Power off scheduled by power company

[coweyes298]

I got a notice from Southern California Edison that they will have power down due to maintenance. It is from 8AM to 12 PM scheduled. What should I do in this 4 hour outage? If I leave the tank without aeration would it still be ok?

 

[OREGONIC]

I have a small inverter, car battery and air pump I have used when power goes out. Went about 8 hours last winter had no issues.

 

[Ranjib]

I got a notice from Southern California Edison that they will have power down due to maintenance. It is from 8AM to 12 PM scheduled. What should I do in this 4 hour outage? If I leave the tank without aeration would it still be ok?

risky. At least add a battery powered air stone

 

[laverda]

I got a notice from Southern California Edison that they will have power down due to maintenance. It is from 8AM to 12 PM scheduled. What should I do in this 4 hour outage? If I leave the tank without aeration would it still be ok?

Battery powered air pumps are cheap($15.00) and effective. Get some flexible air line and a length of ridge air line. Connect and stick the rigid tube in the tank so it stays put and you should be all set. Get a spare set of batteries encase it is 6,8 or 10 hours.
A battery back up on a small flow pump agitating the surface of the water, is a better solution for when the power goes out and your not home. The more VA the longer your pump will run. I have a large one that will run my return pump all day.
There are also specific products sold to make it easy depending on what pumps you have. For instance Tunze has their safety switch that can be hooked to any 12v battery and automatically switch’s on a power outage. I also have one of these with the battery on a small solar charger to keep the battery charged up.

 

[coweyes298]

Well I think I will get the battery air pump first. The power outage is scheduled the coming Monday...My community mail box have been broken so mail only got delivered once a week and it is in Friday. So I just got the notice today, too rush for me prepare.

I have tunze powerhead but don't have their safety switch...And it is hard to pick one up near Los Angeles in store...Probably the small battery air pump would be my best bet.

 

[laverda]

You don’t need the Tunze switch if you plug the pump in to a battery back up. Battery back ups are available at office supply stores, computer and electronic stores. I have a spare Tunze safety switch for $54. if that is the way you want to go.

 

[Dan I]

Just forewarning, when we had a scheduled power outage for maintenance they went from 9 am to 11 pm. I rented a power generator from Home Depot for the whole day. Always plan for the worst when it comes to power outages.

 

[laverda]

Just forewarning, when we had a scheduled power outage for maintenance they went from 9 am to 11 pm. I rented a power generator from Home Depot for the whole day. Always plan for the worst when it comes to power outages.

I agree 100%

 

[SaltLifer]

4 hours is no big deal. During hurricane Irma I was without power for 7 days. I had a generator but twice during that week my tank sat without a single thing running for 12 hours and everything was fine.

 

[Luno]

I'd be concerned you don't have anything on hand now incase of a power outage.

I'd start with the batter air pump, look into battery back ups and then a generator. Use this now as a chance to prepare your tank for anything that may arise in the future

 

[five.five-six]

So here’s the thing. SCE doesn’t always know how long the outage will be. That’s a guess. Could be a 1 hr outage and could be a day and a half if something goes wrong. Genorator rental from Home Depot is about $32/day. Price of 1 noname frag at the LFS with tax.

 

[corey01]

I have a battery backup on my jebao pumps. think it cost me 90 dollars or so and it runs then from 18-24 hours I think. my power has gone out twice and it hasn't been for that long,
the last time was a 9 hour ish stint. due to a main breaker that had gotten water damage and slowly corroded the springs. so it tripped then couldn't be flipped back. battery performed perfectly. also have a little D battery powered air pump that was 10 dollars from my LFS I had hooked up. everything was fine. might seem like a waste of money. but when something happens you'll be glad you spent it.

 

[ReeferHunter]

Better safe than sorry, SoCal Edison can take a long time and losing everything is not worth it. I have the vortec battery back up and vortec pumps that works great for power outages. it will run my mp-10 for 30+ hours

 

[Adamc13o3]

If you don't want to get a generator because of the noise / gas, then like mentioned just go get a computer battery backup from an office supply store. You can buy 2 if needed. Get them sooner then later so you have time to charge them.

 

[Bow4it]

so how long can a tank really survive with a power outage...I just never gave this a real thought, but now I think I should

 

[Dom274]

so how long can a tank really survive with a power outage...I just never gave this a real thought, but now I think I should

I had a tank go a week without power. It wasn't due to a power outage, I actually "misplaced" one of my frag/qt tanks during a major tank move & upgrade. I didn't realize it until I found the tank the next week sitting in the basement still. 10 gal tank half full of water, no power for a week, and both the yellow tank and picasso clown were fine. I'll dig up the picture I had...

 

[Dom274]

Ignore the Picasso clown playing dead, he does that, he’s fine.

 

[Garbonzo]

Call me chicken little, but the money spent on a geni is well worth the peace of mind. I try to prepare for the worst rather than the best scenario.

 

[amazongb]

I’ve been through two of these scheduled SCE outages in the past year, and both time estimates were spot on. They are probably replacing a transformer somewhere near your house. I run battery backups on power heads, but I also have a Honda 2000 generator just in case, but didn’t need it.

 

[Jeepguy242]

During hurricanes in Florida before I had my generator I used a power inverter from Walmart to run my tank and my fridge.

Just plug it into your car and let the car idle and run an extension cord into the house


Don’t let the car idle in the garage with the door shut or you could wake up dead.