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So today is our second day without power here in north Florida thanks to Irma. Luckily my house wasn't damaged and everyone is safe. The majority of people in my county are without power so I'm not sure how long it will take to get fixed. My turtle seems to be just hanging out on her dock mostly but is that okay? Is there anything more I should be doing for her. Just worried. Any advice would be much appreciated!

Your turtle should be fine for a few days. I think fresh water is more of a concern... lack of filtration might facilitate more frequent changes, and the ground water might be contaminated.

If I pick up some jugs of water and take out some of the water and replace part of it would that be a good idea? So stressful >_<

And I'm worried about what's going to come out of my filter when it kicks back on. Should I unplug it and wait for the power, then clean it and plug it back it. (Marineland canister filter) Maybe just leave the heater plugged in so that will get going in case the power comes back on while I'm at work? Will my all my good bacteria already have died in this amount of time so I should just go ahead and replace all the media I can?

Sorry for so many questions and thanks for all your help!!

I would leave everything unplugged from the outlet for now. The good bacteria dying off is not a big deal, I would clean out the filter since it's not in use now. You can rinse the bio media and leave in clean water, not sure how much would be preserved though. Is there any estimate until you get power?

Nothing specific that I've heard as to when power will be back. I see friends on Facebook from all over my county in different parts announcing they got power back. It will definitely still be days until everyone gets power back, I'm not sure where my house places on that list though. I want to and pick up some carbon bags to replace the old ones when I go to clean the filter, but I've also been thinking about maybe switching up the other media for a while too. I still have the bio balls and ceramic rings that it came with. Any suggestions for something you like better than those? They are pretty gunky and I haven't found a great way to rinse them good without making a huge mess. I might even just buy more of the same stuff and switch it out if anything to make it a little easier if that's an ok thing to do?

I've been using something similar to ceramic rings. I just use a garden hose to rinse them out. They should be at the end of the filter, so there shouldn't be much gunk reaching it. New carbon (buy some in bulk and bag it yourself) is nice and you can probably lose the bio balls. The filter and pads you can clean out and let dry while not in use.

What water should I use for tank changes until power comes back on?

What water do you have access to? If there no issues with the tap, then you should still be able to use it.

Usually I use tap water but we have a well so that isn't working. They are saying our power will probably be out until Tuesday the 21st at the earliest. I have a big plastic (55 gallon) that I was thinking about maybe setting him up something up outside with it. But I'm really not sure if that would be safe or a good option. I could maybe set something up inside and filling it up with enough water and setting some tiles in there so she can climb on top of them and hooking up her basking lights to the generator. I don't know if I'd want to use the heater in there so you think shed be ok with just the water the temp it is?

Anything setup outside needs some protection or supervision. I wouldn't worry about a heater, they should be fine in 70-80 water temps, even more so for older RES. I dry dock my RES outside for hours at a time, you can balance what's convienient for you it just depends what's available right now.

So a few days roughing it in a temporary tank is fine, I would just keep an eye on water quality, and temps if it's outside. Whatever you've been doing all this time is might be more than enough.

Power is finally back on!!!!! I had to work late tonight but wanted to get my tank up and running and as I was starting up my filter the primer button got stuck completely down and I don't know how to get it back up. It is Marineland C-360 canister filter. I'm slightly freaking out. It's just been such a stressful week. Any advice how to fix this? Or is it ok to let it run like that until I figure out how to fix it?

Great to hear about the power! I don't have the C360, but it sounds like you might have to take that bugger apart. Seems like its a common problem with that model.

I was afraid of that.. but good news is Donatella is back in her nice heated tank and is eating and basking just fine. Thank you so SO much for all your helpful responses, Steve! You definitely helped to give me peace of mind in a stressful situation.

Glad to help, but you did all the work! Hope the recovery over there goes smoothly and quickly!