Urgent help needed Power Outage

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Hi guys,

So the power has been out at my place since 16:30. I have a 850L system where the return pump and biopellets have been on a backup battery for the last 4 hours. I only have about 2-4 hours left of backup power and don't know if the power will be back by then. I'm not too worried about heat, only oxygen and keeping the fish and bacteria alive. Any tricks or tips to help? Anyone in the Pretoria east area who would be willing to loan me a generator for a day or so until I have power back? Unfortunately both my battery powered pumps are not working either (Murphy's law).

Have some big prized fish in the tank as well so a bit worried. Thanks guys!
 
I would only run the return pump. The bacteria will survive under extreme conditions but your fish wont. Water movement more important for oxygen exchange.
 
Thanks for the replies @EFJ! Even the bacteria associated with the biopellets? I thought they die quite quickly and if left not moving for hours you will need to replace them?

At this stage it looks like the fish will maybe go an hour without water movement and I'll take the battery to a garage and charge it there and then bring it back and start up again... may just do that all night and see how far I get.
 
As far as I know bacteria does die but a lot more survives. Like I said at the moment water movement is more important so I would soley focus on that. Bacteria will multiply in no time but your fish wont.
 
Will focus on keeping the return pump running as long as I can then! Thanks @EFJ! Hopefully morning brings better news. Will take a drive to the garage in the next hour or so.
 
Battery airpump will make world of difference. Agreed with sa reefer on the gas exchange... most vital.

There willbe bac die off and VERY important to not add water from pellet reactor back to tank if it was left off for a while.
 
Thanks a lot! At this stage I am agitating the surface every 15min. Have dropped my backup battery off at the gas station up the road. It was still going after 8 hours but thought I should try and charge it so it can get me to the morning. Will collect in an hour or so.

@irie ivan how long would a while be? Would 1hr 30min be too long to keep the water?
 
An hur 30 would not be a concern, but to be on the safe side, just smell the reactor before switching on. If you get a rotten egg smell, discard water from reactor, or rinse pellets with a bit of tank water.
 
I'm not sure about the particular bacteria involved, but with FW filter bacteria if you take them out of the water (might be possible to do with the biopellets?) and keep them damp they can live for much longer than if they're submerged. Take this advice with a pinch of salt, because they're not the same bacteria, but maybe if you want to hedge your bets take half the biopellets out and keep them damp? Then you could concentrate your electricity supply on keeping the fish oxygenated
 
Tank was without power for about 17 hours due to cable theft. I managed to get the backup battery fully charged at the garage up the road and for the two hours it was charging I used a jug and kept the water moving every 15min. Then when I got the battery back I dumped the water in the pellet reactor and started that and the return pump up again.

This afternoon I got home and all seems well! Thanks for all the help guys!

IMG_7322.JPG
 
Good to hear everything has survived. :) Nice looking tank by the way, awesome selection of fish.
 
Tank this good deserves a thread :thumbup1:
 
Thanks guys! Yeah probably should start a thread, been having some nitrate issues so may start up a thread when I get the time and ask my questions there.

Thanks for the kind words and all the help again!
 
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