Surviving a Power Outage

The aspects of the fish tank which keep your fish alive (apart from the walls which hold the water in) most likely run on electricity. These include the heater and filter. While we would all love to think that the power won’t go out, we know that sometimes it does. So, what do we do if it does go out? Cory, from Aquarium Co-op, developed a video about what to do if the power goes out. If you want to watch the original video click here. Below will be a summary of the video.

During a power outage we have two main considerations when it comes to our fish. Keeping the water at the right temperature, and filtration. There are a few easy things we can do to ensure the water temperature and filtration are maintained. First, have a sponge filter in your aquarium. In addition to providing more air into the water, a sponge filter will also provide mechanical and biological filtration. These sponge filters are powered using an air pump. When the power goes out, simply switch out the electronic air pump for a battery powered air pump. These are sold in many pet stores as well as online. If you don’t have a sponge filter, I suggest you get one. They are inexpensive and can be ordered online. For more information on the different types of filtration click here.

Next, we need to keep the water warm (unless it is summer-in that case if the water gets too hot you have a few options: do water changes to replace hot water with cool water, add some ice and adding dechlorinator for the chlorine in the ice, or a battery operated fan blowing on the surface of the water). If you need to keep the water warm then have some hand warmers and packing tape. Simply tape the hand warmers to the tank and cover with a mylar (emergency) blanket or a couple blankets. Then just leave it alone and try not to remove the blankets. Fish don’t have to eat everyday. If the water becomes too cold, Betta fish will go into temperature shock.

I suggest getting the following equipment and keeping it in a dedicated box near your aquarium: