Lost power to tank overnight

Maswired

New member
The main power to my tank went out last night. The tank was at 62 degrees this morning. I got power back to the tank and the system is running again but now what? Am I facing the loss of everything in my tank or will the corals and fish (2 clowns ocsillarious) come back?
 
There's a chance they will, but only time will tell. How long was the power out? Bring that temp up gradually... reefs don't like rapid change.

We had power outages here recently as well. Sk8r has a post in this forum on what she did to save what she could over FIVE DAYS (IIRC) without power. Mine was only two days, but the temps got lower than yours. I lost my clam, almost half my coral and 2/6 fish (3 fish I removed to another tank which was kept warmer).

Good luck!
 
There is chance everything will be ok since it was such a short outage, but only time will tell, 62 degrees isn't devastating but slowly raising the temp back up is highly recommended. I have lost $1,000's worth of corals before in the aftermath of a hurricane, power was out for 2 weeks, I was able to save most of my fish only tank with a battery operated air pump & water changes, the reef tank was toast within 24 hours.....never again, I purchased a Honda eu2000 generator, now if a thunder storm knocks out power, I still have juice for the tanks.....& TV LOL. Good Luck, hope everything survives.
 
62 is serious territory. Mine survived 8 days with no power and just dipping and pouring water in from a height to aerate, every 4 hours, full volume of tank. You can relax re the temperature once it reaches 66. Mine lasted fine at that...and your rock and sand will have held a higher temperature than the water, because it cools less rapidly. So if they're tucked into rockwork, let them stay there. Turn on your lights, if they produce warmth. All your pumps going will aerate and warm at the same time. 62 degrees is where you start losing things left and right, but it hasn't had time to get there through the heart of the rock, let us hope.

Corals will be fine. You may have lost your bristleworms. Worms don't survive this cold. Unfortunately aiptasia do.
 
Thanks!

Thanks!

It has been several hours since I found my tank. The temp is back to 70 degrees and most things are open but clearly stressed. The clowns are swimming again and tucked back into their frogspawn. The Temps were down for the duration of the night so maybe 8-9 hours. I am checking parameters every so often watching for ammonia or other signs that I killed my cycle. So far so good. I do have a small white fuzzy patch right below a very small critter that I found on my rock a few weeks ago. I think it is a bubble anemone or a very young hammer coral. The central disk is bright fire engine red with fluorescent green spots. The pistols are translucent white and round like bubbles. Could be a bubble anemone or a hammer coral. It was covered in its red skin this morning - same as the Duncan coral nearby, so it has the same or similar structure. The devastation below this little guy looks to either be a dead patch of symposium or, looking back through pictures, another creature that died. The pictures show it as a bright green disk with vertical white stripes. I had noticed it while the sympodium. was extended. It might be the only casualty so far. The crabs are now moving but far far fewer bristles stars and only two snails visible. No ammonia or nitrates or other nasties so far, so ok for now. I guess the next few days will tell and now is a good time to remind myself abut the merits of a backup power supply! I was waiting for the 60 gal build but maybe now is the better time for getting a backup power source!
 
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