Rollin' Blackouts, what's your backup?

[aquitori]

For the last 4 or 5 days, we have been having rollin blackouts from 1 hr to a couple of hours here in NorCal, what's your power backup?

What procedure should be done when it comes to the filter(Bead filter) has been down for a couple of hours.

[Steve Nguyen]

would there be a valid concern for a couple hours of power interrupts? my guess would be that a couple hours of non-working equipment in 24 hrs day would have little or no impact on the fish.

Steve

[KoiCop]

Twofold take on the danger of losing power for hours:

1. In summer, when water temps, feeding and fish load are up (and the water's ability to hold oxygen is down) a power outage can easily cause a full pond wipeout.

2. Also, on submerged bio-filtration media the aerobic bacteria can take a big hit due to loss of oxygen.

We bought a Honda 3000 generator last year but -- knock on wood -- haven't had to use it, yet.

[bekko]

Tony, I would be worried about a bead flter which is being used for biological filtration if there is a 2-hr outage. It could go anaerobic and kill off the nitrifying bacteria fairly quickly. It would probably be better to drain the water out since the media will stay moist inside the housing. Any submerged filter could have the same problem, but bead filters are more tightly packed - more bacteria in less space.

-steveh opk

[maryland_ponder]

My problem with blackouts is that many times they are not black outs but brown downs. The power slowly drops or drops & comes back on a few times until it then goes out for a period of time. This on & off off voltage can damage your pumps, UV & any other electrical devices you have (like your PC ugh!). I too have a generator. Its a stand alone gas powered type. It can run (depending on the load) for 8 or so hours on 5 gallons of gas. If i had it to do over again I would have spent the extra money & got one that runs off of natural gas so theres no fueling issues or wondering when the generator will run out of gas. I am going to wire a bypass box that will run the circuits in the house i choose when running on the generator. Once power is back the bypass box can be manually or automatically switched over.

[PapaBear]

I know some folks have issues with plants in Koi Ponds, but they can be helpful when oxygen levels aren't being sustained by mechanical means. Generators are obviously wonderful for longer outages. My primary plan is to have more water than Koi and plants sufficient to keep things reasonably comfortable for short term outages.

[koiczar]

Quote: Originally Posted by aquitori For the last 4 or 5 days, we have been having rollin blackouts from 1 hr to a couple of hours here in NorCal, what's your power backup? What procedure should be done when it comes to the filter(Bead filter) has been down for a couple of hours.

Tony

Brown outs are something we better figure on living with this summer!! My power went off at 5 pm on Sunday. Just came back on line this morning (Tuesday) at around 7:30. PG&E says they replaced over 450 transformers from Friday through Sunday alone. California is at a STAGE 2 ALERT! (they only go as high as stage 3) so it's pretty serious. Looks like we gonna finally catch a break in the weather however, with temps dropping back to the mid to high 80s by the weekend. Good thing, really don't want to sit in the sun in Portland for the weekend if it's gonna be 100+.

Finally was able to borrow a generator from a neighbor - you couldn't find one to rent/buy in the entire valley. Got it hooked up yesterday afternoon around 5:30, so the power was completely out for 24 hours.

Here's what I have done to get everything back up on line:

Yesterday, re-hooked up the q-system (pump and air pump).

Did a complete filter cleaning of a settlement chamber/bio filter that runs the waterfall system on the main pond and regenerized the pump and air pump.

Today, I did a good water change and back washed the bead filter. Re-powered the main pump and UV lights. Back in business!!

But, after having said all that, the filters all smelled like cattle pens sitting in the full sun! I wasn't about to put ANY of that water back in the system (DUH)!! Water got very green over the past 2 days. But, with 160 watts of brand new UV light that should clear in a couple of days.

The fish were fine during all this as there's 10000 gallons of water for 40 fish. Water temp rose to 86+ by yesterday afternoon. Did not feed during the power outage. They finally got some this morning after the filter cleaning. Will also do more water changes over the next 2 days to make sure everything is out of the system.

Oh, P G &E also said to expect more "brown outs" during this crisis, but I don't think it will be a problem if it's only down for a couple hours. Would suggest strongly to get at least a battery powered air pump and use stones in the bio filter and the pond. If you have a bead filter, make sure to unplug the pump while the power is down and do a good backwash before restarting the system.

[luke frisbee]

My hurricane plan is as follows...don't stock higher than the pond can handle without any electricity during and for twelve hours after a hurricane...and then have the 12volt areator nudge the water around.
During a hurricane the pond will be amply turned over LOL.

[KoiCop]

Quote: Originally Posted by PapaBear I know some folks have issues with plants in Koi Ponds, but they can be helpful when oxygen levels aren't being sustained by mechanical means.

Sorry, but your Plants for Oxygen Plan doesn't hold water (pardon the pun).

Plants only produce oxygen during the daytime. Come nighttime, the process reverses; plants consume oxygen and produce carbon dioxide-- which only worsens the problem.

So you'd only win with that strategy if the power's back on before the sun goes down.

[carolyn swanson]

The conclusion reached on another forum was that, if a bead filter were shut down, to take off the top and throw in an airstone. Thus, if you had a generator, it would be possible to save your media in the bead filter.