Power outtage

[kmmahan]

Power went out at about 7 am in my home due to a storm-- Lost my cleaner shrimp, 2 pseudochromis, my beloved convict tang, and an emerald crab-- At 9 I just went to Autozone and bought a power converter and pulled my jeep up to the front door and ran my tank off the 800 watt power converter until power was restored to prevent anymore loss-- I am surprised as to how quickly some of the fish died-- I guess the temperature drop and the oxygen just overwhelmed them-- My purple tang and my GBM clown-fish-- made it out okay-- all my corals and other inverts seem fine-- My anemones are looking kind of funny but I think they will be okay-- I am glad I bought the power converter b/c the power didn't get turned on until noon-- I think I would have had a complete loss-- So I was wondering about the effects on my tank-- my brain didn't open up as big but still opened up-- I was wondering about the good bacteria in my tank-- should I seed the tank?

[dakar]

Wow you wouldn't think with a 55g that things could go south so quickly. Good thinking on grabbing the power inverter... without doing any of the math 800w must must have been quite taxing on the battery/charging system. How low did the temps actually get? Sorry to hear you lost critters though. I don;t know that I'd add anything to the tank at all right, except a couple of good water changes.

[kmmahan]

That is what is so troubling to me-- how quickly the fish died-- all the fish were huffing and puffing-- I thought my wrasse was a goner-- he wasn't moving at all-- just lying on a rock--but you could just see his gills moving-- but after about 10 minutes with the power converter-- he was swimming around picking at things like nothing ever happened-- Do you think it has to do with my canister filter? Besides that I have two power heads and a protein skimmer and a heater of course-- In the panic-- I just went and bought the power converter-- I didn't check the temp-- but I know it was icy-- b/c I had to get the dead fish out before it polluted the water----- It's very upsetting-- all is well now--

[jerryc]

Something don't sound right i have the power of all most that long doing
matin

[kmmahan]

yeah I don't know-- maybe the power also went off while I was sleeping and I just didn't know about it--- It stormed all night long--- I also have a coral banded shrimp who made it out-- but my cleaner shrimp died-- I don't get it-- I will be ready next time-- I also have spare fuses for my power converter-- just in case-- it's storming right now-- Austin, Texas

[jerryc]

yes iv been watching it on the radar looks like its going to come our way hope so
we need it been to dry hear.

[ramoth41]

That is odd that you lost fish that quckly ! We had the power go out for 4 days once and we lost stuff becuase the tank got hot. We had make a hillbilly chiller to keep it cool!
We have a power inverter (1000wats) and 2 deep cell marine batteries. It's enough to run the pumps for a while to keep water moving. We are saving to get a generator because a battery only last so long! Though the inverter ran a 100 wat l;ight bulb in a unscientific test for almost 8 hours. The less you run the longer it lasts Run just the minimum to keep the tank going Lights, skimmer ect you can do without for a while.
I'm wondering if your canister filter may have backflowed some nasty gunk into your tank and you didn't know ? maybe that's what took out the critters that you lost? Clean that before your hook it back up cuz I know they can foul pretty quickly
my only suggestion is water changes water changes water changes!
sarah