heat wave + power outage

d0ughb0y

Active member
yesterday, we had a 5 hour power outage. The tank temp only came up less than 1 degree, from 78.6 to 79.4 and ph went from 8.28 to 8.2. I did not have any battery powered air pump or power head in the tank the whole time.

I've only experienced power outage during winter and it seems temp comes down faster than it goes up.
 
My 120g tank reached 82.8 yesterday. In a cool summer day the tank is about 78-79.

I used a fan overnight to cool it down to 79F.

Wonder if it is better without a fan (higher but more stable temp).
 
yesterday, we had a 5 hour power outage. The tank temp only came up less than 1 degree, from 78.6 to 79.4 and ph went from 8.28 to 8.2. I did not have any battery powered air pump or power head in the tank the whole time.

I've only experienced power outage during winter and it seems temp comes down faster than it goes up.

I wouldn't worry about it. Small fluctuations are pretty common due to heater hysteresis. I think I read an advanced aquarist article at one point that some coral reefs are as warm as low-mid 80s with no I'll effects across sps lps etc.
 
I was actually surprised the temp change was small. we all left the house 1 hour after power outage and went some place with AC to cool down and did not return after 4 hours and I was expecting the water temp to be much higher (house ambient went up by 6 degrees) and was surprised to find out it had a small change. And I did not have anything to make water movement. maybe that was key to keep temp stable.
 
I grabbed a small generator from Walmart during a sale. I paid $120 for it and probably won't need to use it. I've got that on hand along with a small chiller.
 
I have a small generator I got from Costco more than 5 years ago. I had brought some gasoline before coming home in case power was still out. I just transferred the gasoline to my truck. Don't want to keep a gas can full of gas inside hot garage.

I have used the generator 3 times, all during winter, twice for over 24 hour power outage.

Harbor freight sells one for $89.
 
My tank went to 88, had to run my tank with the lights off today. Been swapping out frozen water bottles to lower the temperature.

So far all of my fish are ok, hopefully, my corals make it through.

I'm scared about this Thursday, it's going to reach 96 in Hayward. D:
 
Last edited:
first time heat wave experience

first time heat wave experience

most of my tanks were at 87 yesterday, and fish didn't mind. All the fish in those tanks at 87 were swimming normal, chasing each other like as usual and were eating happily whatever I threw in. However, one tank near the door went to 94, and only two species didn't take it well. I didn't know that one tank near the door got that hot. I found out when I was measuring the temp for all of the tanks yesterday.

Even at 94 in that tank, Tangs, damsels, chromis, hawkfish were all doing fine without any symptoms; however, the wrasses could only take that 94 F for 3 hrs, they started showing signs of heat stroke. After another hour, the angels started showing symptoms. Other than these two species, rest of the fish were acting normal. I was very surprised. so the msds for wrasses and angels is 93F. Wrasse 50 at 4 hrs/93F. what that means is: at 93 F if you have hundred wrasses then 50 will die in 4hrs. Take it with a grain of salt as other parameters such as dissolved oxygen etc varies from tank to tank.

Same goes for angels too at 93F.

Again, ALL other fish species were acting normal. I'm sure they would have started showing symptoms if the TEMP went up any further (not sure how many more degrees up from 94 for that to happen) or if they were kept at 94 more than 4hrs. Finally, I put some ice on that tank and brought it down couple of degree down.

Ran a 12" corrosion resistant fan sweeping the horizontal surface of the water on that tank, and the T went down to 84 within 5 hrs and today it went even further down and stays at 81 while the rest of the tanks are at 85 right now.

Very strange, surprising, and interesting findings. Just wanted to share my experience.
 
Well....our neighborhood lost power for 3 hours at 5p today. Since we really never lose power in our hood, I don't have any sort of backups. Not knowing how long we were going to be out of power, I plugged in a cigarette lighter inverter into our car and ran a long extension cord into the house which gave me about 120w. From there, I plugged a couple of my MP40s into it and moved them up high towards the surface to agitate the water. All was fine when power was restored a few hours later. But, it taught me a lesson that I should probably setup battery backups for MP40s. Glad I was home when it happened.
 
agreed

agreed

Well....our neighborhood lost power for 3 hours at 5p today. Since we really never lose power in our hood, I don't have any sort of backups. Not knowing how long we were going to be out of power, I plugged in a cigarette lighter inverter into our car and ran a long extension cord into the house which gave me about 120w. From there, I plugged a couple of my MP40s into it and moved them up high towards the surface to agitate the water. All was fine when power was restored a few hours later. But, it taught me a lesson that I should probably setup battery backups for MP40s. Glad I was home when it happened.

They die like flies with oxygen depletion. I need to think about some sort of back up too. When the power goes out, at least some sort of air pump should kick in and bubble the air through the water column.
 
They die like flies with oxygen depletion. I need to think about some sort of back up too. When the power goes out, at least some sort of air pump should kick in and bubble the air through the water column.



That's what I was expecting. That's why I was surprised to see ph only dropped a little bit, from 8.28 to 8.2 (based on apex log) over five hours with absolutely no water movement. I do think some water movement is still preferred.
 
My tank has been hitting 86-87 degrees this week. Three fish missing so far. I'm considering picking up a chiller this weekend. :headwally:
 
My main 250 gallon SPS tank got up to about 78.5. I normally keep it around 76.5 because of some of the fish I keep. However, my 55 gallon LPS tank and 55 gallon frag tank both got up to 86+. I didn't see any adverse affects. I was pretty surprised. I bought some more fans so I don't see that happening again.
 
A fan across the top of the water will chill a tank exceptionally well from evaporation even if the outside temp is higher than the water temp. I have a chiller on an old tank but I would only buy one now if I was building a cold-water tank.

Also when power is out, pumps, skimmers, etc usually are off, so the tank looses all that heat producing equipment and will slowly adjust towards something less than room temperature(evaporation is still chilling the tank). Unless the house is 90+ I wouldn't worry about it getting too hot. Just get something to keep the water moving, otherwise everything will suffer and start to die from oxygen depletion.

Wintertime is usually a much worse situation, because you loose all the heat producing equipment and the house can quickly get down to ~60 or less, and with evaporation still happening, the tank temp will drop fast!

I have a UPC for my newer reef tank, it is set up on only the gyre - so I can go 24 hours with no power any not be worried at all. My old reef has the vortech battery backup on an MP40, so it is supposed to last 36 hours.

I would avoid bubbles if possible, they make a mess with the salt getting everywhere.
 
maybe not in the winter. you need to run your heater.

so for people with solar, do you continue to get power even if pge is out during time with sunlight?
is the power enough to power everything in the house? fridge, your tank, maybe also AC?
 
Back
Top