Power outage. My story. What would you do?

[Dieselfool]

I'm beginning to wonder if God really wants me to keep Discus. LOL. I'm sure some of you have read my thread "Things not looking too good", and it just seems like one problem after another. 1st. the aclimation problem, then came the fin rot, I got that cleared up and one of Discus gets Hole in the head. I'm sure all infections are just due to stress. Well I get the hole in the head pretty much cleared up and start thinking about taking him out of q/t but decided to wait a couple more days, and BAMM!!!!, power goes out last night.:mad: So... I have 1 in the 10gal q/t, and 7 more in the 180, and no power to run filters and heaters. Knowing the 10gal will start to cool down quicker than the 180 I opted to move him over a little sooner than expected. So now 2hrs have passed and still no power, so I decide it's time to take some action. I syphon off 3 5gal buckets and slowly splash pour them back into the tank in an effort to oxegenate the water. Then get all the blankets I have and wrap the tank as best I could. About every hr or so I'd lift the blankets and do the bucket thing again. Keep in mind it's after midnight and it's about 40-50 degrees outside and this older house of mine tends to cool down rather quickly (no power = no furnace). After 7 and half hrs we get the power back and all seems fine. Temp dropped only 2 degrees from 84 to 82 and none of the fish were gasping at the top of the tank.:) How long do you think a lightly stocked 180 cold last with the oxegen in the water if I didn't splash pour? I do have a back-up plan for this actual senerieo. I have a power inverter and long extention cord to run filters and heaters off my p/u truck but unfortuatly I lent it to my brother at this time to transfer some of his fish. Anything else I could have done? Opinions?
Al.

[DiscusBR]

Sorry to hear about all your problems. People will tell you that the best solution to power outages is a generator. Especially important if you live in a cold area. One thing you can do to warm up the water when heaters are off is to put warm water in plastic bags and leave them floating in the tank.

in my case, I don't need to worry with temperature, since I don't live in a cold area. But to solve the oxigenation issue I use an air pump that switches automatically to battery during power loss, which then runs continuously up to 20 hour and recharges when power is restored:

http://www.fosterandsmithaquatics.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=8120

[Wes]

I picked up a bunch of these after the last power outage I had.69822 just rember to have plenty of batteries on hand.

[TURQ64]

I live in a blistering cold region. My wife and I moved to Fairbanks once just to warm up. I really could write volumes on stop gap measures we have performed to keep fish and other pets alive. Simply now, we do have a few gensets, but with a large house, kids, and many, many gallons of aquariums, it's still a huge challenge. The downfall is that warm water is hard to find when the power's out rurally. So, this year, I hope to convert our water heater (s) to lp before the new standards take effect. They are spendy, but nothing like what's coming in the near future. We do have a woodstove, and once I resorted to heating bricks and placing them in tanks, but that gets old fast. Now, it's a 2000 w genset to the fish, and a 2700w one to the house. This is enough power to keep the pilot's running in the furnace and a few lights..In the fishroom, I'd have to get creative, but if I put a lp water heater in there, I could do wc's while out of power, and keep either the blower, or linear pump supplying air to the filtration. The sumps would be in jeopardy, but the fish would likely make it......

[Dieselfool]

Sorry to hear about all your problems. People will tell you that the best solution to power outages is a generator. Especially important if you live in a cold area. One thing you can do to warm up the water when heaters are off is to put warm water in plastic bags and leave them floating in the tank.

in my case, I don't need to worry with temperature, since I don't live in a cold area. But to solve the oxigenation issue I use an air pump that switches automatically to battery during power loss, which then runs continuously up to 20 hour and recharges when power is restored:

http://www.fosterandsmithaquatics.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=8120


I picked up a bunch of these after the last power outage I had.69822 just rember to have plenty of batteries on hand.

I don't think I'll buy one of these. Like I said, I have a power inverter for just such an occasian. I'll run an extenstion cord from my p/u truck into the house to power my tank. It's just my dumb luck that I lent it to my brother at this time to transport his fish. I don't think i want to buy a genny either Turq. I live in town and usually the power only goes off for a very short period of time. Of course I'll be regreting this decision if we get an outage for days like we had 7 or 8 yrs ago.
Al.

[DiscusBR]

I don't think I'll buy one of these. Like I said, I have a power inverter for just such an occasian. I'll run an extenstion cord from my p/u truck into the house to power my tank. It's just my dumb luck that I lent it to my brother at this time to transport his fish. I don't think i want to buy a genny either Turq. I live in town and usually the power only goes off for a very short period of time. Of course I'll be regreting this decision if we get an outage for days like we had 7 or 8 yrs ago.
Al.

