The Puffer Forum

jtbadco wrote:WoW.....I guess we're used to the snow up here (down here?) in Canada. I've got 4 ft of snow in my yard and the snow-drifts are 6 ft high in some places where they have cleared the streets. We just keep on trucking.....

It's all about the weather you're used to getting and are prepared for. Right now it's not snow but it's raining and freezing here. I just went out to the garage to roundup rechargeable battery packs, flashlights and extra fire extinguishers, and I heard limbs snapping from the weight of the ice everywhere. I need the fire extinguishers because I have a small propane heater that runs off a 20g tank and I want to be prepared. I'll also run my digital and cheap carbon monoxide detectors too, and I've done it before without setting them off. I also have the house heat cranked up to 75 to buy me some extra time if it does go.

I keep getting brown outs and fluxuations in power and I think it is gonna go at some point. I also think I can sustain the tanks long enough to borrow one of two generators the next day if needed.



2.5 years ago when the hurricane hit Ohio I spent 11 days without power. Luckily I didn't keep fish then. I will be buying a generator this summer and hopefully I can find a good Honda reasonably.


Good luck to everyone affected.

It is literally raining ice.
I think our wigwam might collapse (we have a large wigwam built out of brush and limbs in the woods)
And the kittehs are ......AGITATED lawlz

PUFFS DON'T KNOW SHHH

there have been some bad ice-storms that caused trouble here in the past too

I used to work for the power company...had to work thru a couple to restore power...no fun at all

i'll keep my fingers crossed for you all....good luck

Every time the electricity went off & surged back on my poor dog would freak. He was shaking so bad I had to give him drugs. Now the poor dog is all doped up.

I'm a little freaked....can u give me drugs?

jtbadco wrote:WoW.....I guess we're used to the snow up here (down here?) in Canada. I've got 4 ft of snow in my yard and the snow-drifts are 6 ft high in some places where they have cleared the streets. We just keep on trucking.....

Hope things go well for you guys!!!

as far as temp goes....as long as the water is slowly cooled and then slowly re-heated again,...most fish can survive down to the 60's(F) IME

I agree. A few of my tanks have dropped in temp 15 degrees (power outage) slowly, and I brought them back up without an issue.

As for snow... I walked my dad's snowblower 2 blocks from his house to mine so that I could clear some of my yard to make room for more snow! I've shovelled so much this year that I ran out of room to put the darn snow!

Gotta love WINTERpeg.

A joke my friend sent me:


FEBRUARY 2, 2011 WEATHER ALERT:

Just got off the phone with a friend who lives in North Dakota near the Canadian border.

He said that since early this morning, the snow has been nearly waist high and is still falling.

The temperature is dropping rapidly below zero F. and the north wind is near gale force!

His wife has done nothing but look through the kitchen window and stare.

He says it if get much worse, he may have to let her in.

hahahahaha!!!!!

That one was great!

I lost power last night for about twelve hours. I decided not to run the propane heater but I did wrap the tanks with every blanket I had and I filled 2liter bottles with hot tapwater and placed them next to the tank fronts under the blankets. Every tank dropped to around 76 degrees and I only refilled the bottles once. Not bad. To give some reference, my unwrapped and unbottled mixing vessel dropped down to 69 degrees and it has about 25 gallons of water in it. 69 would've probably been safe but uncomfortable.

I used every bottle I had in the blue bin and I put 2 bottles each with the 46g and 29g, and 3 with the 55g...And the 55g sits along an outside wall between a door and window. At first I tried floating a bottle in a 15g tall tank that I have set up but the temp difference was too drastic around the top and bottle.

This morning I decided if the tanks dropped too low and the power didn't come back on I was going back to Home Depot to see if they had any generators left...They had about 5 skids of them set out yesterday. I'm glad I didn't have to.

What about O2 levels? Fish can actually survive pretty low temps but they definitely can't survive without O2.

That was a big concern...My 55g community is packed and it was my biggest concern...My other tanks have plenty of "wiggle room".

But; I'm always amazed when I'm at the LFS and see all the fish they cram in those little bags on delivery day...Or even singletons that people ship in 32 ounces of water. Those fish are in those bags for at least 14-16 hours. I figure we all probably have at very least that long in our tanks as a buffer. Aeration was the very first thing on my mind and my biggest reasoning about going and buying a generator. At the same time I started to contact friends to find battery powered minnow pumps. I have enough battery power to run those pumps indefinitely need be. And those pumps combined with my vid posted above, would be a good combination. But eventually a generator is the best bet.



Sometimes you do all you can do with what's at hand. And luckily things turn out as, or better than expected.

For O2 requirements, the water holds a surprising amount of dissolved oxygen. If the tank is dark, covered, quiet, and stocked correctly you should have about 24 hours worth of oxygen in the tank. Remember, as the tank cools it can hold a higher level of oxygen and if you can keep the oxygen demands of the fish to a minimum (Let them sleep and don't disturb the tank) you should be good. If it looks like you are going to be out longer than 24 hours, then I would stimulate the water for a while.

One of the people I work with has reef tanks and lives even further out in the middle of nowhere than I do. He doesn't use a generator at all, he uses a car battery per tank with a power inverter. He can heat and circulate water for short periods if we're out for a while.

I lost most of the fish in my reef after 4 hours without flow.

depending on the load, you can get a good 3 hours of continuous output with a car battery. We had to do that with our lights once.