Power out.... -.-

[tonyydeee]

The power is out due to the extream (for south Texas) cold...
What do I do about my tanks?

On a side note: this is 2011... WHY DOSE POWER STILL GO OUT? lol

[Mr Cob]

run some battery operated air pumps to your tank to oxygenate the water.

[BSJF]

Mines out too. Now I'm wishing that vortechs customer service was more responsive to return my emails/call. Hope the noisy wetside holds up.

If you don't have a battery pump just stir up the water once in a while to keep it oxygenated.

Last year I didn't have internet when the power went out. I'm still amazed about that. And im very happy the coffee was on a timer and was waiting for me. Technology is good to me today so far.

[Pennies2Cents]

Ours is out at the moment... too... ahhhh I need to get to work but worried about my babies..

[aquasport24]

Cordless drill with some wooden paint stirrer will do the trick. CPS doing alternate power off in all areas of S.A. It should come back on momentary.

[BSJF]

I've just use my glass cleaning magnet

[tonyydeee]

Ugh I don't have any, and might have to go to school... And my mom will kill everything if she gets too close to my tank (lol)

I guess I'm going to run down to HEB real quick and get ... Ugh is one enough? (75 gal)

[Big_Pun]

yea two couldnt hurt just need the surface moving, but tank should be ok for a while. ive had mine out longer, but what happen to me the night before last was just a freak accident that i still havent pinpointed.

[Scream311]

Cold Weather and Heaters Roaring = Power Surges ! Lovely Texas for you. We rarely get this cold but when we do Our City isn't prepeared for it. Bigger Population this year and not enough Power Supply.

Cps is shutting off power in different areas to prevent an OverLoad.

My house has been without for the last Hour. Lastnite I stuck a 5 gallon Kalk Wassier Drip Line on my Sump without Evaporation I'm sure I've got a Few Gallons overflowing onto my Carpet by Now thanks to Loss of Power !

Thank You Cps and Mr Freeze ! *shaking my Head*

If the power dosent come on in another hour I think I may have to rush home and tend to my babies. (I feel ya Eve)

[Bill S]

I've had the power off on my 215 when it was loaded with SPS and fish, for over 6 hours, without a problem. Remember, they ship our fish and corals when caught a couple of days in a bag.

[Gseclipse02]

im with you bill i have 25+ fish + coral and power going out at night doesnt really bug me to much i would worry if it was during the day (fish are more active) thats when i would worry IMO

man my toes are frozen

[justahobby]

Mine has been out for a couple hours. It's not the lack of oxygen I'm worried about, but my house being at 60 degrees. Whish I was back on a third floor with a fireplace.

[ErikH]

Make sure your returns are just under the surface if you don't have a siphon hole already. Should keep your sumps from overflowing. My wife called me this morning and told me what was going on so I was able to adjust mine.

[jrsatx20]

power went out at 4am. came back on at 9am man its cold. fish were without power and just fine

[alton]

Ours here at Judson Rd went out @ 8 for an hour and now again for 1/2 hour. Explanation on the power being shut down. Starting in the fall we use less energy so power plants schedule shutdowns for maintenance. Evidently we have too many plants down to cover the extremes in north texas so all power companies have been told to rotate shifts to make sure the texas grid keeps going. Hopefully by tomorrow CPS can crank up one of its idle generators to keep up? I can't believe we don't have a CPS person here on MAAST?

[BSJF]

2 power plants shut down in Austin because of broken pipes. CPS Energy officials said the rolling outages will take place in 45-minute to one-hour intervals and will continue for an undetermined length of time.

http://www.woai.com/news/local/story/UPDATE-Lt-Gov-Burst-water-pipes-led-to-power/W2JRVhcn7k2E_0jZdz8Awg.cspx

[justahobby]

Mine came back on after nearly 6 hrs. It was an actual outage, not brown out. Only saw my cleaner wrasse... tank was at 58.... fingers crossed!

[ShAgMaN]

Mine came back on after nearly 6 hrs. It was an actual outage, not brown out. Only saw my cleaner wrasse... tank was at 58.... fingers crossed!

