Power Cuts and Tropical Fish!?

Question

I just had a scare. It's 3am and we just had a powercut.

The thing is should it happen again lets say within the next 2 hours, now that I at least have my internet working for this moment in time - can anyone of you experts tell me what on earth I can do in an event of a powercut? My fish all look well, they're quiet but it's usual for this time of night less activity, obviously the temp has dropped but the heater is up and running now and the filter is an external one. I made sure the air pump and fliter taps were closed so no worrying at least when it comes having leaks and power splurges.

I have a Tropical Tank, it's a huge tank now, with 2 glass fish, 1 ram, 1 molly, 1 loach 3 small tetras, a gourami dwarf and a albino, and bruno my little alge feeder, and one male fighting fish.

Can anyone give me any advice should I fall in the event of a powercut? I dont want my fish to suffer :( And I would stay up all night to make sure they're okay.

Many Thanks
Sara

Answer 1

Unless your tank is severely overstocked, your fish should be fine for up to 24 hours.

How huge is your huge tank? Your list of fish would need minimally a 20 gallon tank to be housed comfortably for more than a few months.

The algae eater, depending on type, can get anywhere from six inches to two feet and will eventually require as large as a 50 gallon tank all to itself.

Answer 2

You don't give the size of the tank, but the larger it is, the more stable the temperature will be. If possible, you could wrap the sides with a blanket or sleeping bag if you expect the outage to last a long time. As long as the temperature decreases slowly, tropical fish can withstand temperatures to 70o or lower for short periods. Just be careful to raise the temperature equally slowly (a few degrees per hour), so you don't shock the fish.

You should also make sure that your filters don't drain back into the tank so they dry out - if that happens, scoop water into the filter to keep the media wet. For power outages lasting longer than 30 minutes - 1 hr, you should put the filter media in a low, wide container of tank water and unplug the filter. If there's only 1-2 inches of water in the container, oxygen can diffuse that far, so the bacteria should survive. Without oxygen, the bacteria will start to die and hydrogen sulfide gas can begin to be produced, and this can adversely affect the fish when it goes into your tank. This is particularly important if you use a canister filter.

The fish can be okay up to 3 hrs or so without the filter/airstone running. After that time, the amount of oxygen is going to be fairly low. You can periodically "swish" the water at the surface, or use a small container to scoop and pour some of the water to increase water movement and oxygen/carbon dioxide exchange. There are also battery-operated airstones you can buy from pet stores and sporting goods stores (used in bait buckets). The batteries generally last 12-16 hrs and will provide more constant aeration.

You can also help your fish by keeping them inactive so they use less oxygen. Keep the tank wrapped so it stays dark (you fish will think it's night). They'll settle to the bottom, where the least oxygen will be found, so water movemnt will be important. Don't worry about feeding your fish during the blackout -most can go days without eating, and with the loss of oxygen and filtration, plus decrease in water temperature, they won't eat as much.

Answer 3

Most important thing to consider is the oxygen content in the water. Lights should be the least of your worries during a power outage.
The easiest and most economical way to maintain prper O2 levels is to purchse a battery powered air pump. When buying an air pump, make sure you buy one that can provide enough CFM to agitate the water surface.

There are plenty of expensive battery backup systems on the market that will power you whole tank with power. Like I said, EXPENSIVE.

A 5 -15 cfm battey powered air pump will be enough for a 55 gallon tank to "survive" for about a week. Try this site:

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/NavResults.cfm?N=2004+113402

Answer 4

a ability outage of say, an hour or so, shouldn't reason any issues, it relatively is whilst the flexibility cut back lasts for various hours which you need to start panicking. many human beings hardship appropriate to the temperature of the tank, besides the shown fact that water is rather stable at preserving in warmth or maybe interior the area of various hours, the water ought to in basic terms drop via around 2-3 levels. maximum fish can tolerate a slow substitute in water temperature conveniently. throughout the time of the less warm months, you are able to flow plastic bottles of boiling water interior the tank and wrap the aquarium with thick blankets to shield warmth. the ingredient to be irritating approximately is the filter out micro organism. without electrical energy, the filter out pump won't be able to perform, and a consequence the micro organism are not being presented oxygen from water circulate. Bacterial die-off might reason ammonia spikes, so save an extremely close eye on the water high quality throughout the time of the flexibility cut back and don't feed the fish decrease than any situations. i might advise making an investment in one or 2 battery-operated air pumps and place the air stones interior the media basket or, in case you have an inner filter out, decrease than the filter out itself. whilst the flexibility is restored, carry out various great water variations. additionally do no longer feed the fish for some days and save monitoring the water high quality.

Answer 5

if its a big tank u wont have to worry but if you can feel the water dropping fast just add some hot water slowly not boiling lol just do it slowly .... i guess thats all u can do in a power cut but i wouldnt worry about it if the powercut lasts shorter than like 2-3hours

Answer 6

not sure what your biggest concern is -- the temperature could be a problem if you live in a cold climate. not much of a way to heat without electricity.

you can usually go for a couple of days without filtration. you can do partial water changes to keep the aquarium semi-clean. the water changes will add the much needed lost oxygen.

i have had power out for a few days thanks to hurricanes.