power outage :(

[xingu]

My power got cutoff sometime this afternoon, its not going to be back on until sometime saturday.

No genny, no battery powered airpump until tomorrow morning earliest.

What's the best plan for damage limitation?

Battery airpump asap, guess the canisters will be full of badness by then so they will need cleaning before putting back on?

I know there have been threads on this so apologies for not searching but doing this from my phone.

 

[scatz]

thats really not good!! I wouldn't know where i'd start if i knew the power was going to be down for 2 or 3 days!
Personally i would open the externals so they are open to the air (baceria is aerobic so this may keep it alive (insert expert opinion here))
then i'd simply do as many small water changes as i can during the couple of days, in theory water changes will replace the need for the filter until it can be running again, or it'll at least keep the ammonia/ nitrites from building up too much.
If you can get some battery air pumps, how about running sponge filters on them for the time being?

 

[xingu]

Can see what's available at the shop tomorrow, otherwise yeah, wc and hope.

From memory, if I open the canisters I should drop an airline in there was well for oxygen input.

 

[scatz]

Can see what's available at the shop tomorrow, otherwise yeah, wc and hope.

From memory, if I open the canisters I should drop an airline in there was well for oxygen input.

thats what i'd try mate.
good luck with it

 

[bigbird]

i would actually place the filter material in a large bucket, insert an airstone in there, this would give you more oxygenation and movement in my opinion.
Also agree on the water changes on a regular basis, including the the bucket with the filter media. When power is back on, I would then test the water as usual for any spikes. Also as you stated get a baterry operated air pump and also made add a sponge filter to this. In the meantime, also check with your friends or LFS if they can give you some live filter material when you get back power. good luck. cheers jk :thumbup:

 

[Stan]

I'm assuming in Dubai that temperature is not an issue?
I agree on the water changes and what JK said about putting your filter material into a large bucket using tank water to change water in the filter material. also when you do your water changes pour the water from quite a height to get some splash to help add more air to the water until you get some DC air pumps.

 

[Brengun]

Pop the canisters open and drop that airstone in every couple of hours.
Get a good bottle of Prime liquid and dose all tanks when the power comes on to cope with baddies in the water for at least 24hours.

If no airpumps or anything, do what the old timers used to do before uniform electricity and pour cups of tank water at height into the tanks. Repeat lots of times and set your alarm to do it a few times through the night as well.

 

[zeebo]

Pop the canisters open and drop that airstone in every couple of hours.
Get a good bottle of Prime liquid and dose all tanks when the power comes on to cope with baddies in the water for at least 24hours.

If no airpumps or anything, do what the old timers used to do before uniform electricity and pour cups of tank water at height into the tanks. Repeat lots of times and set your alarm to do it a few times through the night as well.

That is what i did on the small tank during the first outtage, the hurricane for 2 days, poured water from the tank into the filters from abouy 8'' above, mind this was a much smaller tank and hob's but it worked. I set the timer and every 90 min (cant recall exactly) did each filter a few times , for 2 days. worked pretty good. no losses.
Good luck ..keep us informed. get your hands on those batt air pumps asap,for sure ,but also keep pouring tank water in the filters .
Georgie

 

[xingu]

Update, power came on 2 hours ago.

I couldn't find any battery powered airpumps so did 5 or 6 water changes over the course of the last 2 days.

Both filters torn down, cleaned and now hooked back up.

Double dosed Prime on every WC and did an 80% WC before turning filters back on.

Casualties so far, zero.

Conscious that I have probably got no bacteria colony left, so it's going to be daily WC's and Prime for a while but hopefully I have got past the worst bit.

All 4 Loris are alive they were my main worry.

tip for anyone that this happens to - clean filters when it first happens, they both smelt like death when I opened them.

 

[scatz]

fingers crossed that everything gets back to normal soon enough, one good thing about panaques, you'll have plenty of crud to get the filters back up to capacity soon lol

 

[xingu]

fingers crossed that everything gets back to normal soon enough, one good thing about panaques, you'll have plenty of crud to get the filters back up to capacity soon lol

True, I moved a bit of wood to re-position the internal I use as a glorified power head, the the crap on it was outrageous!

 

[Joby]

I really hope that it continues to go well, I would have been tearing my hair out at the prospect of a couple of days power outage :fr:

 

[zeebo]

wow, very intense, I know. See if you can get your hands on Microbe Lift nite out ll and Microbe Lift Special Blend as this is what D-Mac suggested i use when i lost a filter last outtage (ran dry ) on my small tank. I found it at a good aquarium store , added another airstone and it brought my nitrites down from 50 to 20 in 2 days and the mini cycle was much shorter . may be a long shot where u live , but worth a try...

also,I dont claim to be an expert but the time i was stuck without battery airpumps, i did the old fashioned way from the git-go, the very first hour we lost power i began pouring cups of tank water into the filters , used a timer to keep it up and it gave the fish enough oxygen and kept the biomedia alive ...but for this method to work, one would need to be home to start the procdeure immediately ,before the biomedia begins dying off .
I was honestly surprised none of the fish hung at the top for oxygen and that it worked.

I wish you the best of luck getting everything back to normal . Outtages suck! Please keep us informed how it's going , should be fine with ur plan of action .
Georgie