Power outage- thanks Irma

[bluesy1213]

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Well my tank has been running intermittently on a 300 watt inverter and my cars' battery. 29 gallon tank, 100 watt heater, tunze 9004 skimmer, and mp 10. Temp is usually 77 degrees but it's hovering in the 72 - 70 degree range. No sump/hang on back filter not running and no lights. Tank is about a year old. Wanting advice or comments on how long I can do this before start seeing damage and death please. Sorry still a newb and wanted to know where I stand. I had just completed a 5 gal water change when the power went out yesterday around 4.

 

[xilez]

I was out for almost 18 hours and survived with no losses.

The 2 most important things are oxygen and temperature.

If your battery is out, manually break the surface tension of the water by filling up a big cup of water, and pouring it back in. Do this for a couple of minutes, every 30 minutes or so. Don't pour back in gently, you are trying to create bubbles and current. I also was stirring the top of the water with a turkey basting and blowing air around. Running a skimmer AND mp 10 might drain the battery faster, so if you are limited how much you can used I'd focus on the mp10.

Since you have a battery hooked up to your car, I would try to get the temp back up. Wrap the sides of the tank in blankets/towels in order to help keep the heat in and turn the heater up (this will use the most power).

As long as you have gas in your car to run the inverter, some sort of water movement to oxygenate the system, and a somewhat stable temp..you can last for days. Fish can go 3+ days without food, corals can go up to 3-5 without light, and temps can go down to about 68 deg. Stay calm, but it seems like you are on top of it! I would immediately wrap the sides of the tank in towels (I had mine dict taped to the back of the tank)

 

[bluesy1213]

Thanks for the help xilez. Didn't think of wrapping the tank.

 

[joseayes]

Hope you are getting success with the power outage. if the temperatures are lowering down you might try one of those gel packs that are used in medical and muscular treatment. I've got two of those at the mall, they last for about 3 hours or more, you might wrap them as well with a towel and tape, it's a gettho fix for sure but it's a good insulator and keeps the temp just fine in smaller tanks. I'm saying if the source of power becomes short after a while. Hope you'll be fine. I'm not a coral fragger and my tank is very limited but if you experience any loss due to this, just let me know and I'll hook you up with a frag. Don't be so worried, you'll be fine. In my case we only had 3 hours power outage but what I just did was set a battery power air pump and pray for everything hehehe...

 

[bluesy1213]

Well power came back on about 5 hrs ago and all is well. Looks like I was just a little nervous. Thanks for the advice everyone.