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Surviving Ike....

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  • Surviving Ike....

    As with most folks, I lost power. Not such a big deal to most folks.....unless you have an aquarium like everyone here. Then there's a problem.....Oxygen!

    Some buy a Mr. Bubbles or something simular.
    Some have generators.
    I had none of the above.

    Instead, this is what I did....it cost me nothing and I lost no fish.



    Using the 2 smaller buckets on the coffee table (covered with towels for spills) I would scoop water from the aquarium. I then would proceed to pour it back and forth a few times between the smaller buckets before finally stepping up on the chair to pour it in the 5 gallon bucket. I would do this 3 times till the 5 gallon was full to the brim with oxygenated water.



    Running from the 5 gallon bucket was a suction hose that ran out parralle over the tank water about 6 inches. Once I started the flow, I would start using the smaller buckets again to keep the 5 gallon full....keeping it up till I thought it was enough. Usually watching the fish would let you know.


    Not only did this add the already oxygenated water to the tank....it also created more oxygen from the pouring from an elevated level and the movement of the water.


    I did this every morning and every night on my 2 larger tanks. For all the smaller ones I would just do the back and forth thing before pouring it back in. Ive come up with a way to filter the water also....keeping benificial bacteria alive and nitrates low. But need to get it set up to take pics.

    The only down side to any of this was that I could of used something bigger than the 5 gallon. I was faster than the flow so I found myself waitng for the water in the 5 gallon to drop far enough that I could add more.

    All the up and down on the chair....some call it exercize good for us all. :wink:
    A mouth will say anything....:ym_chatterbox:....Take a picture!!!!

  • #2
    Re: Surviving Ike....

    yeah , good, cheap idea . but it'll keep you busy and what if you have 4 tanks like me? your lucky you only had to do the one.
    25g - Reef
    3.5g - Surge Tank
    10g - Ichthyophthirius multifilis breeding colony

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    • #3
      Re: Surviving Ike....

      or 30 tanks like some of us..............
      'Dear Lord,' the minister began, with arms extended toward heaven and a rapturous look on his upturned face. 'Without you, we are but dust ...'
      He would have continued but at that moment my very obedient daughter who was listening leaned over to me and asked quite audibly in her shrill little four-year old girl voice, 'Mom, what is butt dust?'

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      • #4
        Re: Surviving Ike....

        Thats a good idea!
        Fish are people too, they just have gills.

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        • #5
          Re: Surviving Ike....

          Originally posted by cichlid1409";p="
          yeah , good, cheap idea . but it'll keep you busy and what if you have 4 tanks like me? your lucky you only had to do the one.
          I had 5 tanks.....
          A mouth will say anything....:ym_chatterbox:....Take a picture!!!!

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          • #6
            Re: Surviving Ike....

            Glad to hear all your fish survived....good job...

            CF
            Truth is the cement that holds the bricks and stones of a sane and civilized society together. Remove the former and the latter will crumble.

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            • #7
              Re: Surviving Ike....

              It's a good idea. I'm thinking on my end though 60 tanks for 8 days would have killed me though. Generators rule!
              Charles Jones
              http://www.breitbart.tv/obama-dems-i...unders-intent/

              A government big enough to give you everything you want is big enough to take away everything you have. --Thomas Jefferson
              Guns are responsible for killing people much the way pencils are responsible for misspelling words.

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              • #8
                Re: Surviving Ike....

                man you did that on 5 tanks! i applaud your efforts and suggest you go buy some battery powered aireators to save the trouble, but it will probably be years before the next hurricane.
                25g - Reef
                3.5g - Surge Tank
                10g - Ichthyophthirius multifilis breeding colony

                Comment


                • #9
                  Re: Surviving Ike....

                  I'll tell you, that 5.00 bubble box is well worth the money. I went thru maybe 25 d cell batteries or more, but I did not lose a single fish.

                  I also used one of those 12volt boxes as well....one trolling motor battery ran that air pump for over 100 hours, another good worth while buy.

                  CF
                  Truth is the cement that holds the bricks and stones of a sane and civilized society together. Remove the former and the latter will crumble.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Re: Surviving Ike....

                    I have a battery powered "Bait" bubbler but when you can't go home to change the batteries, it doesn't do much good.

                    I lost about half my tetras in my planted comunity tank because it was overcrowded (50+ fish in a 55+tank)
                    while I lost none of the Zebras, mollies, and Gouramies in the same tank.
                    Also, my Platies, Guppies, Convicts and Red Devils which are also overcrowded and in bare tanks survived.....

                    Anybody see a patern here ?
                    'Dear Lord,' the minister began, with arms extended toward heaven and a rapturous look on his upturned face. 'Without you, we are but dust ...'
                    He would have continued but at that moment my very obedient daughter who was listening leaned over to me and asked quite audibly in her shrill little four-year old girl voice, 'Mom, what is butt dust?'

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Re: Surviving Ike....

                      At the time the hurricane hit, my funds weren't so great, so pumps and batteries were out of the question. Even when I finally had the cash, none of the stores between here and conroe had anything.....if they were open.

                      The new item on my shopping list?......Solar power!  Nothing big, but something that will draw enough juice to act as a small generator. Even if it's just enough to run a water pump or 2....I could hook it up to my little invention and eliminate the collecting and pouring with the smaller buckets. Could then add a filter system to it.


                      BTW....a generator would have been useless here at my house....we were in the middle of our own personal river for 4 days.....  Wasn't a dry spot one. 8O
                      A mouth will say anything....:ym_chatterbox:....Take a picture!!!!

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                      • #12
                        Re: Surviving Ike....

                        I grew up in Galveston and all the Old Folks here will tell you, if you want to have it during / after the storm, you have to put it up on pileings.  :)
                        'Dear Lord,' the minister began, with arms extended toward heaven and a rapturous look on his upturned face. 'Without you, we are but dust ...'
                        He would have continued but at that moment my very obedient daughter who was listening leaned over to me and asked quite audibly in her shrill little four-year old girl voice, 'Mom, what is butt dust?'

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Re: Surviving Ike....

                          I live inside the 610 Loop and we lost power about 3 hours before Ike hit Houston.  I did a huge 75% water change the night before and stopped feeding my wc moba colony and my 45 F1 fry in my floating nurseries.

                          I bought an Azoo automatic backup airpump that kicks on when the power goes out....if you run it on intermittent speed you can get 20 hours of air and water movement.

                          I kept the Azoo on at night and opened my 180g glass tops during the day to get oxygen to my fishies.  They kept pretty quiet staying along the bottom.  After 10 hours of no power, I unplugged my 2 2217 eheims to avoid them sending all that ammonia back into my system.  I did a thorough cleaning of both filters and was able to run them a few hours when I got my power back on the next day.  We had another strong thunderstorm cell run through Houston the following night and we lost our power again.  The Azoo kicked on again and did its job until we got our power back on the following day.

                          I didn't lose any fish, but I think it's time for me to get a generator to keep my peace of mind.
                          180g Oceanic w/colony of 8 WC Moba Fronts (1m/7f) purchased from TNT Cichlids in Jan '05 & numerous fry. 1 F1 adult moba male. 2 2217 Eheims, 2 6080 Tunze Streams, WISA airpump, single stage Johnson ETC.....fishkeeping since 1988.

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