My electricity is being turned off for maintenance

[dzovi]

My electricity is being turned off for maintenance for five hours in the middle of the night next week. How could I properly prepare for this in my tank? I have inverts, corals, and misc. fish (see signature). Is the power being off for 5 hours a big deal?

 

[rick s]

I will let other, more experienced reefers chime in here. But at a minimum I would say get one of those much talked about battery operated air pumps, check valve, tubing, and an air stone. Place the airstone low in the tank. The airstone will oxygenate the water and provide a little circulation.

I assume that your nighttime temps don't drop too low so I wouldn't think the tank temp would be a big concern over 5 hours.

 

[boxfishpooalot]

As already said,Get a battery air pump. Just to be safe.

Im about to use an inverter for a car(its a electrical box with household plugs in it) and wire it to a car battery. Mine provides 600watts of power. So i should be fine in case a power outage happens. Best part is I can run my lights and my pumps, and skimmer pump too!

Fwiw, the best way to aereate water is by photosythesis( using plants in the tank to produce it) So having some lights on will be good.

But in your case with corals, I would think that flow is more important. Because they need to remove the respirated things that surround their skin(zoox) outer membrane. Without flow corals die, espcially sps.

 

[nyvp]

rent a generator from a tool rental place

 

[nm354]

At least its not being turned off by a hurricane for a week. I kept everything alive in my tanks by using battery operated airpumps 2 in the tank and 1 in the sump. I also stirred up the water with my hand some too.

 

[Sk8r]

Five hours isn't too bad. Your computer's UPC unit could probably do it with the main pump, no lights. You can't just rush down and buy one: you have to plug it in 24 hours to let it charge up first.
Or you can get one of the baitbucket air units, battery, in Walmart sports dept, fishing area.

 

[Fizz71]

5 hours isn't too bad, my only concern at 5 hours would be oxygen depletion if your tank has a heavy load..but that would need to be a HEAVY load. A couple of battery operated airstones would do the trick, and if you happen to be up once or twice just take a clean pitcher and fill it with tank water and dump right back in a few times..that will get some movement and a little oxygen exchange.

But for 5 hours....I wouldn't be too concerned...just make sure everything comes back up normally...reset timers if you use them, make sure the pumps all start back up (I've had some freeze on me!!) and make sure you're tank doesn't flood at power off or power on.

--Fizz

 

[Ploppers]

The couple times my power went out last winter I used and inverter in my car to run the main pump. My girlfriend thought I was crazy leaving the car running all night, but it worked.
I just picked up the 3 pack of the battery powered air pumps. We'll see how they work next time.

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Product/Prod_Display.cfm?pcatid=3693&ref=3969&cm_mmc=LiveAquaria_DFS_Links-_-Fish_Supplies-_-LiveAquaria_Gen_Page-_-Air_Pumps_and_Accessories&subref=AA&N=2004+113402

 

[Teeka]

My tank has a dedicated generator. But I live in hurricane alley.

 

[seanb]

I hope it is for just five hours. The last time they turned the power off in my neighborhood for maintence on a transformer, what was supposed to be 5 hrs turned into 25 hrs. Just be prepared.

 

[pyro383]

air pump, battery back from a computer and a small maxijet just to move the water

 

[hanas]

As long as the tempatures don't drop too drastically, I think you could get away with doing nothing for the 5 hours. My reef tank did fine for 7-8 hours a couple years back, an unexpected outage effected us, but the tank was perfectly fine.