# How to keep fish alive during power outage



## SeahorseDeb (Nov 1, 2011)

Greetings,
I posted this elsewhere on the forum with no response (fish health). I have 90/gal with two Eheim 2215's. We occasionally have weather related power outages. I have a gas hot water tank, so I can keep water warm. How do we provide aeration and air to our fish? I work, so I am concerned, dont want my kiddos to die! So far, last two years, no loss over 20 minutes?? With the huge outage in Massachusettes It got me wondering....how are those aquariasts dealing with this topic and others in the forum? Thankyou??


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## quentin8 (Sep 30, 2011)

There are several different brands of air pumps that have battery backup..as soon as you lose power the batteries kick in and keep Oxygen in the tank. I have had the same one for several years and have used it on 3 different tanks. The longest I have had to use it is 3 days and it worked quite well. I just change the batteries ever 9months or so just for good measure.


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## nodima (Oct 3, 2002)

I can't speak for everyone, but I am in Mass, and lost power Saturday night at 1030, and it was restored on Tuesday night at 7. IME, the issue is not aeration or water movement, but temperature control.

This is the second time in 8 weeks that we've lost power for a day or more - I don't recall any other time in my life (42 yrs) where power was lost for more than an hour or two. I was lucky- the neighbor out back got power back Sunday afternoon, and let me run a cord from his shed to my house. I ran each of my two big tanks in an alternating fashion - 1 hr on, 1 hr off. I had access to a generator which I hooked up Monday night.

This time, as opposed to the summer, the biggest issue is temperature. Both the Tang tanks are normally at 80 and dropped to 68  . They are now back up to temp, but it took a lot longer than I thought it would - there is a lot of thermal mass in 150+ gallons. This works both for and against you - it also took more than a day to drop to that point.

My thoughts on how I will plan for the future:

Buy a generator.

Purchase a couple of extra heaters - to install when the power is out and room temps get a lot lower than usual - standard heater is not enough to maintain temps when room drops 15+degrees.

I have heard others say to do large water changes afterwards, and to change water in canister filters prior to them coming back on line. I did not do this, since the canister ran via generator. However, I think the idea has a lot of merit.

FWIW - this summer I lost power for 26 hours, did nothing to the tanks and everything came back on with no losses. There was no issue with temperature then, however - this time is different.

I chuckled when I did the math about which contents had higher replacement costs - the fish in the tanks or the food in the fridge and freezers. Fish won.

The jury is still out after a day of having power. All the fish seem ok, but I am still a bit concerned.


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## zimmy (Aug 13, 2010)

Check out this *recent thread* for some additional helpful information.


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## PfunMo (Jul 30, 2009)

I've lived in ice storm areas and found fish get by better than the people sometimes! When power is lost for 6-8 days it does take a lot of imagination to keep it all together. Each situation is different as the temperature and weather vary. There is no one right answer. For many a backup generator is an expensive but good answer. But that takes some knowledge to pull off safely. I found a gas fireplace and a generator got me by quite well but I ran short on gas for running the genset. I was not able to drive out but found a good neighbor.

O2 in the water is not a big problem if you are adding water to keep the temp up. It does require a full time effort though. Not much sleeping if you want to keep it all together.


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## bostonjon (Sep 2, 2003)

no power for 30 hours...tank temps down to 56.....ouch....lost 3 occies and 2 julie ornatus in small tank but 2 occies and zebra danios actually survived!!!!..in larger tank lost 12 inch altifrons...after losing power for more than 6 days to hurricane Irene and this storm definitely buying a generator...


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## PfunMo (Jul 30, 2009)

If you were home during the outage, adding warm water carefully would have held the temperature up as well as add O2. I sometimes hesitate to mention generators to folks who may not understand the dangers. If you use one in the wrong way they can kill the whole family rather than just losing some fish. As in all things, it takes a bit of careful thinking to get by in unusual situations.


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## Bd79 (Apr 11, 2011)

Written by a smart fishkeeper and breeder:


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## prov356 (Sep 20, 2006)

Bd79 said:


> Written by a smart fishkeeper and breeder:


He also sells fish at that site, unfortunately, so can't post the link here.


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## SeahorseDeb (Nov 1, 2011)

Thank you for laying my worst fears to rest! We had a 3 day power outage quite awhile back but I didn't have a tank full of fish that I care more than the contents of my freezer! Husband has been talking about getting a generator for quite some time. I know the downside and benefit of those!! I will look at getting a backup air supply, thanks for that idea. Also, I am surprised at how long some of your tanks have gone without full aeration. Out in Massachusettes, I wish you didn't get hit with this. Our ice storm brought down trees and we saw power transmitters blow up into a herald of blue and white lights, frightening. I can well imagine what u r going through! Thank you everyone for your input!!!


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## PfunMo (Jul 30, 2009)

It does get scary when the transformers start to cook and explode. But on the other hand, the weather seems to be moving farther North so maybe the folks who have lived it all these years will begin to get a break from ice storms. Look out snow belt, here comes the ice!


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## nodima (Oct 3, 2002)

These types of threads are my favorite - no not to hear about the hardships people go through, but the positive thoughts and good ideas on what to do if something hits you. I've learned a lot from this thread as well as the one linked above.

Cheers

Nodima
-now on 2+ days with power back, and so far so good as far as fish health goes, but fingers are still crossed.


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## skwerl (Mar 2, 2011)

My fish were in a 30g for 2.5 days without power. It is in the basement near the furnace (which works without electricity) so the temp only dropped to 68 from 80 in that time. That's when i brought them to work where i had power and set them up in my 10g temporarily. I only lost a neon. All my few weeks old fry seemed to have survived. I stirred up the water every so often and didn't feed them. If I had to keep them there longer, i would have started daily partial water changes and light feeding every few days. I will probably investigate the battery powered air pumps for the future.


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