power went put

[keyarlei]

Hi I didnt get a chance to search the forum, my computer is acting crazy after the sudden power loss.

Here is my situation I rescued 2 betta from walmart. 1 is in a 10 gal tank by himself heated, with a pump filter that I have slowed the water flow down by half. He's got gravel and lotsa silk plants. same with the other tank except it is only 5 gal. They were happy and healthy and then our power went out for 2 days. I wrapped them in blankets and tried to keep the room warm.
My power came back and I slowly heated the water back up to 78. I dont know what to do anout my filter media and the little gray pad that I never clean cuz all the good bacteria.

If I plug it back in will it pump dead bacteria into their water?
I am stuck out here untill my road is open again so I cant go buy more.

Should I just do a 25% water change each day untill I can buy new filter media?
I so badly dont want them to have to suffer through re`cycling the tanks again. Waah!

[babystarz]

Originally Posted by keyarlei

Hi I didnt get a chance to search the forum, my computer is acting crazy after the sudden power loss.

Here is my situation I rescued 2 betta from walmart. 1 is in a 10 gal tank by himself heated, with a pump filter that I have slowed the water flow down by half. He's got gravel and lotsa silk plants. same with the other tank except it is only 5 gal. They were happy and healthy and then our power went out for 2 days. I wrapped them in blankets and tried to keep the room warm.
My power came back and I slowly heated the water back up to 78. I dont know what to do anout my filter media and the little gray pad that I never clean cuz all the good bacteria.

If I plug it back in will it pump dead bacteria into their water?
I am stuck out here untill my road is open again so I cant go buy more.

Should I just do a 25% water change each day untill I can buy new filter media?
I so badly dont want them to have to suffer through re`cycling the tanks again. Waah!

From my understanding the BB in a filter will die after 24-48 hours of the filter being off, so yep I would go with the water changes until you can re-establish with new BB. You probably do still have some BB on other surfaces in the tank, so it may not take as long as the first time.

The best way to re-establish is to borrow some old filter media from a local aquarist, but if you don't have access to that just go ahead and get the new filter pad.

[keyarlei]

Thank you babystarz. Yep, I guess I'll have to replace all the filter media. When I can get to a bigger town I'm going to get one of those battery powered deals so I can provide heat and filtration if this happens again.

[Perseusmom]

Yeah just keep up with water changes for awhile till you get BB on the filter and you should still have some live ones in the tank gravel and plants or decorations. What battery operated deals are you talking about I need to get something like that too is case the power goes off.

[AyalaCookiejar]

Like a back up generator of sorts.