This story did not take place in Columbus, Georgia but in Columbus, Ohio. One evening in late winter I became extremely alarmed that my power of electricity flowing into my snug little home went splitsville. Being an avid Angelfish breeder (just a hobby) with forty plus tanks running with many crammed with hundreds of young fry this scenario didn’t take long to grab my immediate attention. I looked out into the dark outside to see if only my power was out or if everyone’s was. It was everybody’s.

The next thing that came to mind was this outage going to last very long or not. I believe the outside temperature was hovering in the low thirties that night. Being the rocket scientist that I am I knew if the power stayed off too long the temperature inside would soon begin to fall, you know that thermal transference thing of a jig.

Being a person of great foresight and also having an extensively well engineered out strategic plan I proceeded looking through every drawer and cabinet in my house for candles, a flashlight, or my trusty Coleman lantern just to see where in I world I could walk without falling over something. Let me tell you for once in my life I was happy to be a smoker, my ever present Bic lighter saved the day. ( Well I thought I had great foresight )

Each hour that time was passing by it got colder and colder inside. A total of eight hours my electricity was no more. All of the tanks were getting cooler. Visions of disease, not sugar plums, danced through my head.

I also had a few tanks of Discus which like a water temp of around eighty six degrees. Their tanks were down to seventy two degrees after six hours had passed. Now losing fish that would cost a few dollars a piece to replace is one thing but twelve Discus that had been raised to adulthood is totally different.

At about 4 am I realized that even though the electric was my hot water tank which has a standing pilot, not spark ignited, was still operable. With Dechlor and siphoning hose in hand I was on a quest to raise the temp of my tanks pronto. I did raise the temp of several tanks, in many increments, to normal levels. Soon after the lights came on , so to speak, and I returned to bed at six so I could get up at seven for work. Yes I did feel horrible the next day.

Case in point is this “ be prepared “. I was not at all. Many alternatives are readily available at your local pet shop or home improvement store.

Now if you have a very large fish room or especially a commercial hatchery and deep pockets you should purchase an electric generator. Most of these use gasoline for fuel and have to be installed outside of your home due to the deadly carbon monoxide fumes which is emitted in the exhaust fumes. Another good reason to have outside is that they are LOUD! Some models of generators can be installed that will automatically come on when the normal power goes out. Unless you know exactly what you are doing a licensed electrician should be used. If you don’t know how, there is no use trying to do the job yourself if you want to be around ( alive) to see it work.

Another option available is to purchase, however many are needed, battery operated air pumps. Most pet shops carry these for under ten dollars a piece. These pumps usually use D cell batteries to operate. These can easily be turned on and transfer the air lines from your normal pumps to them. The battery operated pumps will run for several hours.

One of the most critical problems encountered with the power off for a long period is the fact that your established colonies of “good” bacteria in your filters will usually begin to die off after thirty minutes or so. These bacteria colonies are present in all of your filtering devices. That includes filters of all types such as: power, canister, wet dry, foam, box, most critically in fluidized beds and least of not is the gravel that sits above your under gravel filter. These colonies need a constant supply of water and oxygen to proliferate correctly. When the colonies die off the do emit poisonous gases into the aquarium that are detrimental to the health of your fish. After a large enough die off you will also get a large ammonium peak that can kill too.

I was very lucky not to have any problems with my outage that lasted eight hours. I live in a large city where electricity will usually not be off too long. But “what if” you live in a rural area where its not uncommon to have power out for maybe days after a bad storm. Not to mention the ever present danger of tornadoes or ice storms which would raise havoc in even a large city.

Please prepare yourself for a scenario like this. One of the best things that we can do is the ever important weekly water changes. Our fish are our pets to a certain degree just like our dogs and cats are. We look out for Fido and Fluffy so look out for your fish too.