Hurricanes & Power Outages
There will undoubtedly come a time when your pond rides out a major weather event such as a hurricane or tropical storm.
During times like these, it’s not uncommon to experience extended periods of power outages. You may be more concerned with yourself and your house, but you should take a few moments to think about preparing your pond and your fish for such events as well. Here are a few things you can do to minimize the impacts of extended power outages on your pond and fish.
1. Add more submerged plants (Anacharis, Cabomba, or Hornwort) to the pond.
2. Lower plants on stands down to the bottom of the pond.
3. Turn off all Fountains, Spitters, Waterfalls and anything else that could cause water loss with high winds.
4. Remove any over-hanging branches from around the pond area.
5. Remove any objects from the yard that could end up in the pond.
6. Stop feeding your fish, they will be just fine.
7. Unplug any cords that are not connected to a GFCI outlet.
• If you do not have a generator, and you have a large population of fish, your fish may not get enough oxygen in the event of an extended power outage.
• A Word of CAUTION: Do not use the following method if your pond has an excessive amount of algae…
Add Algae Off at a rate of ¼ cup per 1,000 gallons of pond water up to twice a day. The second treatment must be done on the opposite end of the pond from the first treatment. Do this every day until the power comes back on. Also, avoid pouring the Algae Off directly onto any plants in the pond.
Algae Off increases bio-available oxygen in the water up to 13%. This should buy your fish enough time until the power is restored and you can turn your pumps back on.
If you can’t make it out to Nelson’s to get Algae off: Apply 1/2 cup of 3 percent hydrogen peroxide solution per 100 gallons of pond water to increase the oxygen content. The peroxide will take effect within an hour, and the increased oxygen will last for about four hours.
*Again, we must caution you not to use this method if your pond water has excessive amounts of algae already present.*