# Power outage



## Bryan619 (Apr 21, 2012)

Its storming pretty bad where I live. The power flipped off but it was only for seconds and all my equipment started right back up on its own. My question is. How long can the tank water stay livable without the filter heater and air pump running?


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## IAoddball (Jun 19, 2012)

Best thing I can tell ya would be keep a battery operated air pump on hand just for those reasons


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

The larger the tank, the longer the temp stays. In the summer, the air is off,too so the fish don't chill and get ich. But the lack of a filter and any aeration is an issue in the summer. The heavier the stocking and the higher the temp, the worse the issues. Don't feed a no power tank. Overnight is usually okay, but worry if the fish get lethargic and hang at the surface. After the tornadoes, when power was out for a week, a lot of people lost a lot of fish. I think the normal time to troubles is a matter of days.


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## lohachata (Jan 27, 2006)

first......always keep a 1 qt bottle of hydrogen peroxide on hand...."*ALWAYS*
you will need an eye dropper or a dropper bottle....
when your power goes out and if off for awhile observe the tank...when you see the fish start coming to the surface it means they are needing to get rid of the co2 and take in some o2....
add 3 drops of the peroxide for each gallon of water...stir it in a little bit...so whenever the fish are at the surface just add more peroxide.....i have used this several times and it has saved thousands of dollars worth of fish for me...


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## Mikaila31 (Nov 29, 2009)

What does the peroxide do loha? I know it will decompose to H2O and O2 but that little bit shouldn't make that much of a difference.....

I have never had aquarium issues with the power being out, but all my tanks are densely planted.


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## lohachata (Jan 27, 2006)

the peroxide act like o2 injection in a way...i guess it is supposed to change the co2 into o2...but i am not sure...i got this from pete mang years ago...i have had the need to use it a few time when we had some extended outages...one lasted 3 days....at the time i only had about 30 tanks...didn't lose a single fish.....you could actually see how effective it was...the fish would be at the surface gasping...put the peroxide in and within 30 seconds or so they were all down near the bottom breathing normal...couple of hours or so later they would be up again for another treatment....also keep in mind that my tanks were very heavily overstocked....

another way to aerate is to fill jugs with water from the tank and hold itabout a foot or two above the tank and pour it back in...


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

Battery (D) powered air-pumps are cheap at places that sell bait like bass Pro shops, but they only take care of a tank or two. 

If a canister filter has no power for more than about 8 hours, its a good idea to clean it, fill it with fresh declared water before you put it back on. You have time, there's no TV. If any closed filter has been off for a while, sniff it, at any hint of surfer, rinse well.

Make sure you plug-in air-pumps are either above the water level or have a one-way check valve. If they don't and the power goes out, run around and unplug them and set them on top of the tank.


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

Didn't you post fish need 5-7 ppm O2 to be happy? 5 ppm of 100 liters (26 gallons) is 0.5 ml. That is a very little bit. Half a pipette or a tenth of a capful. If you only get 1 O2 from 2 H2O2, you'd need 1 ml of pure H2O2. If you have a 12% solution. You'd need 8.3 ml to go from 0 to 5 ppm. But only 3.3 mL or 67 drops or would raise oxygen very roughly 2 ppm. Could easily be enough to make a difference. 



> Organisms also naturally produce hydrogen peroxide as a by-product of oxidative metabolism. Consequently, nearly all living things (specifically, all obligate and facultative aerobes) possess enzymes known as catalase peroxidases, which harmlessly and catalytically decompose low concentrations of hydrogen peroxide to water and oxygen


 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrogen_peroxide 

So it does convert to usable oxygen.


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## lohachata (Jan 27, 2006)

emc.....are you crazy ???????....rofl......sorry ; i am very much lost with what you posted....i just don't have that much brain power anymore...
you are confusing me with scientific facts my friend....
you and i may not always agree but you really do contribute a great deal of exceptional information to this site...thank you...
i don't know exactly how the peroxide works.....just that it works.....


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## Bryan619 (Apr 21, 2012)

Thanks everybody for helping out


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

rough approximation math. also known as college chemistry. lol or maybe p-chem. Its been awhile. It's not exact, but "order of magnitude" is correct.


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## Guest (Jun 23, 2012)

Bryan619: something else you can do to your tanks with fish in them, is to cover them to keep the heat in. I have a 55 gallon and it loses heat in about a couple hours whenever the power goes out. So I cover my fish tank with my sleeping bag and it holds the heat in so the fish don't get stressed and get ich. Heat can escape a 55 gallon tank in about two hours or more, I have watched it happen to my own tank.


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

Pink foam board to insulate. And/or change water with warmer. I remember someone boiling water in a tea-kettle and mixing it in to warm up a tank in winter during an outage.

Some fish are sensitive to cold and will die outright, but, IME, its more likely that being chilled will trigger an ich outbreak or other stress-related illness.


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## lohachata (Jan 27, 2006)

save some plastic milk jugs and soda bottles......in summer fill them with water and freeze or you can use the commercial freezer packs...place in tanks to keep temps down...in winter hot water to warm tanks....


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