power outage...

[reeferpnoy]

As I have stated we lost power at 6 pm yesterday and up to this point no power 10:15 am. My wife came back home cuz she didn't feel good and called her like 5 mins ago and she said I lost 1 fish already .. thats the only one she see's laying on the ground and not sure about the others..I am really upset!!! I want to go home but all the boss here at work are on a meeting!!!! told wifey to pick up a generator in HD so she is going now and hopefully I can get out of here so I can save all my fish and corals before I end up losing everything!!!!



steve

[Phyl]

Do you have a UPS on your computer? If so you could use it to run a power head for a few minutes every hour. When our power went out last fall we went to Walmart and picked up a couple of UPSs that will run for a few hours with just a power head and an airstone on them.

Nothing worse than being stuck at work and feeling helpless. Sorry for your loss. Hopefully there are no more. Good luck.

[falconut]

I know just how you feel. The same exact thing happened to me about a month and a half ago. Power went out at 10PM and didn't restore until 10AM, lost 5 fish. I too had gone to work, thinking that the power would be restored prior to lossing anything, until my wife called and told me that she saw fish laying on the bottom.

I was told by people here to stir the water or at least take a cup and scoop the tank water and pour it back in to oxygenate it. I couldn't do this, since I was at work (about an hour away, plus my car was in the shop so I had no way to even get home). My wife had left to go on a class trip with my son, so she couldn't do it either.

Hope everything makes it. I was pretty upset when I got home that day too. Good Luck.

Now I have 2 battery powered air pumps, just incase it happens again.

Phyl - I always wondered how people used UPS's since they only last about an hour. I never though about turning a pump on for just a few minutes at a time. Great idea. I currently have an old one that doesn't turn on, if I get it working then I now know how to use it. Thanks.

[Stidd]

Best wishes Steve...

I hope things work out. Keep us updated.

Guy

[reeferpnoy]

update.. bought a generator from HD which is 600.00!!!! thats the only one they have in STOCK!!!!...So far no power yet but got the 2 tanks,refrigerator,tv,fan, and computer.....lost 3 fish 2 anthias and my starki damsel....corals and all the fish in my 120g is all fine.... but still a bit upset cuz when I picked up the dead fish all their mouth are wide open like asking for help but I was too late =(.....thanks guys for your help and suggestion.... RIP Anthias and Starki.....


steve

[Stidd]

Glad to hear you are now up and running on backup Steve... Sorry about your loss... I am sure everyone else is thanking you and HD! Now you don't have to worry soo much about future outages...

Guy

[camz28]

Steve i hope everything is ok now , if you need something lmk

Ralph

[opie]

Sorry to hear about your loss dude :(
Let me know if there is anything I can do to help.

[dflint]

man, I know how that feels... I bought one of those battery operated air pumps last group buy. runs on D batteries.

I think a cheaper solution than a generator might be to buy a deep cycle marine battery ($60) and a cheap power inverter, they sell smal ones at pep boys.

just a thought...

[reeferpnoy]

Finally we got a power!!!! The tank is running 5 hrs now with lights on and I have like 6 sps kinda bleech out .. steaks and some food spoiled...

thanks for all the offers and suggestion ....

I hope more power outages so I can use more of this generator.... lol....

steve

[eastonreef]

steve,
i lost power, but only for 5 hours last night........ i am only about 20 minutes from you .... i would have gladly stored corals for you ,..
lisa

[reeferpnoy]

Lisa,

Thanks for your offer . I thought it may only take a few hrs.....but I was wrong..... now I got me the generator so next time it happens I am prepared...still sad about that 3 fish dead =(

steve

[jf2381]

Same thing happened to my anthias. They suffocated...Their mouth were wide open when I found them.

[reeferpnoy]

good thing my 120.00 fish survived or else I will go on a rampage ..I mean not me my wife is lol

[kabal2]

http://www.aquatichouse.com/Pumps_files/ppbatpump.asp
this what i used every night for 2 weeks, for 10 hours a day when i had the fire at my house, is a great little pump, make noise as hell but all my stuff are alive and good , i just lost 1 frag and 1 fish in my two tanks

[eastonreef]

i sent todd at something fishy an email asking if he had them or could get them. i will let you know when i find out. i rather buy local and save on the shipping :)

[reeferpnoy]

Lisa, which one are you talking abouty fish or pumps? thanks

[jiggy]

kinda of a noob question but.. why do fish die with the powerheads off? i didnt know they require current to live.

[jf2381]

They need the oxygen and if the water is stagnant it doesn't get a supply of fresh oxygen.

[jiggy]

so they really just need surface agitation, not current?

[kabal2]

then need oxigen in the water, and if you can make a little bit of water movement that will be good, and if you fish is a big swimmer, will die faster because of the use of oxigen, and will help kill the rest too.

[eastonreef]

i was checking to see if todd had battery powered air pumps :)

[opie]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7778628#post7778628 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jiggy
so they really just need surface agitation, not current?

Not necessarily.
What is needed is a steady Oxygen exchange across the surface of the water.
The more water motion there is in the tank, the more likely that the water at the surface will mix freely with the rest of the tank allowing for constant oxygenation.

[reeferpnoy]

Opie I was going to say that lol.......