What do you do during power outages

[LosC]

Somethin got me thinkin the other day about the big black out we had up here years back. How did you save your fish from dying? I have no idea what I would do with my fish in a long power outage.

[Gemstone]

Ramguy I would also very much like the answer to that question. We have power problems on a regular basis. It does not matter so much during the summer months as S. A. has a lovely climate during summer, but winter can be a problem especially at the high altitude that we live, and it can get quite cold here.

Would therefor also like to hear any suggestions as to what one can do?

[Ark6ie]

hope and pray it dont last too long lol,
i now we had an all day one here once but luckily it was summer so i didnt have to worry much. id be hopeful of some better ideas though :18:

[bmvbab]

Hi, I have outages like everyday, but for only an hour or a couple of hours. I have an old PII machine running as a server at my home, so I have cascaded 2 ups for it which combined can last around 40 minutes...I have my filter and aerator connected to the same and they run for about 30 minutes on the whole. So its just a matter of another 1 max on any given day. So they are fine.
I did read (probably in AC itself) that if the output of the UPS is sinusoidal, then the equipment are safe.

[Boertjie]

I would say to keep your temperature right, fill a plastic bag with hot water en regulate the temperature like that.
As far as water movement is concerned there is a nice new pump on the market that can work from battery supply up to 30 hours.
Considering all the power failures in SA, I think we must invest in one of those. *flickering my eyes at Gemstone*
:hmm3grin2orange:

[gem]

Penn Plax makes a battery powered air pump. That can help oxegenate the water during a somewhat long outage. I would say that would work best for a FW tank. For you SW people??? Get yourself a generator!!! I recently had a 16 hour power outage after a 102 degree day. Thank God it happened at 6 pm and my AC had been blasting all day. I still lost my pulsing Xenia, which in turn made a bit of a mess of my tank and left a few other corals suffering. They still haven't fully recovered. But I was totally unprepared!!! So all I could do was pray for the power to come on.
While a power outage is bad for freshwater tanks as well...IME it's far more devestating to a reef tank!
I had no power for 2 days with my fw tank once and it came out just fine.

[FordForever]

I second the UPS...You can also build an emergency backup that would run your filter and air pump in an emergency out of a power inverter and a car battery...We have hurricanes here and I can say im not looking forward to the added stress of keeping my fish safe while at the same time dealing with the other troubles when a storm hits.

[jbeining75]

Battery backup or a generator is what I use. If mnothing else keep up the water changes every 1-2 hours or so...

They make emergency oxygen tabs you can toss in the water also. Any surface aggitation will get some O2 into the water also.

[skinni]

here is an idea for getting air into the tank.... you know those cheap tire pumps they sell at like autozone or walmart. Well they make those with the battery clamps on them to hook to a car battery... so you pick one of those up, they always come with those little fittings that screw into the end for blowing up rafts and balls and stuff. you could use the cone shaped fitting for a raft and hook some airline to it, then just keep a charged marine battery and you set... you wouldnt want to leave one of those little pump running constantly but you could def cycle it on and off and im willing to bet it would last a few days on a decent marine battery.

just an idea i had while reading this

[jb300m01]

I have a battery powered air pump that automatically comes on when the power goes out. I have it rigged to the air lines. If I'm home, I'll take the biowheel out and float it in the tank too. The power has only gone out once since I started my aquriums a few months back.

[Sniffles]

We invested in a generator a few years ago.Comes in handy even for the fridge.