Expectations after power outage?

Benga · Jan 11, 2018

I'm expected to have a power outage tomorrow, my tank sitter told me they got a letter the day before so pretty short notice. The outage is 5 hours and I haven't gotten a UPS for my tank yet.

What kinds of loss should I expect, I'm worried about temperature and water aeration mostly. I told my tank sitter to just scoop up water and spill it back in from a little height and hopefully that will help with aeration but other than that I think im out of luck.

So what kinds of loss should I expect in a 40 Breeder with 3 fish and 2 soft corals?

Ocelaris · Jan 11, 2018

Can you get a battery powered airstone? I think that's going to be the limiting factor, 5 hours is a long time. It's hard to say, sorry to hear, nothing worse than getting bad news when you're away. I think you may be fine if the fish do ok, but you may have some bacteria die off without added oxygen in the tank. If your tank sitter can run to the pet store and get a cheap battery powered air stone or ups and air stone, you should be ok. Maybe wrap the tank in blankets if possible to conserve heat.

Daltrey · Jan 11, 2018

Any place that sells fishing gear, petco, petsmart or lfs should have a battery powered air stone. I use these kayak fishing to keep bait fish alive all day. I would see if your sitter could pick one up.

https://www.amazon.com/Marine-Metal-Aeratr-Bubble-1-5V/dp/B000EYULIS

Porpoise Hork · Jan 11, 2018

Go by a Best Buy or anyplace that sells Computer UPS systems and pick up one with a 300-450W rating. Call around to some of the local LFS and look to see if any of them sell the battery powered airpumps as well as something like this.

https://www.amazon.com/Jebao-PP-4-5...693154&sr=8-1-spell&keywords=jeabo+wave+maker

This or any small DC powered water pump on a decently sized UPS should hast for hours to add circulation to the system. The battery powered air pump is also a great option but I would look for the kind that connect to wall voltage like this one.

https://www.amazon.com/Battery-Oper...ywords=battery+operated+air+pump+for+aquarium

These will kick on as soon as they detect a loss in power, so you would connect it and the DC pump only to the UPS and the two should last through the outage.

As for the water temp, bring the house temp up to near your tank temp so you will have minimal temperature change as the tank loses heat. 1-3 degrees is nothing to the system, but anything more than that could start to impact more sensitive corals.

Benga · Jan 11, 2018

Ocelaris said:
Can you get a battery powered airstone? I think that's going to be the limiting factor, 5 hours is a long time. It's hard to say, sorry to hear, nothing worse than getting bad news when you're away. I think you may be fine if the fish do ok, but you may have some bacteria die off without added oxygen in the tank. If your tank sitter can run to the pet store and get a cheap battery powered air stone or ups and air stone, you should be ok. Maybe wrap the tank in blankets if possible to conserve heat.

Daltrey said:
Any place that sells fishing gear, petco, petsmart or lfs should have a battery powered air stone. I use these kayak fishing to keep bait fish alive all day. I would see if your sitter could pick one up.

https://www.amazon.com/Marine-Metal-Aeratr-Bubble-1-5V/dp/B000EYULIS

Porpoise Hork said:
Go by a Best Buy or anyplace that sells Computer UPS systems and pick up one with a 300-450W rating. Call around to some of the local LFS and look to see if any of them sell the battery powered airpumps as well as something like this.

https://www.amazon.com/Jebao-PP-4-5...693154&sr=8-1-spell&keywords=jeabo+wave+maker

This or any small DC powered water pump on a decently sized UPS should hast for hours to add circulation to the system. The battery powered air pump is also a great option but I would look for the kind that connect to wall voltage like this one.

https://www.amazon.com/Battery-Oper...ywords=battery+operated+air+pump+for+aquarium

These will kick on as soon as they detect a loss in power, so you would connect it and the DC pump only to the UPS and the two should last through the outage.

As for the water temp, bring the house temp up to near your tank temp so you will have minimal temperature change as the tank loses heat. 1-3 degrees is nothing to the system, but anything more than that could start to impact more sensitive corals.

Thankfully it turns out that the power is going to only go out briefly some time between 9AM-2PM instead of being out the entire period. So maybe half an hour to hour most. I shouldn't have to worry about any loss during from a period like that but I got lucky haha. Time to get a UPS and other stuff in the event it really does go out. Thank you all for the information and product suggestions!

revhtree · Jan 11, 2018

I have had power go out for at least 5 hrs before with no loss. Glad though it's going to be shorter!

ca1ore · Jan 11, 2018

Even if it were 5 hours, and given the stocking level, I think you would have been fine. FWIW, the 40B has a higher surface to volume ration than most tanks, which is good for helping to maintain O2 levels; and living in CA helps without the really low temperatures.

Porpoise Hork · Jan 11, 2018

That's good to know your power should not be out as long as previously stated. This is does provide a good window into what we should do to plan ahead for types of events like scheduled and unscheduled power outages so the life support systems on our tanks will stay on.

ca1ore · Jan 11, 2018

I have made this comment multiple time is multiple places. If we are the be faced with increasingly extreme weather, as it appears, then power outages will become more common. If you have a sizable investment in a reef tank, it makes no sense not to have a power loss plan .... one that involves more than just hoping and hand wringing. Without a portable generator, and the ETM battery backups, I'd have lost my tank on at least two occasions.

Daltrey · Jan 11, 2018

I have a marine battery hooked up to my mp40 powerheads. When the power goes out it automatically switches over to battery power. Would last about a week powering just my two mp40's.

I periodically test everything by flipping both breakers running my tank. Once I have more invested I will definitely have a generator for backup.

Fishninja · Jan 11, 2018

I went through Irma and my tank survived with no losses for a week just with a wooden airstone and frozen water bottles.

Luna · Jan 11, 2018

What is a UPS

Daltrey · Jan 11, 2018

Luna said:
What is a UPS

An uninteruptable power supply. Basically a big enough battery to supply power for anywhere from a few hours to a day or two depending on how you size it and what equipment you have it run.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B000...ywords=ups&dpPl=1&dpID=41ZpxIiuVVL&ref=plSrch