I am sorry Al, but I don't understand the purpose of your thread. You asked it there was anything else you could have done and requested some opinions. People replied just to hear that you already have the solution. I am confused.:crazy:

[ericatdallas]

Buy some car batteries, make a battery back up.

Trickle charge the car batteries during normal power. I would start by buying new batteries for your cars and using the old ones as the back up though :)

Not sure what your load is, but might keep the heater going until power goes back on.

Also, on the O2, I would just take the lid off. The O2 is probably safe, but usually, just keeping the lid off is enough for a properly stocked tank. Keep in mind, cold tank for fish means lower metabolish which means less O2.

More exposed surface = faster dissipation of heat. So if you're amibient room temperature is low (electric heating) then you're going to want to avoid this, but if you have a wood or gas heater and room temperature is stable, then I would say this isn't a bad idea.

[ericatdallas]

btw, if you're looking for cheap, crazy, low-tech and only nominally useful techniques, wrap your tank in aluminum foil with shiny side in before insulating it with blankets.

I say only moderately useful because radiative heat transfer is such a small part in relation to conductive/convective processes.

but like Mauro said, not sure your point if you already had it all figured out.

[jlcoop277]

My 100 has gone without power for 12+ hours more than once, everyone made it. Done it once in middle of winter and once in the middle of summer. I'm in TX so 110 in summer and 35 in winter.

[Dieselfool]

I am sorry Al, but I don't understand the purpose of your thread. You asked it there was anything else you could have done and requested some opinions. People replied just to hear that you already have the solution. I am confused.:crazy:

Yes, I thought I had it all figured out. I meant what else could I have done given the current circumstances?




Also, on the O2, I would just take the lid off. The O2 is probably safe, but usually, just keeping the lid off is enough for a properly stocked tank. Keep in mind, cold tank for fish means lower metabolish which means less O2.

More exposed surface = faster dissipation of heat. So if you're amibient room temperature is low (electric heating) then you're going to want to avoid this, but if you have a wood or gas heater and room temperature is stable, then I would say this isn't a bad idea.

I was more concerned with heat loss. But I guess in summer I should be more concered with O2 and take the lids off?


My 100 has gone without power for 12+ hours more than once, everyone made it. Done it once in middle of winter and once in the middle of summer. I'm in TX so 110 in summer and 35 in winter.

This is good to hear. What temp did your tank drop to during your winter black out?
Al.

[ericatdallas]

I was more concerned with heat loss. But I guess in summer I should be more concered with O2 and take the lids off?


Yup. High temp -> less dissolved O2

In the summer, if your ambient temperature is greater than 75F I wouldn't even worry about it and just pop the lids off. A battery powered air pump is good to have too for transporting fish, but I highly doubt you'll need it.

In the winter, heat loss is a bigger concern, but a glass aquarium with a lots of water keeps heat pretty well.

My house runs of gas, so if I can keep my room temperature at a level that's comfortable to my family, I wouldn't even worry about the tank even if it lasts a few days as long as I keep the tank/house above 70F (IMO, although the discus could get stressed but you're talking about weighing your options to risks, so that's my risk analysis for my house and not buying a generator).

Another way to think about it, in such a severe storm, gas would be hard to get to power your generator anyway, and the last thing you need to worry about is fish for such extended power losses.

A thought though and it's totally impractical...

With a gas water heater, you could manually warm up your tank forever (or until your back gives out from buckets).

[ericatdallas]

oh, and another oxygen idea is to just keep an O2 tank (impractical if that's all you use it for) or use those O2 dissolving tablets for transporting fish on hand...

[jlcoop277]

My tank is normally around 86 and the winter one it dropped down around 76-78 the Discus slowed way down and stayed towards the top of the tank. The summer one I have no idea how hot it got we had to go spend the night with my folks bc it was to hot for us. I didnt lose anybody or any plants so I guess maybe not that hot.

[Sean Buehrle]

Turn your oven on it will warm your house up a bit.
If it's electric just put a lighter under the thermo coupler to get it to release gas and viola, heat.

You can get the hair on your arm burnt off so be ready to move quick, lol.
Don't laugh, it works pretty well :)

[Wes]

My fish stay nice and warm.69842 It comes in cobolt, snake skin and leopard prints.:jester:

[dbfzurowski]

+1 on the battery air pump. I use mine for fishing and sometimes for my tank. We had a lot of outages this year and during the 1st one(3-4days) I lost a lot of fish. I got me self a small generator, size of a 21" monitor rated at 1500W. Perfect for my tank and fridge(gots to keep that beer cold lol).

[MKD]

In cold season, put a big pot of water on stove and let boil. That keeps it warm very quick.

Ps: think you did very much what you could. I probably do the same thing to what you did. but people are giving you ideas for next time.