Power outage for 30 plus hours

[jess9292]

Hi there, so I live in Canada and been hit by a big thunderstorm, which knock down so many trees, and 100,000 plus people lost power. Its been 28 plus hour right now and my filter stopped running. So basically in may 21 at 1:50 pm the power went out and I went to make bubbles for them so they can get oxygen, and usually it takes 8 hours for the power to be restore but it is still hasn’t been restore and is already the next day which is may 22nd and now 10pm for me right now. I did buy a portable air pump but I feel like the beneficial bacteria would die. Not sure if I need to re cycle the whole thing again? I kept the media and sponge with the previous tank water. What should I do?

[Guppysnail]

Power outages are stressful, especially long ones. Great job getting a portable pump. As long as you keep the bubbles going and the water is oxygenated the BB in the tank will survive. Some may die back but a complete recycle won’t be needed. Monitor parameters for a few weeks until it repopulates. May need an extra water change or two.  If there is enough oxygen for your fish to survive a decent portion of bacterial will as well.  

Edited May 23, 2022 by Guppysnail

[TeeJay]

I was getting ready to post a question about basically the same thing. I run 2 sponge filters and 1 hob on my 29gal. I have mini USB air pumps with batter packs for the sponge filters. Then I thought what about the bb in my hob. So I figured I would and one more air pump and battery pack I could stick in my hob so I could keep the oxygen up in it just for the bacteria.

[jess9292]

I was about to do a water change and took like 25 percent water out. I realize my tap water is stuck at a temperature of 15 C, and i cant adjust the temp till my power I’d back on and currently my tank is 21 C…should I keep the tank level at it is?

My power still hasn’t come back on and its been three days 🤦‍♀️

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

I've watched videos where people have changed water with a 20 degree difference and the fish were fine and the temperature was not intolerable. Unless you're keeping fish like discus or bettas most tropical fish are fine with temp changes- I keep no heaters and my tanks naturally flux 2-9 degrees daily and all my fish do well. You could always leave the tap water out at room temp and then put it in later.