power outage almost ruined me

[nmoran]

I live in Denver Colorado where it's been extremly cold the past few days. And yesterday morning I woke up to find that the power had gone out at 6 in the morning. I guess I'm lucky I woke up. But anyways I found that about 20 gallons of my tank where all over the floor because the pump stopped working and the siphone kept going. The worst thing was that the heaters went out. And because it was about -5 degrees outside it was getting cold inside very fast. I threw 5 blankets over my tank to try and keep the heat it. I have a banded cat shark, a clown, and purcuipine puffer. I thought they were all going to die, and I couldn't take them to a fish store because it was too early. Well luckly the blankets kept it pretty warm and the power came back after about four hours. All the fish are still alive. Has this ever happened to anyone else?

 

[mr . salty]

This is an easy fix.To keep this from happening again,you need to drill a small hole in your return line just under the water level in the tank.When power goes out again the water will "back syphon" till it reaches this hole.Then air being sucked through the hole will break the syphon...

 

[wildblue4]

Mr. Salty not sure i follow you. put a small hole on the return line? should that be the siphone line between your two cups are the actual return line in your tank? sorry for not seeing what you mean. why we are talking about this has anyone thought about using a backup battery supply for a computer to run just your return pump on a wet/dry system. im thinking about it ant ideas.

 

[diceman]

Yes I run a UPS for my tank and I think it was a great investment. I lost power several times in the house and the tank was saved by the UPS I bought. Cost was about $140.00 Saved my fish investment for sure. I would recomend to everyone who had a tank with good money invested to get a UPS so you don't lose anything. We all know this is not a cheap hobby and a little extra insurance don't hurt.

 

[fishgod]

Yes a small hole in the siphon just under the waters surface that way when the ater leel drops below the hole, the hole will cause air to enter the tubing breaking the siphon.

 

[wildblue4]

diceman what all did you run off the backup supply?

 

[diceman]

Wet/dry filter, temp. control. I lost power a few times the longest being 3 1/2 hrs. No affect on the tank, water kept circulating and a steady 78 for the temp. I can't remember how long I get on battery backup but if I lost power say for 12 hrs or so, it's only a few hrs the tank will go without water circulation and my most worry would be the temp fluctuating too much causing the fish to get stressed. It may not be a must to all to buy one but I like an insurance policy the UPS gives my fish. Especially if you lose electricity a lot where you live. I don't lose it often but like to know that if I'm not home and lose power my fish are not affected.

 

[mr . salty]

Originally posted by FishGod:
<strong>Yes a small hole in the siphon just under the waters surface that way when the ater leel drops below the hole, the hole will cause air to enter the tubing breaking the siphon.</strong><hr></blockquote> Let's not make this more confusing than it needs too be..The hole goes in the RETURN from your sump.NOT THE SYPHON...