Power outage what to do??

[th3budd]

For those who don't have one yet, I ordered a few battery powered air pumps brand new on ebay for about 6$ a piece.
In a pinch Ebay wouldn't work obviously but at that price I figured it was worth grabbing a few.

When those pumps arrive and you've had a chance to test them can you shoot me a PM to let me know what you think (and the Ebay link).

[th3budd]

Sorry I'm late to the party - crisis has probably passed already...

Freshwater tanks should be fine for days without water movement. There is still an exchange of gas (oxygen and CO2) at the surface, it is just much less without agitation. And a temperature drop over time would also not be much of an impact. It will be very slow and gradual so it won't shock the fish or anything - tropical tanks at room temperature will be fine for a while...  Temperature should only be a concern if your house is no longer heated and its middle of winter!

The biggest threat in a power failure is actually canister filters - the beneficial bacteria in them will die off in 2-4 hours of no water movement (its a sealed environment so there is no air exchange), and when this happens, the minute the power is restored, the canister dumps a load of dead bacteria (i.e. ammonia) into the tank, thus polluting it quite heavily.  If you know power is going to be out for an extended period, your best bet is to unplug your canisters then clean them out when power is restored - if its a mature tank, then the mini cycle shouldn't impact anything.

Another alternative, is just keep a charged portable battery pack on hand at home (those Motomaster units you use to jump start a car). Much simpler than battery air pumps, especially if you have multiple tanks. Get a unit that has outlets on it and keep it handy and charged.  I think I paid $100 for mine and have used it on a number of occasions to keep my canister filters going on my bigger tanks. Last major power outage I ran a canister off it for almost 12 hours...  And if it looks like it will be a really long outage, just turn it on for a few minutes every couple hours...

I suppose you could also take the media out of your filter, rinse it in tank water to remove debris, and submerge it in the tank for the duration - esp if you have a battery powered air pump in the tank.

[exv152]

I was really worried about an extended power outage with my 125g. Turns out the worst part was about an hour or two of a some cloudy water. But I think the volume of 125g, combined with a really low fish bio load, and tons of aeration from some heavy duty pumps (once the power came on), helped accelerate the mini cycle. That plus i added some Chloramx to neutralize any ammonia, and so far so good. Water is crystal clear. But I'm not taking any chances so I've severely cut back on the feeding so the fish don't produce too much waste.