oz_gooner Posted January 25, 2009 Share Posted January 25, 2009 With the upcoming storm season approching fast I am wondering how long is to long for the power to be off for my canister filter if we are hit with a blackout? What is the main problem with the filter not running? Is it an ammonia spike due to the biological filtration not running or is there a build up of 'BAD' stuff inside the filter that is pushed into the tank when power comes back on? Apart from getting a ups to run the filter for a short time what are the alternatives? Any info would be great. Rob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kilroy Posted January 25, 2009 Share Posted January 25, 2009 The biggest problem with your canister being off is the beneficial bacteria dying off. This occurs after 4 or so hours without oxygen/food source. That could lead to an ammonia spike depending on how long the filter is off for. Thats why I would only feed sparingly after such an occurrence. My UPS runs a large air pump and all of my tanks have sponge filters / side drop or both simply as a backup. The airpump is 70W and I have had it running for 18 hours with the single battery only losing 0.8V. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oz_gooner Posted January 25, 2009 Author Share Posted January 25, 2009 Thanks for that. I am about to setup a 6' tank and was looking at a dropside setup. Now I will look abit closer at it. Rob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matthew Posted January 26, 2009 Share Posted January 26, 2009 With the upcoming storm season approching fast I am wondering how long is to long for the power to be off for my canister filter if we are hit with a blackout? What is the main problem with the filter not running? Rob G'day Rob Generally a canister will survive a two hour blackout, but as Kilroy says within 4 hours the time is up and you really do need to be cleaning out your filter media. TIP. During a blackout, take apart the canisters and rinse in tank water, every hour or so. This will keep your media alive a lot longer. The problem with dead filter media is two fold. Immediate: Can deplete all of the oxygen in the water that leaves the filter. This causes your fish to drown Why: Due to all of the decaying bacteria, Oxygen is consumed by the decaying bacteria. The water enters the filter with oxygen and leaves with very little if any oxygen. TIP: Use a spray bar in your tank and/or always have an airstone in your tank to add additional air/oxygen into the water. Within hours / weeks: Ammonia spike and later Nitrite spike. Cause: Due to insufficient bacteria dangerous levels of ammonia can build up in the aquarium and later on nitrite levels. Both chemicals require bacteria to convert them. The stages of chemical conversion are Ammonia -> (Bacteria) -> Nitrite -> (A Different Bacteria) -> Nitrate Solutions: Keep only lightly stocked tanks. This will extend your filters capacity to recover post a blackout. Generally about a quarter of my regular tank stocking level is required Battery powered airpumps are great. They are cheap and you can move them to whatever tanks require them during a blackout. Rotate your batteries in January each year Keep your filter media clean and rinse out ahead of when the media must be cleaned. Always run an airstone or even better a sponge filter in your tank(s). This will provide air when the power resumes and will recolonise with bacteria very quickly as well. Post blackout keep an eye on your ammonia and nitrite levels. If required use a product like prime to detoxify them, please note these products this will only work for a short period as they use the same (missing) bacteria to convert the toxic by products. So keep testing every day. Other products like Cycle can be added to add bacteria to the tank. A modified UPS is a great backup plan. Attach a much bigger battery, deep cycle and attach this to the essential equipment. Like air pumps and canniisters. Do not worry about heaters. The fish will survive decreased heat for a lot longer than no oxygen and increased waste products. Generators are an excellent option for extended blackouts (They are noisy though). Now they are very cheap although I would strongly suggest good brands and 4 stroke models if your budget can stretch to this level. If you have lots of funds go for a quiet model or even better an automatic diesel model that turns on when the power goes off. I have learnt this information the hard way by watching the fish drown or be harmed by rising toxic chemicals in their tanks. It upset me and so I started researching the problems involved. Please create a backup plan before the power goes out and actually get whatever you need before it happens, your fish will be better and you can relax when disaster strikes. cya Matthew Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
azzah Posted January 27, 2009 Share Posted January 27, 2009 TIP. During a blackout, take apart the canisters and rinse in tank water, every hour or so. This will keep your media alive a lot longer. If the blackout goes for an extended period of time wouldn't it be less effort putting the media in a filter bag or stocking and just leave it in the tank until the blackout is over? I've been lucky so far. Since I've started keeping fish (about 4 years) I've only had 1 blackout and it lasted less then a minute. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oz_gooner Posted January 27, 2009 Author Share Posted January 27, 2009 Thanks Matthew. Just the info I was looking for. azzah - I thought you have to have water movement around the media for the bacteria to remain alive. Or do I have it wrong? Still coming to terms with bacteria and how they work ect. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TropheusQueen Posted January 27, 2009 Share Posted January 27, 2009 Thanks Matthew. Just the info I was looking for. azzah - I thought you have to have water movement around the media for the bacteria to remain alive. Or do I have it wrong? Still coming to terms with bacteria and how they work ect. Spot on. Putting the media into the tank will not only kill the bacteria but may also speed up the process of your fish dying. Our longest blackout was for 17 hours during the bushfires in 03/04 27 tanks at the time all on canisters uuggghhh. We now have back up generators, air filtration linked to UPS backups etc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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