What are you all doing snowmageddon?

[ghotifish]

We moved our few fish from the 20 gallon to the rest in the 40 breeder. Have the main tank wrapped in several blankets and sleeping bags. Twice a day we've been boiling water on the jetboil and putting it into nalgene bottles. A reverse ice cube. We probably won't have power again until Tuesday night. Got a battery powered air stone on the way... All the fish seem pretty active when I switch out the nalgenes, so far....water must have dropped to the 60s at least, outside has been low 30s throughout.

Any thoughts on what we should do?

[Seattle_Aquarist]

Hi ghotifish,

It has been a challenging week with rain, snow, ice, snow, and rain again. We live in Renton and didn't get anywhere near as much snow as you folks in Olympia (only about 6") but we were without power for 30+ hours. My aquariums got down to 55 degrees but I only lost a few Tetras and Rasboras; my angels, corys, and Apistos did OK although they were sitting on the bottom barely moving just before the power came back on. Hope you get power back on soon! -Roy

[Nubster]

Sounds like you are doing all you can do short of taking them someplace that has electric. Just make sure to not feed them until things are turned back on.

[orangelss]

Up here near the National Forest we had almost 2ft and no power for 3 days. Added battery pwered air pumps and heaters to the tanks. Didn't loose any fish but some new plants came in right when we lost power. Preety sure they are all toast Hope everything works out for yah and they get your power back soon!!

[Seattle_Aquarist]

Hi orangelss,

What plants did you lose?

[monkeyfish]

Pickup something like this: http://www.harborfreight.com/800-rat...:referralID=NA it's small and fairly cheap, would be enough to run heater, air, filter. Bigger is better if you can swing it, more power to run more stuff.
I was just recently informed you guys don't get much snow out there but....we had 18" the day before Halloween and my power was out for 9 days. When I added up what it would cost to replace all my fish, shrimp, and plants (not to mention the food in my fridge) I went and spent that amount on a 7000w generator. It's already paid for itself IMO. Good luck to you, hope you get juice back asap.

[Aqua_chem]

I live in a place that handles the weather a little bit better (Pullman, WA). We got about a foot and a half and never lost power.

Got cold enough to mess with the temps in one tank though. It looks like it stressed the rams out enough to develop a bit of ich.

[Da Plant Man]

We just got 1 and a half. But then again, I am on the east side of WA.

[Aqua_chem]

Where are you at DPM?

[alfalfa]

Originally Posted by Da Plant Man

We just got 1 and a half. But then again, I am on the east side of WA.

1.5' : Eastern WA :: 1.5" : Western WA

[orangelss]

I lost some Blyxa Japonica, all of the Limnophila Aromatica and Rotala Colorata

[ghotifish]

Originally Posted by alfalfa

1.5' : Eastern WA :: 1.5" : Western WA

Ha ha--so true. I'm actually from Eastern WA where we have helpful things like snow tires and snow plows! Also, there aren't so many darn trees around to fall over onto the power lines! My husband (who also psts as Ghotifish) is from the West side of the mountains so he's a bit of a wimp when it comes to the snow.

We actually got 15" of snow plus nearly an inch of ice coating everything from the freezing rain portion of the show. We've been without power, water, or heat for six days so far!

We've been able to keep the tank around 60 degrees with the water bottles. It's warmer at the top since there isn't any circulation. So far we've lost one shrimp and no fish (at least that we can see when we look in with a flashlight). We'll have a better idea once the power comes back on and we can take all the insulation off to get a good look. We actually broke down and bought a 5500 watt gas generator today but we haven't set it up because all the hardware stores are sold out of the 4 pronged cord required to plug the dumb thing into the house! We'll probably just save it for next time, since we live in a rural area where this happens nearly every year.

There are a bunch of Electric company trucks on our road right now, so we are hopeful that the power will come back on tonight. We cleaned the canister filter in preparation for the big restart.

We'll let you know how it turns out!

Mary

[lophura]

You folks on the west side of the state always make me chuckle. I remember I was over there for a show one time and we had 4' of snow and lows around -20 for a few nights in a row here at home. Over there, there was a dusting of snow (maybe an inch) and it was 31*. People were stocking up and clearing store shelves, crashes all over, school was cancelled, it was like the end of the world and all we could do was laugh. Up here in Northeastern Washington (north of Spokane) we have lots of trees to fall on lines but we're just used to it all. As of right now we have about a foot and a half and bitter cold. I haven't been paying attention to temps but I do know that chicken eggs freeze solid and the shells crack after an hour of being laid in the chicken coop though.

[Seattle_Aquarist]

Hi lophura,

I grew up in MO where the winters hit -14F. The difference here is the "hills" (in MO we would call them mountains), heavier traffic, and the lack of snow removal / de-icing equipment. I driven in E. WA many times in heavy snow during the winter, I assure this side is definitely more challenging.