How long can my plants survive without light?

[Ariel S]

Hello fish friends, 

I am currently evacuated due to Hurricane Ida, I lost power to the lights on my fish tanks, Sunday Aug 29 @ 12:00pm (noon)- as of now a total of about 5 days. 
 

how long can my plants survive? There is no light at all- not even ambient lighting- there is no window in that room. And if my plants are dying or are dead how much of an issue do you think that will cause in terms of ammonia etc ???

I have air going in the tank btw- no filters running just air stones. Unfortunately. 

thanks in advance, 

[Tihshho]

Sorry for the situation you're in due to the hurricane 😞 

Depending on the plant type (broad or fined leaved) it varies. If the plants were healthy and broadleaved, I could see them lasting a bit over a week. 

 

[Ariel S]

On 9/2/2021 at 5:53 PM, Tihshho said:

Sorry for the situation you're in due to the hurricane 😞 

Depending on the plant type (broad or fined leaved) it varies. If the plants were healthy and broadleaved, I could see them lasting a bit over a week. 

 

Thanks- I have an assortments- 6 tanks worth. And I finally got my pink flamingo crypt!!! Darn. 

[Tihshho]

Yeah, this is definitely an extra rough situation on top of being displaced from your home. Sending some good vibes your way hoping everything is in great or decent enough shape when you get back and that you're not gone for too long.

[anewbie]

Survive - a fair amount of time; damage - certainly after a week you will see some serious decline in the leaves. To be honest I would be more concern about circulation and filtration esp if you have fishes. On the bright side of things at least it is summer. I lost power for 18 hours during an early spring storm and my gold rams died due to temp drop. Tank fully idea just sort of bounced off of us without any real issues state wide. 

Conversely there is nothing you can do about it so don't fret; it is what it is... ; btw if your tank(s) is near a window make sure they get a lot of sunlight. 

Edited September 2, 2021 by anewbie

[Ariel S]

Thanks @anewbie no windows unfortunately- I’m worried about my tanks getting too hot with the high temps in New Orleans. 
 

ive got some circulation from multiple battery operated air pumps going on in each tank. Haven’t fed or anything thing. 
 

hoping for the best!!! 

[anewbie]

Good luck let us know how it turns out. 

[Ariel S]

Well- just updating everyone who helped me out. My tanks went 8 days without power. I had air going but no light at all in the room. Eeek. Thermometer I have for the room keeps a memory, the highest temp in the room was 101 and lowest was 88. I’d guess my tanks were quite a bit warmer than I usually keep them. 

For the fish- sadly, my fire red agazzi apistogramma that I’ve had for 6 years didn’t make it. He was very stressed by the time I made it back home- stopped eating & had a swollen eye (prob an infection- he had damaged his eye a few years ago). All other fish were fine- ironically my endlers had fry in 3 tanks & pseudomoguil rainbow scattered eggs in 2 tanks. 

Most plants have appeared to fare “okay.” Not great though. There was leaf damage and melting to almost every plant (except my African fern & frogbit) I lost about half the leaves on my swords, various bulb plants, and Java fern. My crypts are ok- just in dire need of root tabs! Almost no algae though so that was a plus! I guess the fish finished off the algae since they hadn’t been fed too! I’d imagine that with a little TLC And a lot of root tabs/fertz these plants will brought back to their former glory! 

thanks to everyone who helped out! I wish I would’ve taken pictures! But I forgot and trimmed everything! 

[Guppysnail]

I am sorry about your fire red agazzi apistogramma.  I am glad to hear there was not permanent trauma to your plants and other tank inhabitants. I have all of my backup air supplies attached to coop nano sponges that live in the tanks idle so when power goes out there is that touch of added filtration.  Possibly something you may want to consider if you are in a storm path area. Best wishes on recovering from Ida. 

[anewbie]

Sorry for your loss. You actually did quite well if the temp was really that warm in the tanks. Good luck on plant recovery.

[Ariel S]

On 9/16/2021 at 5:20 AM, Guppysnail said:

I am sorry about your fire red agazzi apistogramma.  I am glad to hear there was not permanent trauma to your plants and other tank inhabitants. I have all of my backup air supplies attached to coop nano sponges that live in the tanks idle so when power goes out there is that touch of added filtration.  Possibly something you may want to consider if you are in a storm path area. Best wishes on recovering from Ida. 

Thank you. 
Yea I had back up air but it’s not the same as my full filtration running. Plus, the temps probably super stressed the situation. My tank is usually at about 76-79. So it was prob in the high 80s most of the time.

 

I own probably 9 of the USB air pumps, only 1 works, mine ALWAYS go out after a couple months. I got tired of getting them replaced  and buying new ones. I purchased battery operated bubblers from sporting goods stores instead.  Way cheaper from the sporting good stores than a fish store.And they work really well, no issue, as long as you have enough battery life.