No Electricity!! - How long do I have?

agent707

Member
The power went out last night around 11pm (10 hours ago). When I left for work I saw them replacing a power pole that went down in the storm…. Looks like they have 5 or 6 hours to go.
Question is, how long will fishies be okay in tank?
Tanks #1) 75 gallon – 2 chomis, 2 clowns, 1 yellow tank, loads of crabs and live rock.
Tanks #2) 56 gallon – 3 chromis, 1 coral beauty, loads of crabs and LR
The water temp this morning was ~70 in the 75.
My fishies going to be okay for 5 or 6 more hours?
 

ncognito#2

New Member
It should be fine. Since the temp is not hot, the oxygen level should be okay and you don't have a huge bioload that consumes it. For the future, I would invest in a battery operated aerator just for instances like this. Anything that aggitates/breaks the water surface will also allow oxygen to be reintroduced. Good luck.
 

kjr_trig

Active Member
Originally Posted by Agent707
The power went out last night around 11pm (10 hours ago). When I left for work I saw them replacing a power pole that went down in the storm…. Looks like they have 5 or 6 hours to go.
Question is, how long will fishies be okay in tank?
Tanks #1) 75 gallon – 2 chomis, 2 clowns, 1 yellow tank, loads of crabs and live rock.
Tanks #2) 56 gallon – 3 chromis, 1 coral beauty, loads of crabs and LR
The water temp this morning was ~70 in the 75.
My fishies going to be okay for 5 or 6 more hours?

I lost power for 15 hours in Charleston SC with no loses in Hurricane Gaston....Any chance of getting a battery powered pump at the LFS?
 

earlybird

Active Member
Just make sure there is some movement. You can get a cup and scoop out water and pour it back in. Do this every 20 minutes or so if you can.
 

t316

Active Member
Mine went out at 6:00AM this morning too.
Luckily it came back on after an hour. Otherwise I was looking at taking the day off & digging out the generator.
 

agent707

Member
Well, 14 hours was the total time off (was able to gauge from the time on the stove when I got home from work).
They all appear to be ok now after some help. All the lights were off, so they were "sort of" asleep when I got home.
I was worried about the oldest clown though, he was laying in the back corner of the tank motionless... the other clown was swimming and nudging him all over... He finally started swimming again though. He has NEVER EVER done this. He always swims, even when he sleeps.. makes me wonder if he was in a little shock? Dunno.
Thanks for all the encouragement. There wasn't much I could do, I had to go to work today.
Lesson learned from this... keep a battery powered air pump on hand. :)
 
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