# Power outage question



## giraffee (Mar 28, 2011)

Since we are in a slow and gradual process of a setting up a discus tank one of the worries that we have is about a power outage. From what I read it appears that if you are home you can hook up a battery-powered air-pump, or if you are willing to invest a few hundreds just purchase a back-up power unit from CanTire... However, a few things do not seem to click into place for me. One, what if you are NOT home when the power outage happens, or if it happens at night when you are asleep and oblivious? Do you wake up to find a tank full of dead fish? If the filter isn't running for more than 30 minutes do all the bacteria die? I searched the forum and googled but I can't seem to get the whole picture. Please enlighten me 

Vira


----------



## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

The short answer is no.

You have quite a bit of time as the bacteria in your filter is not going to run out of oxygen that quickly. I don't know what the cutoff is, but for anything less than 12 hours, I don't even worry about it. The biggest worry for some people is that the tank gets too cool (discus people) or if they overstock, which, without circulation may cause a CO2 buildup/O2 depletion problem for the fish. But for the bacteria, I wouldn't worry about it. I've never lost a fish due to power outage, but then the longest outage we've had was maybe 8 hours.


----------



## Clownloachlover (Apr 21, 2010)

in larger tanks it is less critical as the mass of water will hold it's heat longer, especially if you have a good tight fitting top...on my previous 135 gallon tank I lost power to my house for 16 hours and there were no issues at all, when the power came back on the filters fired up, the heaters came on and the air pump started again and all was well...during the outage my pleco came out of his cave for anout 2 minutes to see why the water stopped moving and the air had stopped. 

Smaller tanks it is a little more critical as the water will lose its heat faster as there is not as much of it, but as for bacteria etc, I doubt even a couple of days would affect it.


----------



## giraffee (Mar 28, 2011)

Wow, that's a big difference from what I was told. I though bacteria in the filter will die with an hour if the filter stops.... Not taken from the internet, but from a library book on discus care. 

So with discus it is potentially more important to have a back-up heater of some sort then... This is very useful to know, we were not thrilled with a potential $500 investment into a back-up on top of all other tank expenses.


----------



## rescuepenguin (Apr 21, 2010)

If you are willing to spend a few dollars you can get the Uninterupted power supply based on those used for computers, or even us one for them, make sure you have a drip loop, or put it higher than the tank. They kick in as soon as power is lost. Fast enough that the computer doesn't shut down. Like Gary, I don't even worry about it. I do have a battery and a power inverter just in case.


----------



## giraffee (Mar 28, 2011)

Thank you rescuepenguin. We've had UPS for a couple of years, and I don't even recall actually using it, but never the less we had the server, phone and some other stuff plugged into it, but it seems that only worked for a very short period of time. The proper ones seem to cost a small fortune. 

I still find it strange that the book refers to such a short period of time before the death of the useful bacteria, and I am yet to find anything of that sort on the internet.


----------



## giraffee (Mar 28, 2011)

I came across this discussion on the subject where the OP seems to be much more eloquent and knowledgeable on the subject than I am. Opinions seem to vary on how long the bacteria will survive, but nearly everyone agrees that media survives for extended period of time unless it dries out. Is it okay to post a link to a different forum btw?


----------



## effox (Apr 21, 2010)

That's fine.


----------



## giraffee (Mar 28, 2011)

Thank you effox!


----------

