Oklahoma Aquarium's fish are safe during power outages

When severe weather threatens to shut down power to homes and businesses, the Oklahoma Aquarium in Jenks has measures in place to make sure its aquatic residents are safe.

For many of the aquarium's species, a power outage otherwise would not be survivable, said Executive Director Teri Bowers.

Kenny Alexopoulos, deputy director, said diesel-powered generators are the first line of defense in keeping vital functions of the aquarium running during an outage.

"Everything is on backup generators," he said. "That automatically comes on if we lose power."

The generators, which are intended to sustain the vital operations of the facility, can run for several days without refueling, and a truck of fuel could be brought in to keep the supply up for longer duration if needed, Alexopoulos said.

A smaller, mobile generator also is on site, he said.

As generators switch on, aquarium staffers also receive a telephone notification automatically that power was lost, Alexopoulos said.

In severe weather, when roads could become impassable, at least two staff members usually sleep at the facility in order to ensure someone is there to monitor vital operations in the event of an outage, he said.

When winter storms rolled through the area recently, more than a couple of staffers stayed at the aquarium.

John Money, aquarium curator, said he and his family were among a group of employees who stayed one

"It was nice to have heat," Money said. "In the meantime, we were there in case anything happened."

Money said very minor changes in temperature and other factors can be extremely harmful or deadly to some species, such as exotic fish.

The systems that keep many of the animals healthy require heating and cooling functions in addition to other capabilities, he said. The aquarium's generators also keep power to the facility's nerve center, which is the laboratory from which testing can be performed and analyzed for all of the creatures' habitats to ensure they are exactly as they need to be, Money said.

"We're a lot like a hospital, really," he said. "Our life support has to be on 24 hours a day."

Money said a momentary power outage triggered a staff notification from the alarm company as he and others stayed all night, but the situation did not result in a full-blown outage.

"It worked out great for everybody," Money said. "It ended up being a plus on both sides."