Anyone else's power out right now?

[thegrandpoohbah]

I'm in Burnaby and the power has been out all night. My GF woke me up at 5:30 when she got up for work. Since I had to go to work she ended up calling in sick and is now at home stirring the water in the fish tanks every half hour. Hopefully everybody survives but they were all at the surface gasping for air. Anyone else here having problems and how are you coping with it?

[CACAdmin]

Others may not have power but we probably won't hear from them until later unless they log in from work. No power out here at my place in New West thank goodness. Hopefully, yours will be back on soon... glad one of you could stick around and try to look after the fish... best of luck.

Will keep my fingers crossed that all of your fish are going to be ok.

[hp10BII]

We were spared power outage, but I knew the power was flickering on and off through the night. I'm working from home today so I'm keeping an eye out on the power, probably do water changes for the tanks later on...never know when the cloudy water takes over.

All my tanks are full and I don't have any spare tanks, so I don't know what to offer to help.

[thegrandpoohbah]

Another question: what about the filter media? My GF is home right now stirring the water to aerate it but without water flowing through the filters will the bacteria die off and cause my tanks to cycle?

[hp10BII]

Yeah, that's a really possiblity with sealed filters like canisters. Powerfilters like Aquaclears should be less of a risk as there is greater oxygen surface for bacteria. You can have her prime the canisters to circulate oxygenated water through them, that would stir the water as well. For the powerfilters, maybe just scoop tank water in them and allow the excess the flow out.

[Melody]

And if she's doing all that, don't forget to bring dinner home for her ;-).

Our power stayed on, thankfully. We don't seem to lose it here often <knock on a simulated wood-like substance>.

It did come close enough that the HOB filters made that grind sound they make when they come back on. It flickered a few times but stayed on.

I don't worry about my filters with the HOB's. Never thought about the box filters but they're not sealed so I guess they'd be fine. Interesting about the cannister filters - I didn't know that, but it makes sense.

Such smart fishies around here :biggrin: . Hope everyone & their creatures are doing ok!

[thegrandpoohbah]

Well, the power is finally back on. No casualties but some of the fish and snails don't look so good. I was just about to start up my new battery powered air pumps when the power came back on. Oh well, I guess it will be good to have them as backups for next time.

[Melody]

The snails should be fine - they can breathe atmospheric air. If they're at the waterline you're either low in oxygen or there's something nasty in there. Great indicators. Do you have injections in that tank? I suppose it would get 'trapped' if there was no water movement.

Anyways, glad they're doing better. A water change should balance things out for you again I would guess.

[CACAdmin]

I find the snails just get sluggish if the temps drop. However, that said, I did lose several when we had all that cold and snow... my own fault.:( They were in buckets next to the window wall the entire time (that window had 2 inches of ice on it). I think the temps stayed too low for too long (many days).

[Melody]

I'm sorry to hear that :( . Many of my snails are at room temp, which goes to the high 60's/low 70's. They are quite cold tolerant but as you say, not for long periods.

[CACAdmin]

Thanks, Melody. The majority of the snails were fine & perked up immediately upon being returned to warmer temps... but I feel badly losing any of my little critters. So now, nobody gets to stay near the window without a heater!