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Hi Ned,

National Grid informed me that they have scheduled a 7 hour power outage to "make improvements to our electrical distribution system".

Given for a change I know it's coming, and more importantly it won't be just a few mins, do I need to be concerned?

Have any words of wisdom to share on preparing tanks for a power outage?

I've got multiple freshwater tanks 30 and 55 gals. All with canister filters and sponge filters. Fish are African and S. American cichlids.

Thanks!

National Grid informed me that they have scheduled a 7 hour power outage to "make improvements to our electrical distribution system".
THAT'S WEIRD, WHAT TOWN YOU LIVE IN?

Given for a change I know it's coming, and more importantly it won't be just a few mins, do I need to be concerned? NOT TOO MUCH.

Have any words of wisdom to share on preparing tanks for a power outage?

I've got multiple freshwater tanks 30 and 55 gals. All with canister filters and sponge filters. Fish are African and S. American cichlids.
ONLY THING IS RINSE THE CANISTER FILTER MEDIA BEFORE THE POWER COMES BACK ON, BECAUSE THE BACTERIA WILL BE DENIED OXYGEN. THE SPONGE FILTERS SHOULD BE FINE.

THE ONLY OTHER THING IS IF THE TANKS ARE CROWDED YOU MIGHT
WANT TO GET A BATTERY AIR PUMP,
WE HAVE LOTS AT THE STORE.

WE CAN MAIL IF YOU ARE FAR AWAY.

one of the reasons I love sponge filters (and keep one in almost every tank) is the fact that I can run them on a battery powered airpump like the one Ned recommended.

If you're going to be home when the outage occurs, I'd even take the canister filters out from under the tanks and open them up / pull them apart so they get plenty of air -- keep the media wet but let it get lots of air.

It's in Worcester. I have no idea what they're actually doing. The FAQs they sent were less than helpful. Ex:

Quote:

Why is this outage happening? The electrical distribution system in your area is in need of repair. If we do not make these repairs, there is a risk that your area will experience an unplanned outage. Unplanned outages generally result in more customer inconvenience since the duration of the outage is much longer....

Anyway...

How long will a battery powered airpump run for? My sponge filters are all powered by powerheads. I guess removing the powerhead and dropping in an airstone will get some movement of water through the sponge.

This sounds like an opportunity to clean all the canister filters. If I do a full cleaning just before the outage begins, put them back in operation, and leave them there so that they go back on when power is restored, will that be ok?

the batterys will probably last 7 hours

I liked Red's idea of opening the canisters

The best, but more expensive solution is
battery back-ups used for computers

it's a large unit I guess
you plug in the wall
then plug whatever into the back-up

I've heard the powerful ones are expensive

they probably have them at Radio Shack

The outage happened and all is well. I ended up cleaning the canister filters the day before the outage and left them running.

I didn't open them up at the time of the outage on the notion that I'd killed most of the bacteria already during the cleaning and not much would have re-populated them in a day. Which raises the question: Does anyone know how quickly a canister filter regains its full biological filtration after a thorough cleaning?

I also ended up swiping the battery backup from a computer to power a couple of air pumps. While that was a good idea, it keep them going for no more than 4 hours. Next time I'm in, I'll get a couple of the battery powered ones. A 7 hour run time that I can extend with fresh batteries sounds better.

Thanks for the advice!