Hurricane incoming

[DiscusChris]

Alright, Im wondering what to do if I dont have power for a day or two. I dont have a generator and dont think I can get one in time for the storm.

I use hanging filters and was thinking that if I didnt have power, I could still take the biomedia out of the filter and just sink it in the tank. Would that help with the ammonia?

Would it be wise to reduce or completely stop feedings if I had no power for a day or two?

Also, is all of this fruitless? Are my fish going to all die after 2 days of no filtration? Yikes

[Graham]

Hi Stop all food if things go down. The biggest problem you may have is O2 for the fish themselves. Buying a battery operated air pump can solve this problem.

Dropping the bio-media into the tank will help but just opening up the filter and expousing the media will help also.


Hanna rolls in here on Sunday

[Wahter]

We recently discussed some ideas here:

http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?t=65692


Hope that helps,



Walter

[DiscusChris]

Hi Stop all food if things go down. The biggest problem you may have is O2 for the fish themselves. Buying a battery operated air pump can solve this problem.

Dropping the bio-media into the tank will help but just opening up the filter and expousing the media will help also.


Hanna rolls in here on Sunday


Opening up the filter and exposing the media? I dont get it. The water wont be passing through the media if the power is out. Clarify please

[Discus-n00b]

I'll be doing water changes tomorrow to make sure i have fresh water in the tank incase anything happens. And hope for the best.

[Fishworm]

head to the nearest sporting goods/fishing store or even wal-mart and pick up some battery powered air pumps and a bunch of batteries to run them. they are pretty cheap and they can keep your fish alive.

but they do use the batteries pretty quick.

[yogi]

I use both sponge filters and hang on the back filters on all my tanks. I also have a battery air pump for every sponge filter. When we get a power failure or storm and lose power I just hook the battery pumps up to the sponge filters. When I have all 14 of them running it is very loud in the fish room, but it works.

Right now I'm in the center of the cone of Hurricane Ike. It's also raining right now from the outer bands of tropical storm Hanna. I've been through a lot of storms and close calls in my all most 30 years of living in South Florida. All the storms cause worry and stress. Right now I wish it was only Hanna coming in my direction. There talking about Ike hitting us as a cat 3 or 4. Power outages are a given. But what has me scared at this time is there talking about stuctural damage to both homes and buildings from the intensity of this storm.

Theres not many places to evacuate to when you live in South Florida. If the storm keeps it's current path I will be forced to evacuate. I live by the intercoastal waterway and only a few blocks from the beach. I remember about 10 or 11 years ago when Hurricane Floyd was threatening us. The police drive around with loud speakers telling us to evacuate. Then they start going door to door to tell you it's time to go. It turned at the last minute and missed us. I hope Ike does the same but it's beginning to look more and more like Andrew in 92 that came straight across us.

I will prepare the best I can. I have shutters for my house and plywood for my stores. FEMA is telling us to have at least 3 days worth of food and water. Because they will not come in with additional supplies for the first 72 hours, you are on your own. So I will end with asking you all to wish us luck. thanks

[Graham]

Opening up the filter and exposing the media? I dont get it. The water wont be passing through the media if the power is out. Clarify please

The nitrifying bacteria are quite capable of surviving weeks without a food source. ie: NH3. They may die back a bit after several weeks but they will survive.

What they can't do without is O2 and a closed up cansister filter will very quickly go anaerobic killing off any nitrifiers. Expousing the bio-media to the air gives them all the O2 they need.

[korbi_doc]

Jerry, please be careful, you, Lori & the family....that is the most important priority..& wish you all the luck & we'll be praying for all of you in this turmoil......wish I could send you my inverter, it does work well in such storms, just need huge deep cycle batteries... please everyone, take care....

Dottie

[tacks]

Hi Jerry, I hope all goes well for you and your wife. I am in the same situation here in Delray and may have to leave also and they put the bridges up so I cant get back. I will do the best I can for the fish and my wife and I. take care Ed

[yogi]

Well Hanna has made landfall, so I wish all of you the best. It looks like Ike has taken a dip to the south so I'm out of the eye, but will probably get some lousy weather on Tuesday. Thanks everyone for replying and Graham thanks for the information about the lid on a hob filter. Our local news is reporting that once Ike goes between Cuba and Key West it could be headed towards New Orleans or Mississippi.