Power Outage!!!!!

[slukach]

My area is experiencing a power outage (I am typing this from work). It has been off for about an hour and a half/two hours. The electric company said the power should be back on in an hour.

Should I worry about my tank? The temp is my main concern. I usually have it at about 80. Its probably going to drop to about 70 (over 3 hours) before the power comes back on.

Anyone have any experience with this? Its a 24 gallon nano.

 

[Rosseau]

I can't see it dropping that fast over 3 hours. I guess it depends on the temp in your house mostly.


I would be worried about your pumps, are they all submerged?

If not they could be destroyed, this has happened to me.

 

[Illuminati]

It shouldn't drop that much or that fast. I think in 3 hours you might only see a couple degree's drop.

I have had similar outages without any problems. If someone is home they can pop the feeding tray open, your main concern is oxygen, not temp.

I wouldn't worry.........

 

[slukach]

Thanks guys. I actually took the skimmer that fell off the grate and used it to prop open the hood an inch or two (since i want the woman to put it back when the power starts again and she won't put her hand in the tank). I guess I inadvertently helped the tank a bit.

 

[SugarFox03]

I would recommend investing in a battery operated air pump. I have the Category 5 pump, its great. I live in south florida, and we are prone to power outages (even without hurricanes!) and this has saved my tank on numerous occasions. I put mine close to the tank, so its there's ever a po all you have to do is stick the airline tube in the tank and turn the knob. I recommend getting 1 way valves so the water doesnt siphon into the pump.

 

[Doglover_50]

here here to the sugarfox idear. I have a cheapo 15 buck unit from petsmart, plugs in, AND turns on when power goes off.

Secondly--I hate to admit what a boob I am--my 12g nano upstairs (hottest room) has had much more temp fluctuation than my others. It's dropped as low as 73 in the dead of winter and furnace went haywire, gone as high as 87 degrees (earlier this week) because furnace superheated my bedroom, and then the tank water.. Fingers crossed, but---have never had an adverse event.

Also, one other thought----I keep a wad of chaeto in the corner of my tank since there is no fuge. I turn off pumps when I feed, and about 6 months ago forgot to turn on and went to work. Came home 12 hours later, the 2 clowns and everything was still doing great. I credit the chaeto with keeping oxygen up enough over that long. Never done that again--just got to be more careful with regulating temp as weather heats up.

 

[Rosseau]

I've left for a weekend more than once and had bad temperature problems.... fortunately I don't have anything overly sensitive right now.. But my temp has been as low as 73 for a period of a few days. Slow raising of the temp has been achieved with little to no adverse effects.

My limited understanding of coral bleaching leads me to believe that the elevated temperatures are much more dangerous than those below average. Coral reefs in nature bleach after about at least a week of elevated temperatures (though, these temperatures are in the order of a few degrees, not tens of degrees).

 

[Stirfry001]

A good investment is a Battery Backup (the kind you use for computers) On a smaller tank, it should be able to keep the pumps running for a couple hours.

 

[All Delight]

I bought a UPS 1500VA battery backup for my 24 nano. I never ran a test to see how long it will keep my pump running for. But I only plugged in the main pump to keep circulation going. I figured it should run for at least 30 mins minimum. I'm hoping it'll go for more then 1 hr. The pump only pulls 8 watts.

Maybe I'll do test it this weekend and see how long it runs.

Regarding temp. I like to run my tank on the cooler side. Usually 75 or 76. At night it gets down to 74. It definately safer to be on the cooler side then hotter.

 

[Stirfry001]

Mine has one side that is back up power and one side that is surge only. I have everything plugged into the surge only side and then one powerhead plugged into the backup side.

 

[slukach]

Power was off for about 5 hours and you guys were right, temp only went from 80.2 to 76.4 over that time. in the future, i will be investing in the battery operated power source.

thanks for everybodys input.