One week on from getting the power restored, here is an update. As I write we are in the midst of another storm, with 70mph winds outside. Hoping and praying the power doesn't go off again, as I've sent the generator off for servicing! Last week the power was off for a total of just under 57 hours, but the last 20 or so of those I managed to get the generator going, so we had 37 hours of the tank slowly reducing in temperature and the two Fluval G3 filters stagnating.
Unfortunately my previous post saying that the fish and plants all look to be none the worse for wear was a bit premature. There has been a delayed reaction. A couple of days after restoring everything, getting temperature back up to normal, lights back on, and filters back on, fish started to look a bit stressed, darting about. To put you in the picture of the fish community, I have historically kept a few platies in a fairly neutral pH; I've always found them to be robust and good pickers of hair algae and fairly long lived. Latterly I've been aiming at effectively a Rio Negro tetra / cory / oto tank, with softer water, slightly lower pH, tannins, so to start with the platies are not in completely ideal conditions. One of the platies, a heavily pregnant female, took to lying on the bottom of the tank. Another female was looking unhappy with fins clamped; and the dominant male has developed cotton mouth (bacterial infection brought on by stress). The upshot is, I lost the two females a couple of days ago.
I've been testing and testing, and not found anything amiss, with ammonia and nitrites at zero, pH normal, and EC between 200 and 300 microS/cm; temperature back to its normal 26oC. I can only think that the 2 days of darkness, temperature dropping by 6 degrees and (possibly) dead bacteria from the filter causing an ammonia spike that I missed have caused it. Today I noticed a Corydora flashing against plants, and the black widows are very skittish and taking nips out of each other.
Time will tell!
Here is the tank as it looks today. I've adopted a "modified" EI dosing; it is a 140 litre tank, and I take out 10 to 20 litres each day, and replace with RO water, to which I have added the day's fertiliser quota. Then on Sundays I am taking out 30 or 40l, and replacing with RO. I'm taking out a half bucket load of vegetation every couple of days. It is really growing well.
In terms of fish the 10 amano shrimps I put in have vanished, apart from the odd sighting of one of them, despite my efforts to secure the filter intakes and the tank lids. Likewise most of the neons, one or two become visible at feeding time, but mostly stay hidden in the vegetation at the right side, unlike the cardinals which are usually very obvious on the left side. The Otocinclus seem to be surviving well. I've added bogwood with Anubias and Java moss but the moss is not looking too happy; maybe it is too warm for it? Tomorrow, I have another Anubias on wood to add. I am feeding a combination of Aquarian general flake food, and algae wafers, supplemented by the odd pack of Daphnia or bloodworms when I can get them (not often).
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