As some of
you might now we had a 30 hour power cut here a couple of weeks ago. It came at
a really bad time in that I was in the process of moving and hence had tanks at
two different locations.
I was not
prepared enough but some of the preparations I had made proved vital to my
fishes survival. The losses that I suffered all came from one single tank which
was on the small size (70 liters) and not insulated.
The losses were of younger
animals of Hypancistrus debilittera, L129. The adults suffered too and in the
end I evacuated these animals to a larger tank, It is certain that these
animals would have died too if they would not have been moved.
Unfortunately
I have heard from friends who lost far more fish than me during this cut.
What
worked?
Oxygenation:
I was lucky enough to get my hands on a number of battery driven air pumps and
these proved absolutely vital to the health of my fish. The oxygenated water
seems to also have kept the bacteria alive in my filters (all sponge). My water
tests have all come back good since the event thanks to the air pumps and the
sponges that were floating in the oxygenated water.
Insulation:
One of my tanks was insulated with a layer of Styrofoam and there was a very
clear difference in the temperature between this tank and the others. Obviously
other factors matter too such as size of the tanks but the difference was clear
enough to point to the insulation. In the future most of my tanks will be
insulated.
Improvements?
If this
power cut of 30 hours would have lasted longer, there is no doubt that I would
have lost more fish therefor I will need to improve my chances should this
happen again.
Many fish keepers keep a spare generator at hand and this seems
like a very good long term solution. Unfortunately due to the location this is
not an option for me. I have been looking at various electrical backup
solutions and I will update this post when I have done more research.
As I am
satisfied with how the battery driven air pumps worked my main concern is the
temperature. Apart from covering all tanks with insulation, have spare duvets
ready to cover the tanks I have been suggested to use various heat packs that
can be activated at the time of a power cut and suspended into the tank.
Another
option is to keep a few large tanks that are well insulated; in an emergency
fish from smaller tanks can be temporarily transfers to the larger prepared
tanks which will hold the temperature far longer than the smaller ones.
These
solutions are however only fine if the owner is at home at the time of the
power cut; it’s a different story if the owner is away during the event in
which case an emergency power generator would be more beneficial.
I would be interested in hearing from other fish keepers with experience in this matter.
