What if... Power failure...

[tang_man_montreal]

Hi everyone,
I'm new to this hobby, I havn't set up a tank yet since I'm still in the research phase.
This passed weekend, We had a power failure that lasted around 12 hours. Some other people in my area were not hooked up for about 24-30 hours.
What does one do in that situation? The power outage happened on a Sunday, and Monday was a holiday here in Quebec. Which meant that most LFS's were closed until today.
How long can a tank be without electricity to power filtration, heater, etc?
Thanks.
Vince.

 

[rhomer]

Really depends on the filtration. If you have lr/ls as your filtration, I would guess 3/4 days would be fine. The main issue would be heating/cooling. Without air conditioning your tank temp will rise fast, and the revese is true about the winter.
During the summer you could go out and buy bags of ice and float them in the water, and during the winter you would want to buy a carosine heater.

 

[pstanley]

You could also purchase a UPC battery back up used for computers. The only problem with that is they can be expensive and the charge normally doesn't last very long but they would be perfect for short term power outages.

 

[tang_man_montreal]

The UPC is a good idea...
If you had to choose between the heater and filter/skimmer to keep powered up, which one would you choose?
I'm thinking heater....

 

[frankl15207]

Actually it depends more on the dissolved oxygen content of the water. In lieu of a backup power supply, there are battery operated air pumps made for aquarium use that aren't that expensive. I keep two on hand just in case. We had a bad storm at the end of May that left our power out for 8 hours and the pumps kept the tank water moving on one set of batteries.

 

[bluemarlin]

I am in the market to buy a generator for my house. My wife and I just moved and we now live in the country. Our electricity went out during the winter and the house got cold fast. Luckily it was only out for 9 hours. I can see that where I live I need a generator. So next time my power goes out I'll be prepared!

 

[xrayman]

I bought a generator.Best investment ever made have not had to use it,but when the power goes off for along period time watch out.

 

[panhead]

after the last ice storm I too bought a generator
(they were cheap the week after power was restored)

 

[ckkihei]

Response to buying a kerosene heater.......the fish might survive but you'd be dead from the carbon monoxide!!!!!! <img src="graemlins//urrr.gif" border="0" alt="[urrr]" />