Ten Things to Do When the Power Goes Out

In This Chapter

• Minimize the numbers: That’s what friends are for
• Maintain water values: Cut the feedings and test the water
• Provide short-term solutions: Ammonia and nitrites down, oxygen up
• Solve the pump and filter problem: Alternative energy sources

As anyone with electricity in her home knows, the power is bound to go out (when you least expect it, when you’re late for work, and when you’re drying your hair). For a koi-keeper, a power loss means more than frizz — this small inconvenience can turn into a hairy ordeal if you have a koi pond and want to keep your koi from going belly-side-up.

The great news is that you don’t have to feel like a duck in a shooting gallery when your power goes out — you can take certain actions after the power goes off. To help save your koi (we figure you can take care of yourself just fine), your first concerns are

- Providing oxygen to the fish

- Keeping water quality from deteriorating to a dangerous level

We hope you never need this info, but at least you’ll have some course of action to follow when the lights go out. (You did remember to keep fresh batteries in the flashlight so you can read this, right?)

Lower the Fish Load in Your Pond

If the power goes out, your koi can’t check into a hotel and use the Jacuzzi. They’re stuck in the pond and they’re going to be distressed pretty soon. What to do? Just like the wranglers out West, you head ’em up and move ’em out.

In this case, you’re moving koi, not cattle, and they’re only going into show tanks that have battery-powered pumps. Be sure that you have enough tanks on hand to handle an emergency. See Chapter Making Sure Koi Are Right for You for directions on calculating the ideal number of koi per tank so you’ll know how many tanks to keep, and be sure to check Chapter Preparing for Your Koi’s Homecoming for advice on moving koi and adjusting them to new water.

Tip

If you don’t have show tanks, bag up some of your koi and take them for temporary residency in the ponds of your koi friends who still have power. Trust us, these people will understand. Next year, they may be the ones without power. Be sure to alert your benefactors of any of your fish’s health concerns so they can take appropriate quarantine measures.

Stop Feeding Your Fish

Your koi may gather at the pond edge and beg shamelessly, but it’s all show. They can go for a week without food and not suffer. When the power goes out, don’t feed your koi, even if that little Chagoi hottie makes eye contact and goes “Wa-wa” with her mouth. The last thing you need is your koi dumping ammonia and nitrites into the water — which is exactly what they do when you feed them.

Do a 30-Percent Water Change

The easiest way to provide oxygen to your koi and dilute the ammonia and nitrite levels at the same time is through 30 percent partial water changes. We provide all the details you need to tackle this process in Chapter Maintaining Your Pond.

Plan on doing these 30 percent changes daily until the power comes back on. You do have lots of dechlor on hand, don’t you?

Test Your Water Daily for Ammonia and Nitrites

As depressing as it may seem, you have to be extra vigilant about your pond’s water chemistry when your power goes out. Use your test kit daily and record the levels so you can see where they’re headed. (To find out how to test your pond’s water quality, head back to Chapter Maintaining Your Pond.) If the ammonia and nitrite levels get to the top edge of the safe area, you need to take further steps to protect the health of your koi. See Chapter Maintaining Your Pond for this too.

Add Salt or Zeolite

Warning!

Ordinary kosher salt, that miracle tonic, can help reduce the nitrite level in your pond. Just add 10 pounds per 1,000 gallons, but be careful that no other medications are in the pond. If you’re combining salt with partial water changes, use a salt meter or a test kit to keep the salt level around 1 percent.

If you forego salt, a mesh bag of the mineral zeolite can suck up ammonia all on its own, and you can recharge it overnight by soaking it in a garbage can filled with heavily salted water. Shake out the bag the next morning and it’s good to go.

Obviously, you can use salt or zeolite in your pond, but never, ever at the same time.

Use an Inverter to Power Your Air Pump

An inverter is a device that changes DC to AC, meaning it can convert power from your car battery into power for one of the devices you use in your pond. Just plug it into your car’s cigarette lighter.

Remember

The inverter may not be able to provide enough current for your filter pump, but it can power an air pump (see Chapter Planning Your Koi Pond) or a 6-volt bilge pump. You don’t use the bilge pump to empty your pond; you use it to aerate the water, directing the pump outflow through your bog pond or across a 2 x 4 piece of plastic corrugate before the water drips back into your pond.

Let ol’ Sol Power Your Pond

Solar power can actually be practical (meaning that it’s handy when you need it, not that it’s cheap). You can buy and install solar-powered aerators. These are designed primarily for ponds in isolated areas (but then again, when your power’s off, anyone can feel plenty isolated). You have to provide a housing enclosure for the compressor and batteries and a pole for mounting the solar unit, but who cares? These same solar units can power water pumps.

Solar-powered aerators are made by several manufacturers — most are made for lakes, which is more than what you need. Use your browser to search for a manufacturer of solar aerators for fish ponds, or ask your local utility company for leads on solar panels for pond aeration. Here’s one vendor for a pond-sized solar aeration unit (about $400 for one large enough to handle 100 square feet of pond surface; one unit would work for our basic 6-x-9-foot pond): Pennington Equipment Company, 1520 NW 6th St., Springfield, IL 62702; phone 888-261-4726, fax 886-422-0018; Web site www.solaraerator.com.

Mist Your Pond

Add a mist nozzle to your garden hose and place the end over the edge of your pond. Brace the hose in place with a couple of bricks and turn the water on. The water absorbs oxygen from the air as it sprays into your pond. This can be done continuously, along with the other measures mentioned. If you dechlor for your daily 30 percent water changes, you don’t need to worry about dechlorinating the water added by the misting.

Use Compressed Air

You can also rent tanks of compressed air to bubble air into your pond. Your local pond store can usually recommend a local source, or search online. (Sorry, you can’t get tanks of oxygen except with a physician’s prescription, and those small tanks only last four hours. Besides, you may need the oxygen yourself when you figure out what it’s going to cost to replace all the food in that doublewide freezer you just bought!)

Use a Portable Battery System to Power Your Filter

You can actually buy an emergency back-up power system for your pond. One model is a 1,500-watt system with an inverter to power two AC outlets. This same unit can power air pumps and air-powered filters. You recharge the unit with your car battery or with a solar charging unit (you provide the car battery; the vendor can supply the solar unit). Use your phone book to find a local vendor to save on shipping costs, but if you can’t find one locally, try an Internet search. One we found was Superpond, 422 E. Columbia Dr., Kennewick, WA 99336; phone 509-586-1945.

by R.D.Bartlett and Patricia Bartlett