Power outage

[clownfish_reefer]

As the title says I’m currently experiencing a power outage at the moment. I have 3 fish in the tank and I’m currently running an air stone for oxygen. The tank is 45 gallons and the temperature is staying consistent at 71 degrees. My main concern is the oxygen not being enough. Trying to do the best I can as I don’t know when the power will return. Should my fish be ok? I see why people always recommend backup generators lol

 

[Isaac Alves]

I think with only three fish in a 45 gallon you should be fine for several hours.

My concern during a long outage is temps either dropping or rising too much, too fast. But water is a good insulator and should be fine for a while in my opinion.

 

[Isaac Alves]

If you expect a longer outage, like longer than a day, you could pick up a cheap inverter and car battery from Walmart / harbor freight to run the return or heaters if it’s getting cold.

 

[clownfish_reefer]

If you expect a longer outage, like longer than a day, you could pick up a cheap inverter and car battery from Walmart / harbor freight to run the return or heaters if it’s getting cold.

Currently running the bubbler and a heater on those jump starter box batteries. Hoping the fish will be ok

 

[Kooma]

If you can cover the top, it will help keep heat in by reducing evaporative cooling. Temps are the big one I always worried about. Id also suggest a sizeable power inverter or generator, plug in the Return and heater. Best of luck!

 

[clownfish_reefer]

If you can cover the top, it will help keep heat in by reducing evaporative cooling. Temps are the big one I always worried about. Id also suggest a sizeable power inverter or generator, plug in the Return and heater. Best of luck!

Sadly don’t have an inverter or heater. Just using a jump starter box for the heater and a little bubbler. Will try to keep everything in check I’m just paranoid to sleep.

 

[PharmrJohn]

Another thing you can do to aerate is taking a two cup glass measuring cup, dip it in, bring out some water and pour it back in. That'll force O2 into the system. But yeah, 3 fish in a 45g doesn't require a lot of O2. Just keep at it and things should work out just fine.

Just rinse the glass really well with some RO water to remove soap residue.

 

[Subsea]

With respect to heater, that’s a big consumer of power. Until temperatures drop below 60, fish do better at lower temperatures as opposed to higher temperatures. Cold water holds more oxygen and it slows down metabolism both of which are good.

 

[clownfish_reefer]

Another thing you can do to aerate is taking a two cup glass measuring cup, dip it in, bring out some water and pour it back in. That'll force O2 into the system. But yeah, 3 fish in a 45g doesn't require a lot of O2. Just keep at it and things should work out just fine.

Just rinse the glass really well with some RO water to remove soap residue.

I will use those brand new plastic party cups, I’ll just do a rinse just in case. Will try to get as much oxygen as possible

 

[clownfish_reefer]

With respect to heater, that’s a big consumer of power. Until temperatures drop below 60, fish do better at lower temperatures as opposed to higher temperatures. Cold water holds more oxygen and it slows down metabolism both of which are good.

Would you recommend turning it off? Whole monitoring the water without the heater on I noticed it sits as 71 degrees. I currently have 2 clowns and manderin dragonet in there. Should they be fine?

 

[PharmrJohn]

I will use those brand new plastic party cups, I’ll just do a rinse just in case. Will try to get as much oxygen as possible

Good enough! Red Solo cups! I remember those from my college years! I tell ya, Medical, Dental and Pharmacy students went through A LOT of Red Solo Cups!

 

[Subsea]

Would you recommend turning it off? Whole monitoring the water without the heater on I noticed it sits as 71 degrees. I currently have 2 clowns and manderin dragonet in there. Should they be fine?

If you are on battery backup, then turn off heater to extend battery capacity. I would not plug in heater unless temperature goes below 65 degrees.

When I operated mariculture outdoors, I saw no damage to fish & shrimps until temperatures got into the 50’s. The fish were hardy Sergeant Major damsels & green mollies which were caught at jetties on Texas Gulf Coast.

 

[Malcontent]

Airstones are astonishingly effective (7X greater O2 transfer per watt than wavemakers) if placed at depth. I think you'll be fine.

 

[Subsea]

In a people emergency, know this, 100 fold more humans die to cold than heat. So, in the winter, during a power failure, heat is a priority. For that purpose, I recommend for $120 this portable propane heater that has two important safety features: low oxygen shutdown and tip over shutdown.

Mr Heater 4000 to 18000 BTU 3 Setting Portable LP Gas Heater Unit with Dual Tank Connection for Indoor and Outdoor Use​

Amazon product

Special Feature

Portable, Low-Oxygen Safety Shutoff, Tip-over Protection

 

[temphermitcrab]

Hi,

We just lost power for 24 hours as well so I can tell you what I did. We didn't have a battery backup or generator and Home Depot was already closed. From what people had posted I thought I was looking at a disaster after a few hours so I didn't think pouring the water was going to be enough. I believed that Oxygen, temperature, and circulation were the things to focus on. At least hourly I used a battery powered milk frother I have to create bubbles for a few minutes. Before I thought of the frother I was going to use a manual egg beater to do the same thing. I don't have a mechanical thermometer so I wasn't sure the temperature but the water felt cool. I started filling large bottles with boiled water from our gas stove, made sure they wouldn't leak, and floated them in the water while using the frother to slightly circulate the water. This worked well but I should have been more aggressive since the temperature got much lower than I realized - 71.8 degrees.

By the next morning (after 12 hours) everything appeared alive and I kept hearing from DWP that the power would come back on so I didn't buy a generator, even after Home Depot opened. It turned out that the power would be off anther 12 hours. When the power came back everything was alive and looked ok. Weirdly my Acros had really good PE. It's been 15 hours since the power came back and one Acro is RTNing but everything else looks fine.

I hope your power comes back soon and everything ends up fine!

 

[clownfish_reefer]

Hi,

We just lost power for 24 hours as well so I can tell you what I did. We didn't have a battery backup or generator and Home Depot was already closed. From what people had posted I thought I was looking at a disaster after a few hours so I didn't think pouring the water was going to be enough. I believed that Oxygen, temperature, and circulation were the things to focus on. At least hourly I used a battery powered milk frother I have to create bubbles for a few minutes. Before I thought of the frother I was going to use a manual egg beater to do the same thing. I don't have a mechanical thermometer so I wasn't sure the temperature but the water felt cool. I started filling large bottles with boiled water from our gas stove, made sure they wouldn't leak, and floated them in the water while using the frother to slightly circulate the water. This worked well but I should have been more aggressive since the temperature got much lower than I realized - 71.8 degrees.

By the next morning (after 12 hours) everything appeared alive and I kept hearing from DWP that the power would come back on so I didn't buy a generator, even after Home Depot opened. It turned out that the power would be off anther 12 hours. When the power came back everything was alive and looked ok. Weirdly my Acros had really good PE. It's been 15 hours since the power came back and one Acro is RTNing but everything else looks fine.

I hope your power comes back soon and everything ends up fine!

Bad news. I woke around 4 am to my smaller clown dead and my air pump off. Put new batteries immediately and hoped other clown was ok. Checked temp it was around 68 and other clown seemed ok just swimming. Woke up around 7 am to find my bigger clown laying on the floor breathing at a medium pace. In my best attempt to save it I put it in a specimen container with the air pump to try to get some air in its system. Also made the water a bit warmer with the heater by like 3 degrees to try not to shock it. Sadly it didn’t make it. Only survivor is the mandarin at the moment. Just laying on the bottom breathing. I was thinking of getting a bucket and put all my cleanup crew and the remaining fish in there. I would put warm water bottles and the air stone in there. I feel I need more temp control at the moment. Any help would be appreciated

 

[FUNGI]

I lost power 48 hours.
125G. Water temp dropped below 68.
I boiled water from tank in large aluminium pot and floated the pot and put water in tank slowly.....after lots of pots, brought water temp to approx 72....I think thats what saved my tank....no pump for air.....I think the tanks surface area is large enough for gas exchange.....

 

[clownfish_reefer]

I lost power 48 hours.
125G. Water temp dropped below 68.
I boiled water from tank in large aluminium pot and floated the pot and put water in tank slowly.....after lots of pots, brought water temp to approx 72....I think thats what saved my tank....no pump for air.....I think the tanks surface area is large enough for gas exchange.....

I’m trying that out at the moment. Temp was at 65 I raised it to 67. My goat is to get it back to 70 at least. Just wishing for the best. I’m not sure if putting all my livestock in a bucket and heating it up in there would be a better approach

 

[FUNGI]

I’m trying that out at the moment. Temp was at 65 I raised it to 67. My goat is to get it back to 70 at least. Just wishing for the best. I’m not sure if putting all my livestock in a bucket and heating it up in there would be a better approach

you have any corals? If so, better heating the whole tank otherwise, yeah put in bucket with a bubbler...and slowly (maybe drip?) the hot water in....good luck. My power came back on last night at 11......where you located?

 

[dansyr]

Hot water into plastic water bottles is the way to go, if you have operable gas stove. Was without power all yesterday and previous night (came back late last night) and this is what I was doing.

Caveat, note it's important to have an air stone or pump moving water while hot water bottles are floating to be effective, and filling them mostly full so they are mostly submerged gets you the most efficiency.

I keep my tanks around 78 so I targeted keeping them above 73, so far so good.

Sorry to hear about your losses so far - do you have power yet?