Help ! Power Failure...how much time is to much?

[kanankeban]

hi guys...
I have a doubt...
In case of a power failure how much time is to much?
I can imagine that the worst scenario is by day, while ther corals in the tank need light...bu by night...could the pumps and water circulation be off all night on case of a power failure by night...in this case what's afected?
I mention this, because tonight I got 4 hours of a power failure...I was in the movies and when I returned back, the power had came back minutes before arriving at home...and I saw strange behaivors in my fish...a coral beauty that I never see at night was swings all around the tank crashing sometimes into the glass...on on my clownfish was like retard and stayinf put in the sand, never seen this is this little guy, he sleeps hanging from the overflow always. So what do you think, does this 4 hour power failure did something to my fish?
Regards...
Hector

[cyclgrl]

Your corals can survive for days without light. First and foremost, you need to be concerned about lack of circulation. That's probably what your fish are suffering from...lack of oxygen.

[Scuba Dog]

I have had a few power faileres mostly small ones due to storms or what not, but i did purchase a generator becuase in my area of the world, ice storms are common thus its common to be without power for a few days to a week....but there are battery backups that can keep some circulation going for smaller power failers that automaticly kick in when the power goes out...But i plan to have my generator hoocked up so when the power goes out the generator automaticly kicks on...

[Frick-n-Frags]

The length of survival of a tank is so dependant on the tank setup itself. Some hi-flo DSB tanks start having problems within hours. Other low bioload big surface area tanks without oxygen hog plants or DSB's could go a whole day or even days without power. Being in the dark for a couple days won't kill anything. Usually O2 depletion or temp, or both is what will do in the tank.

[kanankeban]

Thanks guys...
have to say that everything is ok...I right know that a 4 hour power failure in my case will not be a problem. Maybe some fish had a bad time yesturday... but everything is great now
Regards...
Hector

[kmu]

My 5g has survived for 36 hours, my 20g full reef for 4 hours... The first thing you need to go get is a battery powered air pump just to have it as a back up...

[cyclgrl]

That's good news!

You might want to consider purchasing a couple of these:

http://www.petdiscounters.com/aquari...1_battery.html

for future insurance against power outages. Cheap and last a long time for emergency circulation.

[kanankeban]

Originally posted by cyclgrl
That's good news!

You might want to consider purchasing a couple of these:

http://www.petdiscounters.com/aquari...1_battery.html

for future insurance against power outages. Cheap and last a long time for emergency circulation.

How many of those do I need for a 100G tank?

REgards...
Hector

[cyclgrl]

I read somewhere one for every 2 feet of tank length, so probably 2 or 3.

Cindy

[dvb]

My main pump went down this weekend for about 30 hours! My powerheads were going, and after unclogging my pump everything seemed to be fine. My RBTA didn't really like the lack of circulation though. It closed up and did't look so hot. I also iced up my chiller with the lack of water flow!

[original-reefland]

Originally posted by cyclgrl
I read somewhere one for every 2 feet of tank length, so probably 2 or 3.

Perhaps it was in this where you read it:

http://advancedaquarist.com/issues/aug2002/feature.htm

[cyclgrl]

Yep, that was it.