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Lost a few last night..
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NateHanson
Non-member
The air pumps Kiah is referring to are an emergency device that turns on when the power goes out (they have a plug to sense when power goes out), and they run on two D-cell batteries).
Salt water tanks need good exchange of oxygen and CO2 to keep the fish alive, and usually there's plenty of that from the skimmer, overflows, and turbulent surface water. But when all those stop in an outage, you really do need to get air into the water. That's the primary concern. You can do it with an emergency bubbler and/or a powerhead on a UPS aimed at the surface.
For about $10 each, I personally think the auto-air pumps are required equipment for any reef tank.
We did a group buy a while back and they were $7. Might be worth doing one again if enough people are interested. HeavyDC was the organizer last time.
Salt water tanks need good exchange of oxygen and CO2 to keep the fish alive, and usually there's plenty of that from the skimmer, overflows, and turbulent surface water. But when all those stop in an outage, you really do need to get air into the water. That's the primary concern. You can do it with an emergency bubbler and/or a powerhead on a UPS aimed at the surface.
For about $10 each, I personally think the auto-air pumps are required equipment for any reef tank.
We did a group buy a while back and they were $7. Might be worth doing one again if enough people are interested. HeavyDC was the organizer last time.
grundig5
Missing Colorado...
Man that sucked...18 hours without power, but its back on now and things are starting to stabilize again. My lawnmower battery died in about an hour, so I ran to a store and picked up 2 of those penplax air things that run on D's. I think they saved me, all fish alive and swimming around. Corals seem OK, but my temp is still low (72). Lesson learned 
ohsweetmadness
Non-member
sorry for your losses
A little bit of water movement goes a long way. It's not so much the actual bubbles from an air pump that put O2 in water but gas exchange at the disturbed water surface. In a stagnant tank, you'll have decent O2 concentration right at the surface but unfortunately your fish don't know that. As long as you can keep the water even mildly circulating, you'll get the dissolved gases to even out and support good CO2 - O2 exchange at the surface. A little powerhead on a UPs or a battery bubbler would do the job as would stirring with a spatula if nothing else is available.
I'm very sorry to hear about the losses.
>A little bit of water movement goes a long way. It's not so much the actual bubbles from an air pump that put O2 in water but gas exchange at the disturbed water surface<
I disagree. It is the water bubbles that make a huge difference. We do comparisons all the time with experiments to measure oxygen transfer rates in bioreactors. A small # of bubbles goes a LONG, LONG way for oxygen transport. The smaller the better.
IMO, EVERYONE should have the battery powered automatically activated air pumps on EVERY tank. I really feel like a broken record on this. I've been saying it now for years. Low O2 is what kills your fish, and it can happen in just a few hours of an overnight power outage that you might not even know occurred.
Please also read over at a minimum the first part of this three part article:
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-05/gh/index.php
>A little bit of water movement goes a long way. It's not so much the actual bubbles from an air pump that put O2 in water but gas exchange at the disturbed water surface<
I disagree. It is the water bubbles that make a huge difference. We do comparisons all the time with experiments to measure oxygen transfer rates in bioreactors. A small # of bubbles goes a LONG, LONG way for oxygen transport. The smaller the better.
IMO, EVERYONE should have the battery powered automatically activated air pumps on EVERY tank. I really feel like a broken record on this. I've been saying it now for years. Low O2 is what kills your fish, and it can happen in just a few hours of an overnight power outage that you might not even know occurred.
Please also read over at a minimum the first part of this three part article:
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-05/gh/index.php
MarkO
...
O2 depletion is the main reason for deaths in a power outage. It really doesn't take a lot of $$ to keep your fish alive. battery activated air pumps is a very cheap insurance plan. I go one step further and pull the car batteries out of our vehicles and attach them to an inverter. Each one will power my tunze for about 15-20 hours. Fortunately I haven't had any power outages like that in years.
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focus
Non-member
paulthomas
Punk
I'm sorry to hear that you lost fish too.
I'm ignant. I didn't know about the mass (NH too, sorry bad joke) outages until I checked this forum.
