My

I would leave the temp low.  I wouldn't worry until it drops below 68F.  There is more available O2 at lower temps, it slows down the animals biological processes, and reduces the breakdown of waste keeping your water less toxic until you can get you pumps up and going again.

My $0.02

Connie wrote: Anyway, can you address the oxygen thing.. How long is to long??

Good question.  This depends on a number of variables.

How many animals are consuming o2, how much waste is being processed (i.e. the nitrogen cycle), how much o2 is being contributed by organisms (i.e. algae), etc.

It is hard to say.  I have seen tanks last a couple of days without power with zero losses.  I have also seen fish start to die off within a matter of hours. 

A couple of tips:

-Watch the fish closely.  If they seem fine they probably are.  Breathing rate is a good indicator of stress or lack of O2.

-Don't feed your tank until the power is back on and has been for a couple of hours.

-Keeping a battery powered air pump around is a good idea.  You can also use a computer battery backup (UPS) as an alternative.  They can run a little air pump for quite a while.

-As an alternative to a generator you can buy a simple inverter and turn your car into a power generator.  A 1000W inverter can run most of your essential equipment to keep your tank up and going (Mark Peterson has mentioned this before).

-If you don't have a battery powered air pump, battery backup, generator, etc. and you feel you need to supply more 02 to your tank you can get a large glass scoop up some water and pour it back into the tank.  The more it disturbs the surface of the water the better.   Repeat as often as needed.

peregrinus wrote: thanxs mike the power came back on about 10:00am so i think everything will be good i hope. i was kinda worried about the temp. how fast or slow should it be rasied back up? Brian

Well the slower the better.

I wouldn't worry about it too much.

Your lights and heater (if you have one), should bring the temp up slow enough.

Another thing to remeber ist he other half of the oxygen cycle, I skimmed through the other posts, so I may duplicating what some one else has alrady said. 

Plants procdue o2 when they have light and consume o2 when they don't.  I would keep a very close eye on the fish, I lost a flame angle due to a power outage of 3 hours. 

A good way to oxegenate is to remove water and pour it back it back in, (ripples at the top of the tank create more surface area and gasses can escape a little easier. )