Power Outtage

[luisprado]

In the event of a power outtage, how long can my Discus remain without a heater (meaning how much can the temp. drop) and without some type of filtration? We have been have a bad storm for that last 2 1/2 weeks here in Los Angeles, CA and the power went out for the first time. It was only out for 1 hour, but I was just wondering how long could I go if it went out for longer period.

Thanks.

[Proteus]

if you can do water changes every few hours, then as long as you like... (just make sure the water you use is the correct temperature, or a few degrees more than usual - based on access to warm water from the faucet).

you can also get cheap battery operated air pumps which are great when hooked up to a sponge filter (that way your water stays oxygenated, and filtered).

if you were really creative, or lived in an area with regular power outages I guess you could set up a small heater using DC as a fail safe... (rechargable battery or car battery)???

[Proteus]

Hagen Battery Operated Air Pump

http://www.bigalsonline.com/catalog/product.xml?product_id=19687;category_id=3956;pcid 1=1623;pcid2=

only US$6.89

[Mattzilla]

yep, buy yourself a battery powered air pump...and to heat the water you can fill plastic bottles with hot tap water and place them (with lids on) in your tank to help maintain temp...
hth
matt

[DiscusMan]

I would say that the best answer to this is to observe how long fish are in transit when they are sent overseas.

I was told once that fish being shipped to the show in germany from malaysia were in transit for 18 hours or so. I assume they had some sort of bag warmers in there as well but even when we had fish shipped here my Penang they are still in flight for 8 hours plus the handling time on teh ground. The fish are packed laying flat with only enough water to cover the gill plates. Now i would estimate say that there is about 100mls of water in a bag to make this equation abotu right. So how long does it take 100ml of water to lose its temperature even with all teh packaging at its best. You can bet that the temperature drops a fair bit adn there is no oxygen replaced in teh bags during all this time.

I would say that if everything was alright in your tank before the power went out that you should have no problems for along period of time. If your water was already starved of oxygen then the battery unit they are sayign to let the surface oxygen conversion process happen would be good. Large volumes of water don't lose heat that quickly. If your concerned then jsut wrap your tank in a blanket or something and it wont be that big a deal.

Wayne