snapperhead Posted June 21, 2013 Report Share Posted June 21, 2013 What do you do when you have a black out, in terms of fish keeping? Due to the horrible weather in Wellington I have been out of power for 1 night and 1 day (until now). My tropical fish tank dropped to a freezing temperature of 8-9 degrees Celsius which ended up in some losses. :dead%fish Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
livingart Posted June 21, 2013 Report Share Posted June 21, 2013 generator and alternate between flow and heat if its not a big one have used gas to heat water for tank before Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
critter_crazy Posted June 21, 2013 Report Share Posted June 21, 2013 I'd probably have to throw a thick duvet or blankets over the top and hope for the best! :facepalm: Might consider adding hot water to the tank if it got really cold but I'd rather it stay cold than fluctuate too much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SamH Posted June 21, 2013 Report Share Posted June 21, 2013 Plan A is to run around the house screaming until the power comes on. Failing that, Plan B is to cover the tanks as best as possible with anything I can find, usually thick blankets like CC said. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrienne Posted June 21, 2013 Report Share Posted June 21, 2013 Until last October, when we moved house, we were on a backup generator. Now if the power goes out I will run a heavy duty extension cord to my neighbours house as they are on a backup generator and we are not! We have one gas heater that runs without requiring power as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jackp Posted June 21, 2013 Report Share Posted June 21, 2013 If you're really concerned about it you could get a UPS Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amtiskaw Posted June 21, 2013 Report Share Posted June 21, 2013 What about a cheap little gas camping stove? A bit manual, but as long as you are about you could keep heating up pans of tank water every so often. I might figure out how much power my filters and heater use Every once and a while we have old server rack mount UPSs available for next to nothing - 3000 KVA. I wonder how long that would run an aquarium for? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
calculator Posted June 21, 2013 Report Share Posted June 21, 2013 My plans are to wrap the tanks up as well as I can. If it goes on for to long our stove is a gas stove that doesn't require power, so I will just heat up water and add it to the tank to keep it warm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr A Posted June 21, 2013 Report Share Posted June 21, 2013 If you're really concerned about it you could get a UPS This is actually a good idea, but in practical terms how long is it going to last (or rather: how much is it going to COST to get it to last for a long time). I guess the other thing would be to warm the room the tank is in up to as much as possible, thus reducing the deltaT between the tank and ambient temperature. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blueether Posted June 21, 2013 Report Share Posted June 21, 2013 I'll go and grab one of the 3.5 kva generators from work, and I have a 600w UPS and a 1.2 kw inverter that I could always run off the car. If I had a lot of money in stock (maybe marine) I would think about buying a cheep 2 - 2.5 kva generator, can be found for under $500 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maxim_nz Posted June 22, 2013 Report Share Posted June 22, 2013 I was 18hrs without power.. My tropical tank was wrapped in a very warm sleeping bag all night, nothing else used and I hoped for the best. Temp was 19C in morning, kept sleeping bag all over it during the day, and in the morning I used a car 12V to 240V inverter via a long extension lead to only run airpump. No loses. I was using BBQ to heat water/cook lunch, so filled a empty wine bottle with high temp water (not hot enough to crack glass) and I immersed it in tank. Did this twice till the power came on and temps did not decrease further. Using a glass bottle stopped the hot water shock that others talk about, and allowed the heat from the hot water to transfer into the tank water gradually. I did have a UPS which would have kept tank going for about 4hours if I disconnected heater and light, however reports online about fixes to power suggested it would ages, so I concluded the power outage time would way exceed my UPS battery life, I had to do other as above. Going to ensure my battery backup solution is heavily reinforced and solar panels (120W) which would be good enough to keep an airpump and filter going via battery are becoming affordable, so might get one or two.. If anyone in Wellington is desperate I have a UPS charged to give you a few hours relief.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rabid Posted June 22, 2013 Report Share Posted June 22, 2013 Breakdown lounge suite and bed base for firewood, car radiator, 200l drum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sophia Posted June 22, 2013 Report Share Posted June 22, 2013 :slfg: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaide Posted June 22, 2013 Report Share Posted June 22, 2013 Luckily for me it's only been for short amount of times that power has been off so I cover the tanks with blankets. Though some parts of Wgtn have had no power for days so blankets wouldn't really cut it. I wonder how power cuts affect those people who are dependent on power, such as the woman who was plugged into a respirator (I think it was) - there was a huge uproar when the power company disconnected them for unpaid bills, yet what would happen in a power cut - too bad lady? I wonder if there's some sort of system in place if you have dependents who require power to live that you could be reconnected somehow or they have a back up system? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
calculator Posted June 22, 2013 Report Share Posted June 22, 2013 When that happened dad (who works with the power board) brought that point up every time there was a news article on the tv. That is something the hospital should have planned for. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aer0 Posted June 22, 2013 Report Share Posted June 22, 2013 Well I just had power back on last night after 50 hours without power... how i survived with 6 tanks and zero deaths... All thanks insulated with blankets or similar, especially the tops. Almost constant emptying of 10 lires from each tank, heating on the gas stove and syphoning back in... you have to do this a few times on a 600 litre tank to actually make a difference. kept them wrapped up overnight and more water changes in the mornings straight away. I now know someone locally with a spare 2.2kw generator that will run all my tanks with ease though... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishy11 Posted June 23, 2013 Report Share Posted June 23, 2013 All very good ideas I use to keep discus in a 215L tank, and they somehow managed to survive overnight when my temperature dropped to 8 degrees overnight from 30 degrees. And this was all because one of my foster kittens found the heater plug and somehow managed to unplug it :-? Best of luck to those who still do not have power in wellington Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ismart120 Posted September 22, 2013 Report Share Posted September 22, 2013 During the worst power outage (11 or so days), just had a blanket over top while running an aerator for the last two (generator couldn't power the heater) Lost a few but as the temp went down slowly and I spaced feedings out a heap more it wasn't half as bad as it could have been. Would prob go with more blankets though and remove the plants faster (they died before the fish) if it did happen again Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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