So if an entire system is down from a power outage, are you guys saying that for oxygen transport, a powerhead may not be as efficient as the bubbles from one of these Penn Plax units? I guess you would need both right, flow for the corals and additional oxygen for the fish? I bought an Icecap battery back-up for my Vortec and assumed that would be enough to keep say a 120 stable for 24 hours at 50% flow (1500 gph). I was going to supplement with another Vortec or Tunze 6060 for full-time use and run the first Vortec at a lower speed.
I'm ignant. I didn't know about the mass (NH too, sorry bad joke) outages until I checked this forum.
So if an entire system is down from a power outage, are you guys saying that for oxygen transport, a powerhead may not be as efficient as the bubbles from one of these Penn Plax units? I guess you would need both right, flow for the corals and additional oxygen for the fish? I bought an Icecap battery back-up for my Vortec and assumed that would be enough to keep say a 120 stable for 24 hours at 50% flow (1500 gph). I was going to supplement with another Vortec or Tunze 6060 for full-time use and run the first Vortec at a lower speed.
Moe_K
Stabbed by Foulke
The fish need the oxygen - so the iar pump from Penn Plax is great.
The corals can go without flow for a while. I'd be most concerned about the fish.
paulthomas
Punk
So did I waste 150 bucks on this back-up battery? ROR. 
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focus
Non-member
It should be fine. I have the same pump and ordered the BB up as well. If the power fails my water level drops to the point that the Vortec pulls in air. Alot of air!
Moe's got it right. Corals can survive without flow for a while, particularly if there are no other problems in the tank (like high or low temps). If you want some flow on the cheap (electricity wise) you can also have a few of the battery backup auto electricity sensing air pumps just pumping into an open tube. If the tube extends all the way to the bottom of the tank there can be quite a lot of motion generated. Soooo...one airstone with O2 for the fish, one with water motion for the corals. Super cheap insurance to keep your very expensive large fish alive.
willray
Division Champs
Sorry to hear Rob and everyone else.
In the first few yrs where I live we lost power a dozens of times a yr.But surprisingly this storm spared me only to have my sump crack last night .
Anyhow I have 3500 watt generator via an extension cord to the living room.I shut off the breaker to the room so when it comes back on it wont surge back.Of course that doesn't do anygood if I'm not home so I do have the b-11 battery pumps they are a great cheap tank saving device.
In a pinch you can use a batterydrill/driver with a egg beater,paint mixer for aration and movement I have also used a bike air pump connected to an air stone.
In the first few yrs where I live we lost power a dozens of times a yr.But surprisingly this storm spared me only to have my sump crack last night
.Anyhow I have 3500 watt generator via an extension cord to the living room.I shut off the breaker to the room so when it comes back on it wont surge back.Of course that doesn't do anygood if I'm not home so I do have the b-11 battery pumps they are a great cheap tank saving device.
In a pinch you can use a batterydrill/driver with a egg beater,paint mixer for aration and movement I have also used a bike air pump connected to an air stone.
paulthomas
Punk
Ok, I'm gonna get a couple of them thar pumps. You're right, it's very cheap insurance with all things considered.
Someone mentioned pouring water back into the tank to oxygenate the water. I used to do that to keep shiners alive in a bucket while fishing as a little kid. Then, one day, I saw these little metal, pill shaped containers at the tackle shop. You take the lid off, drop them in water and they produce oxygen bubbles for quite a while. I'm sure the D battery powered pumps are a better option. Just wondering if these would be a good idea to have on hand in a bind.
Does your tank have an overflow box? How high up the water column do you keep the pump?
Someone mentioned pouring water back into the tank to oxygenate the water. I used to do that to keep shiners alive in a bucket while fishing as a little kid. Then, one day, I saw these little metal, pill shaped containers at the tackle shop. You take the lid off, drop them in water and they produce oxygen bubbles for quite a while. I'm sure the D battery powered pumps are a better option. Just wondering if these would be a good idea to have on hand in a bind.
focus said:
Does your tank have an overflow box? How high up the water column do you keep the pump?
