Idea For Surviving Winter Power Outages

[fishguy_1955]

I was talking to a friend up north yesterday who was going to spend the night with family because her power was out and the house cold and dark. This brought a chill to my bones as I thought about what would happen to my tanks in this event - I do not have a generator.

Then the idea hit me. If heat packs and styrofoam can allow shipment in winter cold, how about some emergency styro panels to tape around a few 'survival' tanks - and then floating several activated heat packs in these insulated tanks to provide warmth until power returns?? It wouldn't work forever, but might help getting over a short to moderate outage.

Just an idea. Any enhancements or other ideas about surviving outages welcome. I know a generator is the best solution, but there just isn't room in the budget this winter!

Paul P.

[FISH WORLD ERIE]

You can also pray it does not last long.

PS. heat packs do not float

[Neonshrimp]

Great idea for heating a tank, it isn't that cold here on the west coast as it is in the other regions. It is also good to have a couple of battery powered devices such as air pumps to power the sponge filters.

[YuccaPatrol]

Even cheaper and probably more effective would be to fill 2 liter bottles with water directly from your hot water heater and toss them into the tanks. If you turn the inlet valve to the heater off to keep cold water from entering the tank, it will keep the water inside hot (or at least very warm) for several days.

If you have a gas water heater, you'll have all the hot water you need to keep your tanks warm when the electricity goes out.

A small camp stove could also be used to heat water to fill those 2 liter bottles.

Insulation is a great idea. Don't forget to cut a sheet for the bottom of the tank too.

And as mentioned before, battery powered air pumps are great. I used a couple of them to keep all of my tank inhabitants alive for 9 days after Hurricane Katrina knocked out our power.

[ToddnBecka]

If you have a large number of tanks, a UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply) usually sold for computers would work well for some time, though a portable generator would be necessary for longer-term use. Most power outages don't last more than several hours, unless it's a widespread problem like a hurricane.

[Mustafa]

how about some emergency styro panels to tape around a few 'survival' tanks - and then floating several activated heat packs in these insulated tanks to provide warmth until power returns?? It wouldn't work forever, but might help getting over a short to moderate outage.

It would not work at all. Heat packs generally work by turning iron shavings into iron oxide, thereby producing heat. Basically it's rapid rusting. They need to be exposed to air for that to happen. A water-drenched heat pack won't work. Plus, you'd probably be killing all your shrimp by throwing a bag of rusty iron shavings into your tank.

[fishguy_1955]

Thanks Mustafa for that heads up. As I said, it was an idea that I threw out here for feedback. It would seem that the better idea for those of us without a generator might be to use hot water and to definitely NOT kill our shrimp with rusty iron!

[badflash]

A kerosine heater in the room might be an option, but those can be dangerous. I had a co-worker lose his entire family while he was at work using a faulty one. It killed them with cabon monoxide.

I opted for a 4KW generator and a switch over panel to support it. During the 2003 august NE blackout my family was nice & comfy.

[FISH WORLD ERIE]

My fish room has a gas heater. So no problem there. Air is not a problem for a couple hours. But if it looks like it might be longer I pull my generator out of the garage. These are cheaper to find during the summer.

As others have suggested battery powered air pumps work great for long periods.

[Neonshrimp]

Thanks for the tip FISH WORLD ERIE. It is starting to look like there is a trend towards using a generator and battery powered air pumps !

[crazie.eddie]

Depending on the size of the tank, how about those battery backup units for office equipment?

If it's a large tank, then you could probably perform water changes with warm water frequently.

If it's a small room, a gas heater or portable heater, as suggested.

[badflash]

Depending on the size of the tank, how about those battery backup units for office equipment?

That would only work for an hour or so. The batteries just are not that big.

[wendyjo]

I think it might work if you attach the heat packs to the outside of the tank. You could try taping them on or just secure them by wrapping a scarf or something like that around the tank (depending on the size of the tank). My tanks are small and that's what I plan to do if the heat goes out. My bigger problem will be keeping the bacteria in my filter alive.