Unbelievable blackout!!

[TriGgEr HAppY]

Hey guys i just had the worst black out on long island that i never saw in my life. It happened last Saturday evening and i have my reef fish tank sitting in my living room well i didnt have a generator so i just wrapped 5 quilts around my fish tank so the heat couldnt escape, i wasnt expecting the blackout to be that long so i didnt worry that much but after 2 days i started worrying because the fish tank was like 10 degrees celcius!! I couldn't do anything but hope that my fish lived. The 3 baby occelaris i bought the day before the blackout died and there was also i yellow tang also that i bought. Well i just got my power back today and its been 5 days!!! Unbelievably all my fish are still alive which are the trigger the eel, the occelaris clown fish, puffer and yellow tang and starfish but i had a couple corals that look dead but prob gonna come back, right now my water is heating up. I just wanted to share this unbelievable experience.

[Anemonebuff]

You are lucky that they made it. I lost power for 24 hours and my tank dropped to 68-70 degrees F. I have a few corals suffering, but the fish seem to be fine. Best of luck.

[Anthonius]

wow!!! thats amazing sorry about your luck tho bud... grats on the survivors you got some tough fish.

[TriGgEr HAppY]

Yea i was so lucky stupid power company although like 240,000 people lost power at the same time lol

[hoffy02]

How low did the water get?

[Mounda]

wow, that is a really long blackout. 10 Celsius is really low that's almost freezing, I would have tried to add some hot water by any means but I'm glad to hear that most of your fish have made it.

[hoffy02]

did you have anything moving water? aerator on batteries or anything?

[goldmaniac]

10 C = 50f degrees

[Anemonebuff]

I had battery powered pumps. I was ready to start heating water on the BBQ.

[TriGgEr HAppY]

Yea i didnt have anything not even a battery powered aerator because blackouts like this doesnt even happen and i wasnt even expecting it tot be that long so i wasn't prepared for it but i knew the fish had enough oxygen in the water to last them but i wasn't expecting the power-out to be 5 days thats gotta be a record but im happy they didnt die and about the hot water i would have but the only hot water i had available was from tap and i knew that would have cuased more problems so i just left it and the water line was just below the rim because most of it went into the sump but im so mad that the clowns died i just got them too.

[Anemonebuff]

Salt water has less room in it for O2 so an airator is necessary. I am suprised more fish did not perish. I cannot believe there was hot water. I have an oil heater and I had hot water for a few hours at best. You could have floated hot water jug/milk containers to keep the temp up.

[terryagi]

be careful not to reheat the water too fast. You wouldn't want your creatures surviving this long only to die because the temp was raised too fast.

[niles1967]

I survived the blackout too. I didn't lose any fish. Now I am looking for a generator powerfull enough to run the tank, fridge, TV and a few lamps. Having no electric is terrible and I was obsessed with my tank to the point that I couldn't sleep. Never again. I will point the generator exhaust at my neighbor with the barking dog.

[prickles]

if you have a house and the money, you can get what I would consider a reasonably priced "back up generator" from Home Depot that will power much of your house, not just your fish tank! Think of how jealous your neighbors would be if you were the only house on the block with power for 5 days!

[pledosophy]

Originally Posted by prickles

if you have a house and the money, you can get what I would consider a reasonably priced "back up generator" from Home Depot that will power much of your house, not just your fish tank! Think of how jealous your neighbors would be if you were the only house on the block with power for 5 days!

The wife and I are buying a house and she does not get why this is so important. I just keep telling her there is no discussion. If the power is out for 5 days I'll loose 10g's in corals, not to mention my pets that I have kept for years. It is worth the investment.

[Mounda]

Originally Posted by niles1967

I survived the blackout too. I didn't lose any fish. Now I am looking for a generator powerfull enough to run the tank, fridge, TV and a few lamps. Having no electric is terrible and I was obsessed with my tank to the point that I couldn't sleep. Never again. I will point the generator exhaust at my neighbor with the barking dog.

TV

[lostintheocean]

why didnt you heat water and add it? seems like a no brainer

[Anemonebuff]

I had no power and my stove is electric. It did not occur to me to use the BBQ until the lights popped back on.

[d2mini]

5 days? That's all? Psh.

We went 17 days with no power in the middle of summer when Hurricane Ike came through a year and a half ago. Luckily i had just started building my 46g back then. So many people lost everything.

[64Ivy]

We were only out a couple days but the generator worked flawlessly so all is well here. For the life of me though, I can't understand how so many people in a town such as Greenwich don't have a one. We're talking folks with 15K sq. ft estates who had to look for hotel rooms as far away as New Haven just to stay warm! Man, I just hope too many of them weren't reef keepers as their pets, I'm afraid, didn't have that option.

[whipit]

I bought a generator I plug all 4 tanks no worries. thats just too much money to lose.
glad it all worked out for you