Hurricane approaching....what to do?

[Laney47]

We live in South Florida and as everyone is probably aware, we have Hurricane Matthew on our doorstep. We own a 150 gallon aquarium with 12 discus and worried about what to do if we have a power failure. We have several of the battery operated aerators (or whatever they are called) but if the power is out for who knows how long, we're really nervous about it. Should we just stock up on batteries and hope for the best? Any suggestions would be appreciated. The afternoon storms we experience now are bad enough and we hold our breath every time there is a power surge, but a hurricane means power could be out for days...we are of course hoping Matthew decides to turn due east but in case he doesn't.....help!

[jim LI]

I have a portable gas generator that will run the essentials in my home, aquariums included.

[Phillydubs]

What is the temp there now this time of year ...? Are you concerned with temp fall...?

Can you store some water now so that you have aged water ready to do some water changes if need be.

Those battery powers are great but def stock up !! I'd do a big WC now if you can and stop feeding as well.

[Clawhammer]

No advice but I want to wish you, your family, and your fish safety and good luck :)

[gators111]

I live in central FLA and went through 3 hurricanes back in 2004. I lost power from Sunday to Thursday in August. Had a 55 gallon with 2 battery operated pumps w/ air stones. All my fish made it. Just do a water change and fill up your aging barrel again, but don't put any chemicals in it (in case you need the water for yourself). Get an extra set of batteries for the pumps and you should be fine. If you do lose power, keep an eye on your temps. You might need to keep the tops open to release the heat. And feed sparingly a flake food or pellet once a day. Nothing messy like beef heart or frozen foods.

[adrian31@outlook.com]

Living in a hurricane risk area I believe having a backup generator is an essential. You'll be glad you have one even for that one time it's desperately needed.

[brewmaster15]

We live in South Florida and as everyone is probably aware, we have Hurricane Matthew on our doorstep. We own a 150 gallon aquarium with 12 discus and worried about what to do if we have a power failure. We have several of the battery operated aerators (or whatever they are called) but if the power is out for who knows how long, we're really nervous about it. Should we just stock up on batteries and hope for the best? Any suggestions would be appreciated. The afternoon storms we experience now are bad enough and we hold our breath every time there is a power surge, but a hurricane means power could be out for days...we are of course hoping Matthew decides to turn due east but in case he doesn't.....help!
Hi Elaine,
If you can not have a generator at the very least, try and get an inverter. You can run it off your cars battery system..Just be sure to run the car alot to keep it charged. Same concept as here...
http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?117188-An-Alternative-to-a-Generator-The-inverter

hope that helps,
al

[DiscusRob]

Elaine, the good news is you are on the gulf coast, you will still feel some affects, but honestly just be prepared, don't worry to much unless Matthew makes a severe jog to the west. Good Luck.

[DISCUS STU]

I wish you well and hope for the best for you and your family.

I went through this with Hurricane Sandy (What? we don't get Hurricanes in NJ!). I think it was 7-10 days before the power came back entirely, and we had snow storm during this. Luckily you won't have to go the last part in South Florida.

Here's what I did...

1) Stocked up on batteries for the air pumps
2) Had to heat water in a kettle pot, you won't have to do this.
3) After about 3-4 days with no power, I found two lfs / lps's that had power and asked them if they could take my fish temporarily, this was because of the cold in my apartment which was about 45-50 degrees.

#3 was a good solution though the place that I had less confidence in had no problems while the other place that was an A list lps had a filter crash and some of my fish died. Hopefully this won't happen to you but I was lucky to lose only the fish I did. It could have been all of them and I had about 24 or so Discus, other Altums, catfish, plecos, etc.

If it weren't for the cold up here I wouldn't have moved them, so hang tight if you can. Simply siphoning out the water and dumping it back into the tank will also provide a good amount of aeration.

Be careful when the power comes back on and "dead filters" full of ammonia and nitrites are now returning all of this back to the tank. Do mucho water changes when the power comes back.

If you have a means of storing reserve water in a drum that could also help.

Good luck. It can be difficult but you can get through it and hopefully with minimal to no losses.