dealing with power outages

[Lauren]

last night here in Maine, the power flashed on & off several times before flashing off again & staying off for several hours.
Now in the city, if the power went out it was never as dark as it is here. I honestly couldnt tell if my eyes were open or closed.
The firstg thing I worried about were my fish. The room is heated to about 78F so even angel tanks without heaters are always 74-76F
I used bowls tgo circulate the water a little bit, but the big thing I was worried about were temp drops in the discus tanks. I believe the heating in that room is gas, however, there are parts of the house with electric heat so that worried me even more(like my bedroom, which is right next door to the fishroom has baseboard electric heat).
I went searching through my house for H202(Hydrogen Peroxide) only to find my sister used it all on one of her new piercings or something lol So I stayed awake with candles, checking on the fish to make sure all was well 1/2 the night before the power finally came back on at about 3am

What are some good ways to prepare a small hatchery for power outages, especially long term ones. I know alot of people lost fish during the grid outage that lasted a long time, and I'd like to prevent as many deaths as possible if that happend to us, or if another ice storm hits this winter(I heard afew years ago this area had an ice storm that knocked out power for 6 days) :-\

Lauren

[brewmaster15]

Generators are relatively inexpensive Lauren. That would be number one on my list. Next would be battery backups..They can buy you several hours. add to battery operated air pumps, and inverters for DC Car batteries..that can power a few outlets.... Finally I would say bags, styros , bag buddies,heat packs, and oxygen tank. Set yourself up to ship.. Worse case scenario...you can ship your favorites to a friend, or pack them like you would and buy yourself 18-24 hours!

hth,
al

[RyanH]

If you can afford it, a small, gas powered generator is always a good investment. This will allow you to keep your heaters and spongefilters going until the power goes back on. Keeping your biofilter alive is every bit as important as keeping your fish warm.

[RyanH]

There must be an echo on the board! ;D

[Carol_Roberts]

We have one or two big (over 24 hour) power outages every year.

Sponge filters inside the tank or aqua clear type filters can easily go 24 hours with no power. Mine have gone 3 days with me pouring cupfuls of tank water over the sponges every few hours. Canister filters are another matter entirely. The oxygen is quickly used up and the bacteria begin to die in a few hours. This will quickly foul the water when the power comes back on.

During power outages I heat my house with propane heaters - like on your BBQ - the lowest my tank temps have fallen is 66. I run battery operated airstones in each tank.

After three days the power came back on, the filters resumed filtering, the temperature rose from 66 to 82 and none of the fish became sick. ;D

[Lauren]

Ryan, Al, & Carol

Awesome thanks for all the info! Luckily all my filters are sponges, except for 2 aquaclears (that only have sponge in them lol)

im surprised they managed in 66 degree tanks, very good to hear

[Carol_Roberts]

I don't overstock my tanks and I keep everything clean all the time. I do not feed during power outages.

[korbi_doc]

:bounce2: :bounce2: More echoes!! When I started with these fish, was somewhat paranoid, no! I was very paranoid, cuz this area in the summer esp. has lotsa outages from storms. So I put in an inverter (Jehmco)with deep cycle battery, to run the linear air pump that provides air to all my tanks sponges, & airstones thru pvc piping. I love the system, & it does provide security. So far, it has been challenged 3 times successfully. If I need to add heaters, just add batteries, but I do have a propane fireplace for wintertime problems. & yes, a generator would be a nice added alternative, maybe someday!
Anyone hear an ECHO????? lol, Dottie 8) 8)