Power cut

bigward · Post by **bigward** » 21 May 2009, 10:53

The wife has just phoned me stating 'we have had a power cut' (yes the bills have been paid

) at home. I am not worried about the temperature - its the 2 power filters ............... should I get the wife to disconnect them until the power is switch back on ?

Basically what is the best action to take in the event of a power cut ?

Cheers

MatsP · Post by **MatsP** » 21 May 2009, 11:07

Disconnecting the filters doesn't do anything good. If it's a short power-cut, you should be OK. If it lasts for several hours, I'd remove the filters and clean them out. The other option (shortly after the break starts) is to make a mess in the tank by squeezing some filter media into the tank - that will make some of your filter bacteria stay alive. Then, if it's lasted for more than an hour or so, rinse your filter media with tank-water, and restart the filter.

The problem is that if the filter isn't getting fresh oxygenated water, the bacteria will die. When you restart the filter, it will blow a toxic mess of dead bacteria and chemicals produced by the dead bacteria into the tank. That's why you should clean the filter before restarting it, if it's been off for a longer period of time.

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Mats

bigward · Post by **bigward** » 21 May 2009, 11:12

Thanks for that ........ I was doing a water change and cleaning of the filters tomorrow in anycase but I guess I will just bring that forward to tonight when I get home from work. Fingers crossed it will be back on by then.

cheers.

MatsP · Post by **MatsP** » 21 May 2009, 11:16

So, if it lasts for a while, I'd say you need to UNPLUG the filters from the electrics, to avoid the filter restarting and spewing dead bacteria back into the tank, just to clarify things.

Edit: I realize that this is not quite matching what I said in the first sentence of the first post - this is a CORRECTION to clarify that!

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Mats

bigward · Post by **bigward** » 21 May 2009, 11:28

I have just phoned the wife and told her to pull the plugs on them as she is going out for the afternoon and I won't be in until 5pm. Looks like I have got my activities sorted for tonight.

Cheers once again

MatsP · Post by **MatsP** » 21 May 2009, 12:03

bigward wrote:I have just phoned the wife and told her to pull the plugs on them as she is going out for the afternoon and I won't be in until 5pm. Looks like I have got my activities sorted for tonight.

Cheers once again

And none of those activities involve going out, right ;)

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Mats

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