Vadim January 27, 2011 Share January 27, 2011 power went out yesterday at 6pm, today power didn't come on until 10am. out of 8 fish that i have, 3 look like they're going to die. water temp got down to about 63. very frustrating, feel like im about to break down any moment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coral Hind January 27, 2011 Share January 27, 2011 It doesn't sound like you were alone last night. Lots of people were having power issues. I'm sure they all survive. While you are waiting for the temp to come back make sure you are getting as much o2 into the tank as possible. The lack of O2 when the power goes out is normally what kills more then the temps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chad January 27, 2011 Share January 27, 2011 I am very sorry to hear, that sucks. Things may not be that bad, get the water moving and aerated, bring the temperature back up SLOWLY (over a few days), and leave your non-actinic lights off for a couple of days. Keep your hopes up, you may be surprised at what can pull through. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
epleeds January 27, 2011 Share January 27, 2011 yea,,,i would have been there with you if it wasnt for my generator. just got our power back an hour ago. the house was down to 55 degrees. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davelin315 January 27, 2011 Share January 27, 2011 I actually think that when temps are down in the 60s, it's not a bad idea to raise it through the course of the day rather than take a few days. The cold temperatures can be handled for a short period of time, but over a few days time it can kill a fish. I agree, too, that the oxygen is probably more what will do them in rather than the temperature. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vadim January 27, 2011 Author Share January 27, 2011 ok well, my girlfriend is calling me every so often updating me on the fish. Things are looking up now. I got her to get the temperature up to 77 within 4 hours. While the temperature was going up at about 70 degrees i had her feed the fish as much as they wanted. Must say they were reallllllllyyyyyyyyyy hungry. After they ate they looked more alive. So then i had her turn on all the pumps with lights. My biggest worry was the yellow tang. It was on it's side barely breathing. Now it's atleast swimming and ate pretty well. Whew, Im just hoping it continues towards the positive side. No loss of fish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coral Hind January 27, 2011 Share January 27, 2011 Why were the lights and pumps left off? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vadim January 27, 2011 Author Share January 27, 2011 When the electricity came on, the circulation pump inside the tank came on, and i left that running. but i didn't want to overwhelm the fish. so i decided to leave the pump in the sump and the lights off. I really wanted to focus on the temp of the water, since it got down to 63. I pretty much made a plan and when i hit a certain point and everything was ok i went on to another item, so then i turned the lights on then the pump in the sump. I pretty much had to make a decision and stick with it. I've never been in this situation and i didn't have power at the house to come on to wamas and ask. I don't know if this was luck or not. But everything seems to be ok. My domino fish had white spots all over the body and now he just got a tiny bit of dots but that's it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coral Hind January 27, 2011 Share January 27, 2011 I would think that having the lights on would help heat the tank back up and also provide O2 generation from photosynthesis. I'm glad everything is doing fine now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vadim January 27, 2011 Author Share January 27, 2011 yes, and i thought that too. But i also thought that on top of the fish being really cold and stressed. I just didn't want the lights to all of a sudden come on, on top of everything else and have that chance of stressing them out some more. It was just my thinking. Also, i was thinking along the lines of one thing at a time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davelin315 January 27, 2011 Share January 27, 2011 Be careful when starting a pump from a sump that has not been online. The water in there can foul and then contaminate the tank. In the future, I'd probably turn the pump on right off the bat although I'd dial it back a bit if the fish were too lethargic. The dangers of no water circulation as the temperature goes up outweigh the dangers of a little bit of current. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Der ABT January 27, 2011 Share January 27, 2011 We just got power back too thankfully we had a generator to help turn things on every few hours fish still aren't happy and the anthias is looking rough seems to have scratched himself up really good Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vadim January 27, 2011 Author Share January 27, 2011 definitely good suggestions here. Next time this happens i'll definitely be more prepared. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Origami January 27, 2011 Share January 27, 2011 Water actually can carry more gas, including O2, at lower temperatures than higher. The limitation that we see during power outages is because flow stops and there's less gas exchange happening at the air-water interface. That's why it's critical to get (or keep) some flow going whether it's by using pumps driven by battery backup, or by manual agitation of the water (scooping and dumping). You can also actively aerate the water with a battery-driven airstone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LanglandJoshua January 28, 2011 Share January 28, 2011 Yes, I had the same problem. My power went out. Thankfully I keep my tank temp at 79 so that in case THIS happened I would have some more time to fix it. My temp bottomed at 73. Thankfully fish were not too stressed. I was at work when all this happened, so I had to make sure my father knew how to prevent a flood and make sure everything was alive. I think I mentioned in another forum that although keeping your temp at 73 may be slightly better for some forms of coral and fish, that having that buffer before it goes to critical temp can be the difference between life and death. That has saved me many times, my power goes out every few months and it usually takes 5-6 hours before its back on. I will be getting a backup battery system soon, but even then I still suggest 79 for temp. It is at the top of suggested temps, so in winter if power cuts out you have time to get it back. In summer I would suggest 73 for temp, maybe 70. Just making sure that you dont lose livestock, I believe, should be the ultimate goal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trockafella January 28, 2011 Share January 28, 2011 In summer I would suggest 73 for temp, maybe 70. Just making sure that you dont lose livestock, I believe, should be the ultimate goal. I think the tank should be kept in the same general area yaer round, in the 76-80 range for most people. I dont think at any point you should keep your tank at 70-73 degrees, unless you have livestock that requires that, ie seahorses etc.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chad January 28, 2011 Share January 28, 2011 (edited) I fully agree with Travis. The average reef temperature world wide is 82F and some areas have up to ~10F degree temperature swings DAILY. The issue is one of acclimation, not one of what is best for the corals or a "critical" temperature. If your home reef is always within a 1ish degree band, then a rise (or fall) in temperature of just a few degrees can cause issues because the corals are not acclimated to those types of changes (think what would happen to you if you were relocated to Alaska in the winter or Death Valley in the summer without acclimating first... it would be uncomfortable to say the least). The "critical" temperature (that which growth stops and zooxanthellae is expelled) is much higher than what you mention (I don't remember off hand, but I feel like it is in the low 90s). Growth at lower temperatures (in the low 70s, like I have my tank with seahorses) is MUCH lower, I can attest to this by personal observation and some corals (sps mostly) slowly decline as a reult. In other words, keep your temperature in the middle of the range (unless you have specific reason to do otherwise). If you have daily swings, don't worry about it. Larger (event driven) swings like going cold in winter or hotter in summer can cause issues and need to be guarded against appropriately. Sorry to hijack the post. Edited January 28, 2011 by Chad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coral Hind January 28, 2011 Share January 28, 2011 I normally keep mine between 79-83 year round. I would never think of keeping it anywhere below 76 long term myself since I do not have anything that needs such a low temp. Knowing what you have and where it comes from is the key. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Origami January 28, 2011 Share January 28, 2011 I keep my tank at 77 year round. However, my AC-III controller has a seasonal table in it that can modulate the temperature with the seasons rising from a low of 75.0 in the winter to a high of 80.5 in the summer. I suppose that this is not really bad for the corals or the livestock. If one really wanted to provide margin against temperature issues coming from a power loss, I suppose you could flip the seasons around. That is, run the controller calendar 6 months out of sync so that the tank temperature was in the high 70's or low 80's in the winter and down toward the mid 70's in the summer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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