of his fish died b/c he turned his pumps off to feed and forgot and left it off overnight.

but a 5" fish can remain alive in a small bag for shipping that is 12+hrs?

i'm just wondering if i had an electicity outage in my 180g for a prolong period, at what point will livestock start dying.

i have a generator, but if no one is home, it wont get plugged in to start. with a buddy's help, i can rig up a backup battery for the tank though.

electricity does go out from time to time in my area when it rains hard. also i live in a prime hurricane region.

really depends on the size of the fish. big fish take up big oxygen levels.. I have a 250 gallon reef with big and small fish. lost them all several years ago in 3 hours while at a game. never would have thought that was possible.. I now have a generator and a vortech mp60 with battery back up.

I've had LA send me a 4.5" blueface angelfish from Cali at 3pm and I got it at 12 noon the next day. Thats 21hrs and the bag has maybe 1/2 gal of water and another 1/2gal amount of air. Didnt look like the fish had any problems.

It was mentioned by another member of the board that it is pure oxygen in the bag?

ordinary air has about 20% oxygen.

Someone posted a link In another thread to a set of advanced aquarist articles on oxygen levels in tanks where they showed that small tanks can get hypoxic at night even with powerheads on and that shipping bags with pure oxygen maintain supersaturated oxygen levels for a very long time. On the other hand, shipping bags with ordinary air quickly became hypoxic.

21% oxygen and 79% nitrogen...

Ha... I'm a Respiratory Therapist.:p

As long as it isn't to cold and the tank isn't over crowded, I would say that 12+ hours shouldn't hurt anything that bad. I had a 9 hour outage on my 50 g tank years back and only lost one coral. I have even had fish shipped to me that got delayed for almost two days and only 1 out of the 10 fish died. Corals would be more of a concern, they don't tolerate a lack of water movement for very long. Each is different but I would guess you could see stress in them within 8 hours with no movement.

78.084 Nitrogen/ Oxygen 20.9476

That's if you wanna get technical..Lol

I had a 12 hour power outtage this winter on my 125g mixed reef. I have a clam, RBTA, snails and hermits. All very sensitive live stock when it comes to power outtages.. I have 5 fish in the tank so it is lightly stocked at the moment.

Everything made it through the power outtage just fine. after about 4- 5 hours I decided to get out the battery powered air pup, and Just dumped the hose below the waters surface and let it bubble. I tested the temp several times with my TDS meter. It got down to 26 degrees Centigrade. it usually runs at 27, so was actually pretty good for 12 hours.

The fish were perplexed that the ocean just suddenly stopped moving. It's weird looking at the tank with now powerheads or pumps on. It looks like suspended animation! ;)

My old tank went 2-3 days with out power and no
losses except for the shrimp someone had for a snack.

I had a friend who lost half his fish in an afternoon from a power out.


His was way over stocked, mine was understocked.



I tend to under-stock my tanks

Learned my lesson after hurricane gustave, lost power for over a week. Gas generators kept my tank running but are a pain and I nearly ran out of gas. They also do nothing to help with heat. When ice is at a premium, it's hard to convince the gf to use most of it to keep a tank at temp.

Realized I needed to be better prepared for next hurricane season. Initial cost are a bit high but power outages are a thing of the past.

http://www.generac.com/Residential/G..._Series_20_kW/

Fish in a bag vs fish in an aquarium is a totaly different deal.

Fish in the bag have water and oxygen. The only thing using up any significant oxygen is the fish.

Fish in an aquarium have corals, inverts, rocks ....... Corals stress as temp and flo fluctuate which changes the water quality. Chemical reactions as things die off from temp and oxygen depletion changes water quality. Its a domino effect. Really no hard fast rule as everyones' setup is different. How well was the tank oxygenated to begin with? How populated is the tank with ALL life forms? How good was the water quality to begin with? How large was the bacteria population in the tank? What type and how pourous is the live rock? .........

Best thing is to have some kind of alternate power source that can keep temp and flow for at least a couple hours. MOST outages dont last much longer than that.

As Gold Stripe says there are a lot of variables to be considered and it will vary from tank to tank depending on these variables.
Most fish shippers use oxygen rather than air (I think, not 100% sure) when filling and banding a bag for shipment.

Tangs are very sensitive to oxygen deprivation and I learned that the hard way. I lost a 9 year old sailfin once when I didn’t have any water movement for a few hours. I now only give myself 1-2 hours to get the water moving otherwise I worry that I may start losing fish.

I have a backup generator that I use once or twice a year when I have a power outage. It’s just a small generator that only has enough power to run the main pump but it is sufficient. Whenever I run the generator my wife will complain that fish have power but all of us sit in the dark.

Will an air powered bubbler for bait fish provide enough oxygen exchange in the event of a power outage? Or would something like a powerhead need to be kept going?

An air stone works but you want to be careful what you bubble near as some corals and ALL sponges do not like bubbles. A powerhead works to keep movement for your corals but doesnt do much for the fish unless you aim it at the surface to keep the water surface turning over.

Last year this coming December, my family and i went on a weekend vacation to Gatlinburg, TN. Mind, I lived in a trailer and we had a power outage, and the heater stopped working. I had an extra heater available to use in COE. My fish and coral survived by miracle. But, my 2 peppermint shrimp bit the dust. The hermit crabs made a meal out of that one. The water temp was (too cold for them) way out of the safe range. The fish were hiding amidst the LR and kept warm enough to survive. When I got home they were all at the bottom of the tank barely moving but alive. I'd like to say I was gone at least 48 hours. But none-the-less, needless to say I was extremely lucky. :wildone:

When Hurricane Isabel hit NC/VA in '03, my neighborhood lost power for 8 days. Within 2 days my 29 gallon TBS Package tank (my first reef after getting back into the hobby) was a complete mess. Lost all fish and many inverts. I now own a generator.

I've been eying the 110 outlet in my truck cab as an alternate source of energy lol. Might be able to run one powerhead or heater but haven't looked into it. That could use a ton of gas too with my non-eco friendly brute. I would agree with the fish shipping bag comments too as the fish are also not zooming around using up the oxygen as much but that's my theory anyway

Strong storms rolled through yesterday, our power to the 300g was out for 10 hours. Temp dropped to 62 f. Got temp up to 76 today, so far everything seems fine, but I only have softy sand some lps.

Although I didn't lose electricity completely, I did lose my return pump for 3 months (I was in afghanland and my fiance was taking care of the tank). None of my friends or family knew enough to purchase and replace my down return pump so the only water movement was an MP10 (37 Gallon tank). During those 3 months I lost all but one of my corals and the 4 fish I have. My tank was a mess. I've been home since February and still haven't started to stock anything yet for fear of the tank not being ready yet.

So I really can't explain how some things lived and some didn't but i'd say i was lucky.