rickztahone
06-22-2016, 12:59 AM
Yesterday around 6pm I got a call that we had a power outage at our house. I was at work and wasn't getting out until 9pm. I started freaking out because so far it has been the hottest day in quite some time, 115F.
So, I instructed my wife to find my battery powered air pump. However, she couldn't find it. I was super busy at work and overly stressed. I asked her to please go out and get me one and I'd call her when I wasn't so busy at work (don't want to get fired!). Additionally to all this going on, both my kids are spiking fevers and they cannot stay in a house without AC when it is 115F outside, which will soon turn in to at least 100F inside! So, my wife had a choice between going with my in-laws and the kids, or letting the kids go with my in-laws and go get me the pump.
She goes to the LFS to get me the pump and the kids went off with in-laws. I thank her profusely. She gets it and she actually is able to set it up right. However, I am ill at east at work since all my good bio is basically suffocating in my sump. It takes me 1.5hrs on a good day to get home from work. I decide to leave the earliest possible without getting in trouble and leave right at 8pm.
I get home in only 1hr and get to moving at removing all my bio media from the 3 bags I have in the sump. Well, on paper that sounds really easy, but I have to remove 4 layers of sponges from Swisstropicals. I clean these sponges every few months and I always do it grudgingly. However, there was no other way, and I start digging. I take the media from the sump and put it in the tank. I have want to keep the media with air, so I have to go find some bottles to put them in. Luckily I found some after digging through our recycle bin. Rinse them, and fill 2 with ice and the other with 2 bags of media. The other wouldn't fit so I said screw it and left it out in the tank with no circulation.
I'll tell you, trying to get ice cubes in to a small container when you are racing against the clock isn't fun at all. I got everything done and hoped the power would come back on. This is all done by the light of a small flashlight btw.
DWP says the power should be back by 11:30pm. At around 11pm, that 11:30pm ETA turned in to a 11:30AM!!! I had to call off work and I had to stay in a house that was hotter than some saunas I have been in. My wife and kids slept at family house and I didn't want to subject them to this.
Luckily, I am a photographer, and one thing I have in my kit is Eneloops that looks like this:
http://edcplus.com/images/Eneloop-power-pack.jpg
If you notice at the top it comes with D batteries. Well, these are cool because I can take a regular AA battery and stick it inside the D shell and run that battery. Luckily for me, I always have my batteries charged. 2 AA batteries last more than 6 hrs. Over the night though, I kept waking up every 2 hrs to change the batteries, not knowing exactly how long they'd last. Had I known they'd last that long, I wouldn't have been as worried. I still needed to get up at night to refill the ice containers though.
Anyways, long story short, almost exactly 24hrs later, the power was restored. When it did, we were actually out. I wanted to be home when this happened so that the sump water wouldn't enter the actual water column. Guess what? That is EXACTLY what happened. The pump started right up and all the dead bacteria and everything that was in the sump was now in the DT and circulating with no sponges in place and/or filter floss.
So, I'm running around like a madman again trying to do a WC from my aged water barrel (thank goodness I had that). I place my media back in the sump, I place my sponges in their section and the prefilter sponges as well. I add a circulating pump in DT to get rid of all kinds of crap in there. Again, long story short, the filter floss and sponges helped remove a lot of the dead bacteria.
I have replaced the filter floss and rinsed the sponges and the tank has cleared up significantly.
Not out of the woods yet, but I am thankfully I left work and that I was able to rig something up to save that media. Had I been complacent with the idea that the power was going to come back on soon, all my BB would have died. I still have to keep an eye on the tank, but the discus do not like they have gone through anything.
I plan on doing another 100% WC tomorrow morning and change out the filter floss (I am out of that after this!) and see if it clears up more.
maybe this will encourage some of you to always keep a battery operated pump on hand alongside batteries as well as a few empty bottles ;)
All of these Pics were taken today, none from yesterday unfortunately, too hectic:
https://c8.staticflickr.com/8/7281/27830152775_e9ad87767c_h.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/JpfNQg)Power Outage 1 (https://flic.kr/p/JpfNQg) by Rick Vasquez (https://www.flickr.com/photos/138339753@N07/), on Flickr
This was today before the power came on. As you can see, pretty clear in DT and temp was right at 27.8C
https://c1.staticflickr.com/8/7140/27217997944_11fb288da0_h.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/HtamwC)Power Outage 2 (https://flic.kr/p/HtamwC) by Rick Vasquez (https://www.flickr.com/photos/138339753@N07/), on Flickr
Right after the power was back on.
https://c5.staticflickr.com/8/7502/27795905996_bc52c3595f_h.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/Jmehsy)Power Outage 3 (https://flic.kr/p/Jmehsy) by Rick Vasquez (https://www.flickr.com/photos/138339753@N07/), on Flickr
During water change. I was already refilling here and look how dirty it still looks!
https://c7.staticflickr.com/8/7361/27795905926_bb8b9e931c_h.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/Jmehrm)Power Outage 4 (https://flic.kr/p/Jmehrm) by Rick Vasquez (https://www.flickr.com/photos/138339753@N07/), on Flickr
After a full on WC
https://c7.staticflickr.com/8/7271/27795905766_8d2a117b71_h.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/JmehoA)Power Outage 5 (https://flic.kr/p/JmehoA) by Rick Vasquez (https://www.flickr.com/photos/138339753@N07/), on Flickr
About an hour later.
The lights have since gone out. I don't plan on feeding these guys for at least 2 days just in case. If I do feed, it will be small. I don't want spike ammonia and will have to keep a close eye.
