Power
- Thread starter Walter
- Start date
- Location
- Union Square, NY
An aquarium can be without power forever.
I think the question you are asking is how long will fish and coral survive without their life support systems?
A great thread we have here is this one on what to do if you lose power:
reefs.com
Basically the most important thing to worry about in the short term is maintaining some water flow in the main tank. Fish and coral need oxygen and without it they will start to die around 18-24 hours after the power is off (without getting into the specific conditions of the tank). If you can get the water moving enough in the tank to get oxygen into the water, then after about 6 hours (again, depending on the tank) the temperature will be an issue (either too low or too high).
I kept my tank alive during Sandy with no power for 5 days. I had batteries to move the water around enough, and I came up with some creative ways to raise the temperature when needed. I had the sump and lights off, and I emptied the sump before turning the returns back on, as the sump had no water movement or heat for 5 days and was completely gone.
I think the question you are asking is how long will fish and coral survive without their life support systems?
A great thread we have here is this one on what to do if you lose power:
Emergency Measures to use NOW for Power Outages for your Saltwater Aquarium
Reefs.com Discussion - This thread is for emergency measures on what you can do NOW if you go home to no power to your reef tank. Ideally, I'd like to keep the extra chatter down to a minimum as some may only end up reading this off the battery power left in their laptops... First... here are...
reefs.com
Basically the most important thing to worry about in the short term is maintaining some water flow in the main tank. Fish and coral need oxygen and without it they will start to die around 18-24 hours after the power is off (without getting into the specific conditions of the tank). If you can get the water moving enough in the tank to get oxygen into the water, then after about 6 hours (again, depending on the tank) the temperature will be an issue (either too low or too high).
I kept my tank alive during Sandy with no power for 5 days. I had batteries to move the water around enough, and I came up with some creative ways to raise the temperature when needed. I had the sump and lights off, and I emptied the sump before turning the returns back on, as the sump had no water movement or heat for 5 days and was completely gone.
- Location
- South Salt Lake, Utah, USA
Oxygen is what is needed, and simple water flow can make it. The easiest way to create flow is with a battery-powered bubbler that kicks in automatically when the power goes out.
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