Power Outage: What to do about coral?

W

Weboh

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We just got hit by hurricane Irma. Thankfully, we didn't get hit real bad; the main problem is a power outage that might take a week to fix. This obviously effects my tank in a couple ways:

  • No light for my tank. I'm not sure what to do to solve this problem. We've only been without power for a day and already my anemone looks a little bleached (it wasn't very healthy to begin with; I didn't have the right light for a week or so after I got it a few months ago and I'm not sure if it's recovered yet). What would you suggest I do? I thought about maybe taking it outside in a bucket and setting it in the sun, but that's probably not the right spectrum and it's just tasking for things to fall in the bucket and contaminate the water--not to mention the effects of removing it from the rock. I don't really have any portable powerbanks or generators that will work with a normal plug. What do you think?
  • No filtration. Or mechanical, anyway, I guess. There's still the life in the rocks and everything to take care of some of it. I do have a chemical that will reduce ammonia. I guess just monitor the tank daily and add that if needed? What about aeration? Do you think I need to use a cup and let some water fall back into the tank to get air in? I do have an open-top tank, if that matters.
Thanks.
 
Penn-plax (sold by Petsmart/Petco) makes a battery-driven aeration pump. Probably they will be sold out, alas.
My advice would be to leave the nem in situ. You might try a battery-powered LED flashlight, but I doubt it will help. If it starts to die, get it out ruthlessly: it can kill your tanks biosystem and take everything with it, besides create a smell it will take your house weeks to get rid of.
YOu can aerate by pouring. Use a pitcher, height of about a foot above water, dip and pour the equivalent of the entire tank volume 24/7 until you get power. If you can get help, trade this job off: it's brutal. We kept a tank going for 8 days, but we were in cold weather, and getting the temperature in the mid-60's helps. You won't have that choice, with hot weather and no ice. Whatever dies, get it out of there. You can save your tank, possibly, but it's not going to be easy. If you have any option to pack up and move to an area with power, with fish in bags, an aeration line, and enough water to keep a small bare qt going, that would be a good idea.
 
They need more air 24/7? This is going to be a bigger deal than I thought. I could get some ice (though getting RO ice would be tricky. Would that be important?). How would colder water help? Offhand, it seems like that would make things worse since everything prefers warmer water and that would be yet another parameter that was off. Does that force everything to go into hibernation mode and conserve energy or something?

I hope we get power soon and that my anemone makes it. I was convinced he was a goner before when I had the wrong light for a week, but he pulled through. I guess he's really hardy. I'll just have to wait even longer for him to start growing though...

Would you recommend I feed the anemone plankton and shrimp daily until the power comes on? I'm thinking that way the anemone won't have to eat the last of its algae's nutrients and can live a bit longer if more of the algae dies.

I do have some coral as well, but I'm not really concerned about it; it's all hardy stuff--zoas, xenia, and green star polyp--that some people here say is evil and could survive a nuclear apocalypse. (it's glued to a rock, so if I were to move everything to a place that had power it'd be harder to move it).
 
You can also feed your anemone. They are not 100% photosynthesis dependent for nutrients. I would feed 1/4" silversides to mine. Mine was a rescue from a LFS. She started as a pale small (maybe 3" in diameter) washed out pink. She ended up as a 6" nice salmon pink colored anemone. She left me after I had to tear down the tank.

Some of that growth was lighting but in the beginning it was feedings every other day until she settled where she wanted to be. I would keep feeding a 1/8" size piece until she spit it out.

Remember corals in the wild can face days without strong light if any because of tropical storms. If you can open a window and get some sunlight on the tank that will help too.

The other items as noted is that you need to aerate the water. From top to bottom and keep temperature close to normal for the tank. Those two are critical.
 
Put the ice in a waterproof bag. You will introduce TDS and possibly other things into the water which will give you other problems. The only reason to use it is if the tank temp starts to climb.

Visit Petco if you can to see if they have some 12 volt aeration pumps.
 
Generators are hard to come by during power outages. Like snow shovels here in the NE when a nor'easter is due. Really a necessity (along with maintained battery backups) for valuable tanks though. We have had three week long outages here in CT since 2010. My tanks survived them all (though I appreciate that none of them were Irma scale).
 
Yep: No generators or air pumps available, so most of the stuff in my tank died—including my anemone :(

But my coral is still alive! (some of it at least. I know my Zoas are, but I'm not sure about the xenia and GSP. They look dead and shriveled, but I've heard they're invincible, so we'll see). Now that the light is back on, should I have it be at full intensity since the coral needs the light as soon as possible? I'm pretty sure I should have it ramp back slowly, like a 30% reduction in intensity ramping back up over two weeks.

Also, I actually saw lots of new life in my tank. Some kind of worm that I thought was a feather duster until I saw it dead somewhere else, something like a mini starfish, (I had a starfish in there months ago; is it possible it somehow asexually reproduced?) and something that reminds me of parts of a feather duster crown moving very slowly (so I know it's not actually that) on the glass. I might be able to post pictures if needed; they're disappearing now that the water's getting cleaner. Are they things that would usually be hiding in the live rock? Are they bad? Should I have to worry once my water quality is back up?

Thanks.
 
Ramp light up slowly: it's adapted to lights out and will be sensitive to too much light too fast. Just bring your water quality up and be thankful for the biology in your tank that has helped eat up the dieoff and kept your tank alive. It will be ok.
 
How slowly do you recommend I ramp up the lighting? Do you think 70% of normal lighting, ramped back up over 2 weeks is sufficient?
 
With only a a 30% reduction, not all of my coral opened; only the coral facing away from the light did. I guess that means its too bright. I guess that's how I'm supposed to figure out these things: Trial and error.
 
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