Hopefully, no more power outages. I am not sure my wife, myself, or the kids can take it :embarassed:
So, I instructed my wife to find my battery powered air pump. However, she couldn't find it. I was super busy at work and overly stressed. I asked her to please go out and get me one and I'd call her when I wasn't so busy at work (don't want to get fired!). Additionally to all this going on, both my kids are spiking fevers and they cannot stay in a house without AC when it is 115F outside, which will soon turn in to at least 100F inside! So, my wife had a choice between going with my in-laws and the kids, or letting the kids go with my in-laws and go get me the pump.
She goes to the LFS to get me the pump and the kids went off with in-laws. I thank her profusely. She gets it and she actually is able to set it up right. However, I am ill at east at work since all my good bio is basically suffocating in my sump. It takes me 1.5hrs on a good day to get home from work. I decide to leave the earliest possible without getting in trouble and leave right at 8pm.
I get home in only 1hr and get to moving at removing all my bio media from the 3 bags I have in the sump. Well, on paper that sounds really easy, but I have to remove 4 layers of sponges from Swisstropicals. I clean these sponges every few months and I always do it grudgingly. However, there was no other way, and I start digging. I take the media from the sump and put it in the tank. I have want to keep the media with air, so I have to go find some bottles to put them in. Luckily I found some after digging through our recycle bin. Rinse them, and fill 2 with ice and the other with 2 bags of media. The other wouldn't fit so I said screw it and left it out in the tank with no circulation.
I'll tell you, trying to get ice cubes in to a small container when you are racing against the clock isn't fun at all. I got everything done and hoped the power would come back on. This is all done by the light of a small flashlight btw.
DWP says the power should be back by 11:30pm. At around 11pm, that 11:30pm ETA turned in to a 11:30AM!!! I had to call off work and I had to stay in a house that was hotter than some saunas I have been in. My wife and kids slept at family house and I didn't want to subject them to this.
Luckily, I am a photographer, and one thing I have in my kit is Eneloops that looks like this:
http://edcplus.com/images/Eneloop-power-pack.jpg
If you notice at the top it comes with D batteries. Well, these are cool because I can take a regular AA battery and stick it inside the D shell and run that battery. Luckily for me, I always have my batteries charged. 2 AA batteries last more than 6 hrs. Over the night though, I kept waking up every 2 hrs to change the batteries, not knowing exactly how long they'd last. Had I known they'd last that long, I wouldn't have been as worried. I still needed to get up at night to refill the ice containers though.
Anyways, long story short, almost exactly 24hrs later, the power was restored. When it did, we were actually out. I wanted to be home when this happened so that the sump water wouldn't enter the actual water column. Guess what? That is EXACTLY what happened. The pump started right up and all the dead bacteria and everything that was in the sump was now in the DT and circulating with no sponges in place and/or filter floss.
So, I'm running around like a madman again trying to do a WC from my aged water barrel (thank goodness I had that). I place my media back in the sump, I place my sponges in their section and the prefilter sponges as well. I add a circulating pump in DT to get rid of all kinds of crap in there. Again, long story short, the filter floss and sponges helped remove a lot of the dead bacteria.
I have replaced the filter floss and rinsed the sponges and the tank has cleared up significantly.
Not out of the woods yet, but I am thankfully I left work and that I was able to rig something up to save that media. Had I been complacent with the idea that the power was going to come back on soon, all my BB would have died. I still have to keep an eye on the tank, but the discus do not like they have gone through anything.
I plan on doing another 100% WC tomorrow morning and change out the filter floss (I am out of that after this!) and see if it clears up more.
maybe this will encourage some of you to always keep a battery operated pump on hand alongside batteries as well as a few empty bottles ;)
All of these Pics were taken today, none from yesterday unfortunately, too hectic:
https://c8.staticflickr.com/8/7281/27830152775_e9ad87767c_h.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/JpfNQg)Power Outage 1 (https://flic.kr/p/JpfNQg) by Rick Vasquez (https://www.flickr.com/photos/138339753@N07/), on Flickr
This was today before the power came on. As you can see, pretty clear in DT and temp was right at 27.8C
https://c1.staticflickr.com/8/7140/27217997944_11fb288da0_h.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/HtamwC)Power Outage 2 (https://flic.kr/p/HtamwC) by Rick Vasquez (https://www.flickr.com/photos/138339753@N07/), on Flickr
Right after the power was back on.
https://c5.staticflickr.com/8/7502/27795905996_bc52c3595f_h.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/Jmehsy)Power Outage 3 (https://flic.kr/p/Jmehsy) by Rick Vasquez (https://www.flickr.com/photos/138339753@N07/), on Flickr
During water change. I was already refilling here and look how dirty it still looks!
https://c7.staticflickr.com/8/7361/27795905926_bb8b9e931c_h.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/Jmehrm)Power Outage 4 (https://flic.kr/p/Jmehrm) by Rick Vasquez (https://www.flickr.com/photos/138339753@N07/), on Flickr
After a full on WC
https://c7.staticflickr.com/8/7271/27795905766_8d2a117b71_h.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/JmehoA)Power Outage 5 (https://flic.kr/p/JmehoA) by Rick Vasquez (https://www.flickr.com/photos/138339753@N07/), on Flickr
About an hour later.
The lights have since gone out. I don't plan on feeding these guys for at least 2 days just in case. If I do feed, it will be small. I don't want spike ammonia and will have to keep a close eye.
Hopefully, no more power outages. I am not sure my wife, myself, or the kids can take it :embarassed: