Loss of electricity

[breaktime]

Besides getting a generator for the house,  what alternatives are there to protect the fish during a power outage?

[Steve]

You can get some of the battery powered air pumps off ebay or other online shops for around $9 each. If you lose power with any sort of regularity like I do here in Royal Oak (we lose power at least 2-3 times per year no matter what here) then a generator is the best investment. I finally got sick of worrying about my fish last year during an outage and picked up a new 2500w generator from Lowe's for about $299.

[Maize-N-Blue-D]

The primary objective (both short and long term) for the aquarist is to supply oxygen to the tank and move water (even periodically) about in the tank. This is bare bones survival and some of your tank's filtration systems (wet/dry trickle, canister filter) will not be functioning. The nitrifying bacteria which resides in the tank (on the live rock, tanks walls, etc.) will live and continue to process ammonia, nitrites and nitrates if O2 is supplied at least periodically.

Here is one method which is easy to do and actually works:

Take any type of clean cup, pitcher or other container, scoop out and fill it with aquarium water.
Hold the filled container some distance above the aquarium, and pour the water back into the tank. Repeat this process numerous times.

A larger volume of oxygen is generated the higher the water is dispensed from above the aquarium, and the number of repeated times this is done.

[Regalblue]

http://aquaticlifefarm.com/web_pages/alf_article_pwr.html

[rcombs]

http://aquaticlifefarm.com/web_pages/alf_article_pwr.html

A lot of useful info here. Thanks.

[Ogre44]

Nice link Regalblue, thanks.

[Ron]

The primary objective (both short and long term) for the aquarist is to supply oxygen to the tank and move water (even periodically) about in the tank. This is bare bones survival and some of your tank's filtration systems (wet/dry trickle, canister filter) will not be functioning. The nitrifying bacteria which resides in the tank (on the live rock, tanks walls, etc.) will live and continue to process ammonia, nitrites and nitrates if O2 is supplied at least periodically.

Keep in mind that the bacteria using the O2 are also reducing what is available for the fish to breathe. I'm not 100% certain because there are so many details that matter, but all together you've got lowering O2 concentration, increasing ammonia/nitrite/(and to a lesser degree nitrate), plus a dropping pH that alone is increasing already present ammonia toxicity.

Here is one method which is easy to do and actually works:

Take any type of clean cup, pitcher or other container, scoop out and fill it with aquarium water.
Hold the filled container some distance above the aquarium, and pour the water back into the tank. Repeat this process numerous times.

A larger volume of oxygen is generated the higher the water is dispensed from above the aquarium, and the number of repeated times this is done.

What that is really doing is breaking up the protein film that tends to form on the surface of stagnant water. The film blocks O2 transfer between the atmosphere and the water. Disrupting the film to break it up increases O2 availability. The short amount of time water is poured about the tank isn't as significant IMO. A less taxing way to do the same thing is stirring up the surface of the tank for a minute or two every so often.