Just received scheduled power outage mailing

[apotocki]

Oh no. I just received a mailing from the power company that they will be shutting off my power for 3-4 hours next Thursday for maintenance work.
Should I be concerned???
I have a relatively new 70 gallon tank with about 30 fish. I'm not too concerned about the water temp but what about my filter? Especially the bio filter....will it be impacted by no water flowing through it? I have a XP3 canister....also, will the fish handle no aeration/water movement? Maybe I'm panicking but I don't want anything to happen to my tank!

 

[thatonegirl]

I would recommend that you don't feed them at all on Thursday and maybe get one of these.

 

[Jchillin]

Your filter shouldn't have any problems as it's only for a couple of hours. Keep water in it and shut it off prior to the shutdown.

The battery operated air pump is a great idea.

 

[fishfreek]

A 3-4 hour outage shoulnt be much to worry about. I second the power things off after the power outage so when power comes back there is no chance of it getting hit with a power surge and being damaged. Once you notice power back in the house power up your filter.

 

[jsoong]

A few hours should not be a problem ... but one caution: if there is no water movement in a sealed canister for longer period, stuff breaks down anaerobically to toxic H2S & flushing that into the tank when power comes back on that might kill fish.

In case the outage is longer than expected, you might want to open the canister during the outage to prevent that. <Keep water in filter to prevent your good bugs from dying>.

Also, battery powered airpump is a good idea.

 

[FishLover14]

Battery Operated Air Pumps or Genrators are great choices to provide and aeration with the loss of power.

Generally a modeerately stocked tank can have a poweroutage of up to 4-5 hours with no problems.

My Tanks, survied a power outage of 3 days, or at least most of the inhabitants did .