Power Failure

[Gil]

In the event of a power failure, the main concern should be the fish are supplied with air and water circulation and of course feed. Is this correct? Please advise, Thanks to all for being here, Gil Jones 

[George]

I have solar panels, battery bank and inverter, most of which I regret, although that could change in the event of a hurricane.  Every situation is different but if I were doing it again, I would simply buy an inverter and use an automobile for power.  Your system is small so you probably don't need to invest a lot in this.

During power outage, stop feeding - this will reduce the need to circulate water (filtering).  Fish will be OK for a couple of weeks without food.  Water needs to be circulated through media beds at least once per day to keep media wet and bacteria alive.  Run an aerator in your fish tank, the lowest wattage you think will suffice, determined by fish tank volume and stocking.  You may need a good deep cell, which can be recharged from an auto or generator.  They are relatively expensive if only kept on hand for emergencies so if you think an auto be be on hand to run an inverter from, that might be the way to go.  If your drain is minimal, starting the auto once or twice per day for a few minutes will likely be enough to keep the battery sufficiently charged.  

[Gil]

Thank's for backing up my second thought. We live in hurricane country and we are at the start of a new season. Thanks to you and all our Aquaponic friends I've found another world. Have a Blessed Day, Gil

[Raychel A Watkins]

I have about 20 IBC tanks so if the power goes out it can be bad as the temp is always warm here in Hawaii.  I invested in a gas generator and if power goes off I just flip the breaker to the tanks put a 2 ened plug in to the generator and the other end into the wall socket in the shed with the blower and off the pumps and aerators go.  The power just went off a few days ago for about t 6 hours.  I don't ever have to worry about the fish.

[Converse]

Depending on the size of your system and if you want to spend the $$, you can also go with a battery bank and an inverter.   The inverter charges up the batteries, and automatically switches the system over to battery power (converted to A/C) in the event of a power failure.  It also switches back when electrical supply is restored.

- Converse

  

[Erik Powell]

power outages are scary. I had the power go out at my commercial farm for about three hours. The fish made it tho. If u are concerned about power outages and u have the money buy a small solar panel that has a dc battery. Have that connected to a air stone. So basically if power goes out it least u have air too keep the fish alive.