Hurricane IKE help!!!

[rollagore]

I live in houston and we got hit really hard by IKE on Fri/Sat. All power went out and I had a bat opp air pump running from Sat morn to Sun afternoon. The power company said it might be 2-4 WEEKS

before power was restored. so... My wife and I thought it best to load up all my fish and some choise LR in 2 10g tanks and drive to my inlaws where we could hook up to power. We made the trip ok. Only lost a scooter blenny

I have 2 questions.
1) As an emergancy back up, how long can I keep my fish in the 10g?
Live stock
Tank 1
Tomato clown, Blue damssil, Dragon goby, Diamond goby, peppermint shrimp, 2 emrald crabs, and 6 hermits.
Tank 2
2 Green Spotted Puffers
2) The LR and water that are in the tanks now,(stagnent-no electricity) Will I have to drain and refill and boil the rock? OR Will the water be ok after a few days of running thought the sump, skimmer filter?
Any all feed back would be great. speedy answers would help a lot to

 

[toosalty]

Im glad I got my power back on Sunday evening. If you need a home for your fish/coral let me know ill be glad to help.

 

[rollagore]

Thank you for the offer, that is very kind of you. For now they are ok. Im just not sure how much loger they will be ok.
I really hope someone can give me some feed back.

 

[1journeyman]

How well you maintain the water quality will be crucial in determining how well your livestock does.
Another concern is your display tank. With power off your tank is slowly dying. This is going to spike your Ammonia leading to more die off. You may end up having to re-cycle that tank as well.
Hope they get your power back soon. Hang in there.

 

[natclanwy]

If you can try to keep the air pump going to keep the water somewhat oxygenated, you can do this by hand too by removing water and pouring it back into the tank every hour or so. LR should be fine you will probably have some die off and it may cycle again but there is no need to boil it. Boiling the live rock will kill anything that may have been alive and will strip all of the bacteria off of the rock, if you just let your tank cycle you can maybe salvage some of the life on the rock rather than start from scratch.
As far as how long you can keep your livestock in the 10g tanks, they should be fine as long as you keep up with your water quality especially since these were just set up and haven't cycled yet. You need to check the water quality daily and do water changes as needed to keep amonia and nitrite in check. Also need to be sure to keep up with evaporation your SG will change drasticlly with just a little evaporation.

 

[stdreb27]

Hey man check out marsh's website, (the local reef club) they have several people with power, who are taking in tanks.
I've got all my fish, and coral as someones house.

 

[forsfed50]

are you using a heater and filter on the emergency tanks? and is the water from the original tank or new? If water is original ,using heater and filter I would say a little peace and quiet along with water quality tests you have a chance of weathering the storm.

 

[italionstalion]

invest in a small generator. everyone should have one i think

 

[justinwwwallin]

man thats to bad! im sorry. im about to buy a backup generator bc i live in nebraska and the winters here get the power acting up

 

[rollagore]

OK. Thank you all for the feedback. Let me give you all a little more info and update.
The water, LS, LR are all from the DT, everything is established. Water parameters are all good for now.
Both tanks have filters, heaters, air stones.
The only thing im worried about is the depression level of the fish being in a small tank for a long time. (if it comes to that)
Any other questions I can answer to help get info, just ask
thank you all very much again!

 

[janscott23]

Originally Posted by Rollagore
http:///forum/post/2759054
I live in houston and we got hit really hard by IKE on Fri/Sat. All power went out and I had a bat opp air pump running from Sat morn to Sun afternoon. The power company said it might be 2-4 WEEKS

before power was restored. so... My wife and I thought it best to load up all my fish and some choise LR in 2 10g tanks and drive to my inlaws where we could hook up to power. We made the trip ok. Only lost a scooter blenny

I have 2 questions.
1) As an emergancy back up, how long can I keep my fish in the 10g?
Live stock
Tank 1
Tomato clown, Blue damssil, Dragon goby, Diamond goby, peppermint shrimp, 2 emrald crabs, and 6 hermits.
Tank 2
2 Green Spotted Puffers
2) The LR and water that are in the tanks now,(stagnent-no electricity) Will I have to drain and refill and boil the rock? OR Will the water be ok after a few days of running thought the sump, skimmer filter?
Any all feed back would be great. speedy answers would help a lot to

sorry to hear, tank 1 should not be a problem just keep a eye on the filters(I have a 12gal aquapod with 3 fish and inverts so this can be done ) but the blue damsil will probably be more aggresive towards your goby's and clown, inverts you listed should be fine in a small tank.
now tank 2 might be a problem with 2 puffers in a 10 gal you might want to post in the aggresive section of this site to get help on this tank.
Goodluck

 

[michaeltx]

I think you will be alright as long as you keep an eye on the tank and have water change water available.
The puffers might be a problem though how big are they?
as far as the tank that is sitting now without any circulation it will more than likely be completely dead with in a few days from the chain reaction that was said earlier. a good boil of the rock and complete clean out will be needed and a full restart which will take time to do.
as far as the fish having issues from the small tank I dont think youll really have to worry about it alot of people use that size tank for a QT for up to 6 weeks.
I hope everything works out for you and everyone else that has been effected by the storms.
Mike

 

[rollagore]

So far its kinda funny. the damssil has learned its place. The tomato has been picking on the damssil, so we'll see how that goes.
Also, Im a little comfused. One of you said I shouldnt have to boil the LR and one of you said I will have to. so, Is it yes or no? and how will I know if I have to or not?
you all are great thank you for your input. so much.

 

[greenreefer]

You shouldn't need to boil the rock. MichaelTX, why? I had a similar scenario before (use to live in Boca Raton, FL) and I only had a small diatom bloom after a week without power.
I think you can probably just a take a powerhead and blast the rock in place and then do a good size water change. You'll probably only have a small cycle.

 

[michaeltx]

depends on how bad it is really if the rock is completely dead and stagnate in the old tank without power it will turn the DEAD LR into base rock. IMO if its completely dead if you dont clean it IE boil it the new cycle will take alot longer because of the dead material in the rock boiling it will get rid of 99% of all that. you can do it without boiling it thought the cycle may take longer because that material will take awhile to decompose in the tank.
Mike

 

[rollagore]

 

[forsfed50]

 

[rollagore]

My Scooter Is Alive!!!!!!!!!!!

We just got back home, power is back on, keep in mind it has been off from Saturday the 13th (a week and 2 days) and hes alive. I haven't been able to test the water yet but Ill do it as soon as I can. More to come soon.