Man thats not good. You have much coral? It will be interesting to see what happens - hopefully everyting pulls through. You would think SPS would bleach that cold.

[txav8r]

Mine came back on after nearly 6 hrs. It was an actual outage, not brown out. Only saw my cleaner wrasse... tank was at 58.... fingers crossed!

Dang! Hope everything does well. Heat it back up nice and slow.

[Europhyllia]

Wow that's terrible. We don't have any outages out here. If we get one (doubt it) I am ready to light a fire in the fireplace to keep my fishies cozy.

Hope everything recovers okay!

[kkiel02]

Mines out too. Now I'm wishing that vortechs customer service was more responsive to return my emails/call. Hope the noisy wetside holds up.



Been there, done that, sold the mp40w because of it.

If your power was out though. Im sure mine was as well. I was at work so I guess I will go count fish. I think they were all there at feeding today though. I dont have a heater on my battery backup(just a powerhead) so it probably got cold as well.

[BSJF]

Fortunately we have just experienced the brown outs. 58 degrees I would definitely be worried about. We have a fireplace, but I don't think it puts out much heat. I think I would be trying to fill up some bottles with hot water if you have a gas water heater to keep some heat in the tank. Also insulate it as much as you can while still allowing for gas exchange. Maybe wrap blankets or foam pad around the glass.

[Kristy]

That was his problem.... Justin's water is on a boiler and not a gas water heater so the hot water bottle method (his original plan) would not work. The towel/blanketing idea for insulation sounds good though.

[BSJF]

The insulation won't add heat, but will buy you some time.

[ErikH]

We didn't lose power yet, keeping my fingers crossed....

[justahobby]

Thought about insulation but it was already as cold as it was going to get by the time I woke up, took work phone calls, turned the heater up, realized power was out, called CPS.......by that time it was already 60 degrees. The biocube felt warmer (didn't use thermometer on it), probably because of the lid. I'm missing one bangaii and 2 clown fish and 2 BTA's. I had emptied most of the coral out a couple months ago, but open brain and 50 blasto heads look bad. No SPS that goodness.

The coral the biocube look fine. Don't see my pistol shrimp, goby, or tube anemones.

[edshas2]

i had my tank down in the low 70s for a couple days i have no sps but many softies and lps, looks like my lobo brain is dying or at least not looking very good everything else seems fine, got a heater now... anyways good luck on your tank.

[funkyseamonkey]

My heaters are out and my tanks are freezing the corals look mad what should i do? all the tank heaters I have have gone out trying to keep up. Do you think if i filled bags with hot water in the tank they would warm it up? or do a water change with warm water? i dont want them to die :(

[ShAgMaN]

I'm not sure how big your tanks are, but I would do water changes with warm water ASAP. Do whatever you can to warm the water up. Of course dont throw boiling water in the tank, and raise it slowly...man this weather and electrical issues are screwing stuff up. Good luck.

[Kristy]

Bottles of hot water floated will help but will have to be switched out as they cool. I wonder if Walmart's pet section has a heater?

[BSJF]

Mad corals may just be corals that are protecting themselves. Be careful with a waterchange. Need to raise the temp gradually. Raising temp too fast can do some crazy stuff, especially if you oxygen levels are low also because of lack of circulation pumps. When the oxygen increases your pH will go up. Also a tip I learned today was if you use the battery pumps during an outage, use them at the top of the tank not the bottom. This prevents stirring up stuff that is usually fultered out that can pollute the tank.

Is the power back on now? I'm confused, the heaters went out trying to keep up? You mean after the power came back on? Stuff could have been damaged from the surges.

[SABOB]

My power was out 5 plus hours this morning after I left for work.Temp dropped to 70 degrees, slowly raising back to 78.....so far so good.All fish swimming,eating.

[justahobby]

I have a heater or two. PM if you need to meet me somewhere.

[alton]

Just checking any body lose there power today? No brown outs here at work

[jroescher]

My tanks got down to 69 and 65 with no power for 9 hours. I don't have heaters, so they warmed up slowly the with the house and lights.

So far everything seems to have faired well.

Size matters. The smaller tank got much colder.

When I lost power during the summer a few years back, the tanks got hot and killed almost everything I had.