Aquariums and power outages....

[Gerwin]

Having been running a aquarium store since 1976 and having stayed through every Hurricane that came through the Mississippi Gulf Coast since Hurricane Camile, including Katrina, Fredrick, Elaine , George of which power was lost for all of them, I think I may have a decent idea of how long you have and what you can do.

Freshwater tanks obviously do better than Marine aquariums but here are some things I have observed.

1. Obviously a generator is the best option keeping the pumps and filters in operation. There is no need to run the lights especially down south where AC may not be a option only raising the temperature further.

2. Any way you can agitate the surface of the water will help you maintain your aquariums for extended periods of time, even if done off and on through out the day. Including battery operated air pumps, or even picking up water from the tank with a pitcher and pouring it back in.

3. Unless you are out for more than 3-4 days I would not even feed the fish at all, and if you do feed, it needs to be MINIMUM amount to keep fish alive (we are not trying to make anyone fat during this time).

4. Even doing nothing at all I have seen little problems in tanks that are not over populated for 3 days on Salt tanks and 6 Days on Fresh tanks.

Your biggest problem after no aeration or filtration is the biological filter, it will begin to go dormant and then you have water quality issues such as ammonia, so frequent water changes if capable is IMPORTANT as well as water changes after power comes back on.

So there you go, the keep it simple thoughts of Gerwin on your power outage issues. More questions? feel free to ask I will answer as best I can as well as all the others with tanks that survived Katrina and many more...

[Sandy]

I don't know if this will help anyone or not, but one thing I use during power outages is a bait saver pump you can buy in the fishing department at walmarts. I extended the wires on it, drilled a few extra holes in the white pvc pipe, and keep it near my tank so when the power goes out, we go get a boat battery (that has a full charge on it) and hook it up to the pump. The pump has suction cups on the bottom of it so I just push it onto the glass just under the top of the water. Works great for me keeping the water circulating. It will run for 6 to 8 hours if the battery has a good charge on it. I also have my regular return pump plugged into a backup battery. Only bad thing there is that the backup battery only last about 45 minutes.(It is also about 10 years old) I know they do make bigger back up batteries, but they get very pricey. And last but not least. The good old generator. Plugged my aquarium equipment into it after Katrina. Lucky for me I did not loose any corals or fish, and we were without power for a good two weeks or so. Hope some of this helps.

[Gerwin]

brought this back to the top for reading since power outage this week may happen

[Gerwin]

as a fyi, we do have some battery operated pumps in the shop still, they use D cell batteries and will last up to 72 hours on batteries, they work great and offer peace of mind.

REMEMBER DO NOT FEED YOUR TANK!!!! I doubt few people are more knowing on this subject then I as having a fish store surviving multiple hits and power outages. You DO NOT want to add to the bio load.....and remove anything that dies ASAP!!

Pond owners..... you will surprised how fast your koi will die, with out pumps....its even faster than aquariums, try to get a generator to them as well if you can.

[Archie]

Pond owners..... you will surprised how fast your koi will die, with out pumps....its even faster than aquariums, try to get a generator to them as well if you can.

aint that the truth. during katrina my generator went out one night. woke up early next morning and noticed my fish were gasping for air. had to bury about dozen of my favorite koi that morning.

generator was off maybe 6 hours at the most. my pond at that time was about 5000 gallons of water. was a sad day at the april's house.