# Solar flare



## OhYesItsMe (Oct 1, 2011)

If I'm without power what about the fish? Yeah I know a lot about it between some discovery show newspaper and stuff I already knew.


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

For a short time, it will be just fine. After that you have several issues. The temp. will slowly fall, the water won't be filtered and it won't be aerated. Never feed when the power is out. Usually fish are fine for short outages, but suffer in real disasters where power is out for days. If your filter is out for more than a couple hours, rinse the media and replace the water in when power comes back on (there is a small chance of HS or other anaerobic decay products). Expect a "mini-cycle" so go easy on feeding for a week and maybe use a bacterial supplement or ammonia detoxifier. 

There isn't a lot you can do. But there are some preparations you can make is you are expecting a bad storm. Fill up bathtubs and buckets ahead of time so you will have clean water for water changes even if the water supply is cut or polluted.

You can buy a battery powered air-pump at K-mart or bass pro shops or other bait shop and keep D-cells and you will at least be able to run an air-stone. 

You can wrap the tank in blankets or styrofoam to hold the heat. You can heat clean water on the stove and blend it will cold water from the buckets to give the fish a warm water change if their temp is too low. You can have ich meds on hand in case the temp drop triggers an outbreak.

You can have back-up power like an UPS or gas-powered generator. 

You can have products like Prime that "detoxify" ammonia on hand. They can save lives when filtration is out, but use will care when there is no aeration as they can also deplete oxygen in the water. So start with a normal or half normal dose even though a 4X dose is normally safe. 

You can have live plants (which help water quality until they die from lack of light) and you can under-stock your tanks. Most of us could keep more fish than is generally recommended in a tank, but then the first thing that goes wrong kills fish. A tank that is lightly stocked is more resilient and is a good idea if your electrical grid is erratic.


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## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

Lucky for us it hit at night, eh? No problems at all down here in my area.


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## Ponera (Oct 31, 2011)

Yet another reason why unheated water tanks are awesome.


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## OhYesItsMe (Oct 1, 2011)

Well the only effect our area got were storms


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## Obsidian (May 20, 2007)

My computer had a mild freak out, but it might have just been the internet. Seems all good now.


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## BV77 (Jan 22, 2005)

No problems up here. The Northern Lights have been AWESOME, though. They have been the best displays I've seen in quite a few years.


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## OhYesItsMe (Oct 1, 2011)

I read they would be great and go really far south, but I don't think they reached my area


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## Obsidian (May 20, 2007)

Sure Bob, make me jealous again.


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## iheartfish:) (Jan 19, 2011)

Yeah, I think they made too big a deal out of it. I was excited that maybe we might actually see some lights but no... It was fun running around telling everyone they were going to die, though  So many people freaked out when I said "There's a solar flare!" All they knew about it was from some "How the World Will End" type of show  Haha


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## OhYesItsMe (Oct 1, 2011)

I don't know anyone who actually thinks the world will end this year those shows about it make it seem like a big ordeal because of the Mayans and stuff


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## iheartfish:) (Jan 19, 2011)

Yeah. If the world ends it's because either we kill each other off or we piss the Earth off enough that we get wiped out. But maybe a huge solar flare just might finish us off.


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## hXcChic22 (Dec 26, 2009)

Haven't you guys heard that the Mayans didn't take Leap Years into account (because they hadn't been invented yet) so technically, we're already in 2013 or something along those lines?


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## kay-bee (Dec 6, 2006)

As I understand it, leap years were created to correct inaccuracies in the julian or gregorian calendar systems. 

That inaccuracy did not exist (or was less signficant) in the Mayan calendar due to the different system(s) they used, thus rending leap years unnecessary for them.


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## OhYesItsMe (Oct 1, 2011)

We make up leap years a real year is 365.25 or is it .24 days sorry I can't remember everything from when I had earth science


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