Planning for a scheduled power outage

[cwatkins]

We got a slip on the doorstep from BC Hydro the other day about a planned 6 hour power outage for our neighbourhood next week.

I already have 2x MP40's that run off of an Ecotech backup battery system, so water movement is going to be OK during the outage.

I'm just wondering about temperature and oxygen.

I figured it's summer, so the temperature should be stable. It's not hot around here lately anyways.

As for oxygen, would 6 hours be ok without added oxygen other than surface exchange (water movement from MP40's mid-level in the tank).

Or should I look for one of those battery powered hand held airpumps with an airstone? They last 72 hours or so?

If anyone knows where to get one in Metro Vancouver. JL no longer lists them on their website, and OA is out of stock.

The trick here is I'm not going to be home for the outage, so I'd have to turn on the battery backup airpump the day before.

Thanks.
-Cody

[fishytime]

if it is indeed only a six hour outage then I wouldnt think that the airstone would be necessary......your battery backed up vortechs should be enough......you could perhaps move the vortechs up a little on the tank to get them closer to the surface.....another thing you could do is change your timer so that your lights come on earlier than normal, so that the water has a chance to heat up a bit from the lights before the power gets cut........now if the planned outage takes longer than planned, then you may need to be concerned with temperature drop.....

[Lampshade]

Rather than that stuff, Home depot rents portable generators. Not sure on the cost, but i've been impressed with tool rental costs in the past. Look into that as an option, might save frusteration of recovering from a heat spike, or messing around with oxygen levels.

It's also summertime, so if you have time, buya generator off craigslist after this long weekend, and sell it for more after you've used it :P.

[cwatkins]

Maybe I'll stop by King Ed's and see if they have any of the battery powered air pumps. I may just turn that on and then leave it.

The problem is I'm out of town that day, so I'd need to turn it on 24 hours in advance.

Alternative I could try an air pump on a UPS I have but I'm not sure if the square wave will toast the pump. I'll google it.