So... my power went out...

[Arie]

So I get a frantic call that the power went out at my dad's house (where I keep the nano tank for now.) His fat cow of a girlfriend was calling me in a panic becuase the things in the freezer were going to melt.

I rushed to the store and bought ice packs and a battery operated fan. She forgot to mention to me the power had been out for 5 hours...

When I got home the tank was 84 degrees and there was no current. The anthelia clove was laying flat against the rock, the Kenya tree was covered in pods which appeared to be having a field day picnic and the mushrooms (see previous post) were closed up on themselves.

Yay for power outages.

Just as I was trying to figure out "wtf" to do with the ice and fan to make it effective, the power came back on. Since last night, things have started to perk up again but there is very clearly some pissed off corals in the tank.

So - what do I do in the future? I live in the 'hood and we suffer brown outs through out the summer. I'm moving soon, but until then, any suggestions?

-A

 

[Anonymous]

A fan can cool a tank more than you think, unsure how effective those battery powered ones are, but it's better than nothing. A battery powered air pump isn't a bad idea either to keep water moving around.

Other than that, if you're frequent to brownouts, know at least that the corals you have probably are going to be a bit more resilient than stony varieties. I've had softies get upwards of 90 degrees, yeah they looked pissed off, they were slimming pretty good, but over all the survived.

 

[Anonymous]

84 degrees is no big deal.
Some on this board keep their tanks that temp constantly.

The trick is no quick changes.

Make sure that you don't drop the temp too fast if a situation like this occurs again. I think everything in your tank will be fine.

 

[Ben1]

I second the idea of a battery powered air pump. I use one and it plugs into the outlet and senses when the power is out and starts bubbling in the tank.

 

[Anonymous]

do a big waterchange, and your tank will thank you for it.

B

 

[Arie]

So this will probably sound a little odd, but.... I just did a 50% water change a few days ago... is it too soon to do another? (I'm just learning so be nice ) The LFS told me I don't want to take the 'beneficial bacteria' out of the tank....

-A

 

[Anonymous]

I second the idea of a battery powered air pump. I use one and it plugs into the outlet and senses when the power is out and starts bubbling in the tank.

I've got two el cheapo bait bucket types that run on 'd' cells, one for the main tank and one for the sump. It's a good idea since I live in the middle of nowhere and we loose power frequently but don't always put the generator on right away.

As far as the water change, do it. The beneficial bacteria isn't in the water per se, but on the rocks and other surfaces in the tank so changing the water doesn't effect that. Of course, you do want to match the temp, SG and pH of the tank as close as you can.

Good luck !

 

[Anonymous]

The LFS told me I don't want to take the 'beneficial bacteria' out of the tank....

-A

GAH!

Gotta love some LFS, most of the useful (i.e. beneficial) bacteria is covering every surface in your tank, not so much in the water column.