hurricane survival

[jtutton]

Well, I finally, after 8 days, got power back. Vero was hit pretty hard.
I thought I'd share my experience with my tanks so some others might benefit.
I was able to get a generator on Monday afternoon, so there were 2 days that my tank at home was without anything. I also was able to get some bubblers so that when the generator was off there was some circulation of water.
It was really weird. The tank was really cold, about 72 when we got back to the house, so I lost my shrimps, crabs, and damsel right away. A day earlier for the generator and I might not have lost the clown. The pink tip was lost before I got home, never saw him, and the purple one was hanging in, but got too cold. Also lost the scallop, arrow crab, xenia, and several shrooms.
3 shrooms and my 2 pj cardinals survived along with a bunch of snails, hermit crabs, and both the queen and fighting conchs.
The generator really helped, but without ac, I had to add frozen ice bottles to the tank several times a day to keep it from getting too hot.
Tank at work, same thing on temp. Too cold. lost my royal gramma, but everything else was ok when the power came back on. 3 days with no heat or filtration and I only lost the gramma. I did have the choc. chip star make a break for it, found it on the floor. A good distance from the tank, too.
Hope this info helps. I'm bummed about the losses, but was able to save some.

 

[aqua39]

I'm sorry to hear about your loss.

 

[mjmpinsky]

I am sorry for your loss but I am also a bit confused.
My in-laws are in Palm Beach and were w/o power for 4 days - they were complaing of the severe heat and humidity - mid to upper 80s with the same humidity.
Should not the tank have slowly acclimated to the room temp which was in the 80-s?
I can see the fish suffering from O2 depletion at a higher temp, but the battery pump should have helped with that.
How do you account for the tank temp dropping down to 72 when the outside temp was in the mid-upper 80s?
Just wondering (and am glad that it did not happer to me).
Thanks.

 

[judyk]

When we were on the generator, our house was 80 - 90 each day. We ran the pumps on both tanks 7am to 11 pm, then the generator went to our sons. At that time, I ran the bubblers. During the day I only ran my pc's on the big tank for 4 to 5 hours and didn't run any lights on my fowlr. We did that for 4 days and fed the fish sparingly. Saturday, I did a water change and everything seems to be okay. I haven't had a chance to test the water, so I can't tell how much of a change occured if any.

 

[jtutton]

Sine the hurricane happened at night and much of the next day, the temps dropped into the 70s, and like the poster said, our house was in the high 80s each day. Bottled ice was the only way to keep the temps down. Once we got the generator, I ran the fridge and tank from about 3 pm to 9 am. It helped immensely with the water quality as did the water change. Today, it looks nice and clear and the zoos are starting to open up again.
I, too ran the lights sparingly and fed very little. Frances and Ivan weren't very active for a while anyway and they aren't big eaters.
Well, once the LFS are open, I'll have the water tested to make sure all is ok. I can do most tests myself, but like them to do phosphates and nitrates.
Thanks for the sympathy, I feel so bad about losing my buddies.
I also lost my banded coral shrimp at work.
I'll post pics when I get more life back in the tank. I did take this opportunity to rearrange the LR in a more pleasing manner.