Keeping a reef tank warm with calcium chloride during a power outage?

[BigJohnny]

Thanks, so my power did go out last night and my temp only dropped 1 degree in the 6 hours it was out. Luckily without me doing anything, because I was too busy manual making waves and aerating the water since somehow my vortech battery back up's charging cable had gotten unplugged! Good ol murphys.

 

[ReefAddiction34]

I would think for smaller tanks you might be able to float some heating packs in a zip lock bag... I’ve only got a 14 g cube and can see this working. Getting my water change temp correct is super easy... hot water into a zip lock bag for about 10 minutes... then again it’s only 2g of water. Haha love my nano reef!

 

[BigJohnny]

I would think for smaller tanks you might be able to float some heating packs in a zip lock bag... I’ve only got a 14 g cube and can see this working. Getting my water change temp correct is super easy... hot water into a zip lock bag for about 10 minutes... then again it’s only 2g of water. Haha love my nano reef!

Yes you can use heating packs but they aren't as effecient/more expensive then the calcium chloride water bottles, supposedly. You could just bear hug the nano and it'd stay warm lol

 

[ReefAddiction34]

Yes you can use heating packs but they aren't as effecient/more expensive then the calcium chloride water bottles, supposedly. You could just bear hug the nano and it'd stay warm lol[
I’d cuddle that tank all night if need be to keep it warm... might even make the wife jealous with all that cuddling! I’d just be scared of using a solution that could potentially get into the tank, but do what you have to in an emergency. Thinking things through and being prepared is key!

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Randy, would calcium oxide be a better choice if the goal is to create heat in an emergency situation? It releases 64kj/mole upon hydration if I'm not mistaken. Plus, if my Googling is correct, calcium oxide weighs less than calcium chloride per mole. So a smaller amount of CaO would give a larger temperature increase as compared to CaCl2 (again, if my understanding is correct).

It has limited solubility. Max solubility at 25 deg C is 0.0204 M, while CaCl2 is well above 1 M.