Power outage. Tank temperature

Scooter21

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My power is out at my house. Typically we never lose power for more than a couple hours. I have a 36 gallon fowler tank. I can agitate the water easy enough, but what about temperature. All the information I can find is about pumps and that you'll be fine without the heater for a few days. It's currently 50 degrees out, with a low tonight of 39. My old house will lose temp pretty quickly. I can start a fire in the wood stove to keep the temperature from dropping too low but the room with the tank is pretty far away from the wood stove and not much heat will make it back that way.


As I said, I'm sure our power will be back in a couple hours, but I'm just wondering how low and for how long can the temperature drop before I start losing fish? I had the wife throw a blanket over the tank to help retain heat
 

davidcalgary29

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A blanket (or, better yet, a transparent tarp) will certainly help to keep the heat in, and especially if you can direct a light at the tarp (or put a spot heater underneath it).

I take it that you have no generator or back-up battery system?
 
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A blanket (or, better yet, a transparent tarp) will certainly help to keep the heat in, and especially if you can direct a light at the tarp (or put a spot heater underneath it).

I take it that you have no generator or back-up battery system?
I thought you guys said keep the tank out of direct light! The sky is grey, the house is shaded and theres bamboo growing in front of the window.


No generator. I always figured I wouldn't be able to get it to start whenever I needed it.
 
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Keep the fire going. That’s what I do.
Should be fine. Blanket good idea.
Some water movement.


I will when I get home but its an old drafty house with an old design. The heat has to get from one side of the living room to the other, through the doorway to the kitchen, through the doorway to the other living room (former garage), down a hallway, and in to my office




I just got an update from the power company. No estimate on time, but they figure out its due to..... high winds ...... No kidding
 

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I thought you guys said keep the tank out of direct light! The sky is grey, the house is shaded and theres bamboo growing in front of the window.


No generator. I always figured I wouldn't be able to get it to start whenever I needed it.
Concerns about the growth of nuisance algae in an aquarium are probably less of a priority during a power outage. :)

My generator (and power transfer switch!) has saved my tanks three times over the past year -- the power went out for over ten hours on one occasion. And I'd never had a power outage for more than ten minutes before that. You just never know...
 
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Concerns about the growth of nuisance algae in an aquarium are probably less of a priority during a power outage. :)

My generator (and power transfer switch!) has saved my tanks three times over the past year -- the power went out for over ten hours on one occasion. And I'd never had a power outage for more than ten minutes before that. You just never know...
I'm kinds thinking about buying one of those new fangled "battery generators." I think they are just like 3 car batteries. That'd probably get me through anything we face
 
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I'm thinking if I had to, I could boil some water in our RV and dump it in the tank. It'd probably both agitate the water well and out some heat back in.


I'm speaking pretty hypothetically here. I fully expect the power to be back on before I get home from work
 
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Still without power. When I found out I lost power, I ordered a battery air pump from petco and picked it up on the way home. Apparently it was the last one.

The blanket seemed to work well. Do far, as far as I can tell, the tank is at the same temp as it was this morning.

Someone needs to invent a propane powered heater/aerator
 
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Power was out for roughly 9.5 hours. The tank temp dropped a whopping 1 degree in that time. I think that was mainly due to covering with the blankets. I put a blanket, with the air tubing putting up one corner of the blanket. Then put pillows over the lid, with the air pump sitting on top of one of the pillows. Then I covered everything with another blanket. I felt like that would still allow the pump to get oxygen without having cold air get under the blankets.

It was a good thing I picked up the battery powered air pump. I was starting to get worried we'd be without power all night. I think eventually I would have taken the blankets off to aerate the water. Which then would make the temperature drop. It seems like having them covered with blankets and the air pump, the tank could go a long time without issue. Definitely a worthwhile investment of $10. Though, the batteries cost me $12 from a mini mart
 
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I just ordered a 150wh battery generator. It was only $120 I figure with blankets, a 50watt heater and the battery pump, it should be able to keep the tank going basically indefinitely. Especially because I could always take it to work to recharge it. Work will never lose power.
 

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I thought you guys said keep the tank out of direct light! The sky is grey, the house is shaded and theres bamboo growing in front of the window.


No generator. I always figured I wouldn't be able to get it to start whenever I needed it.
Dont worry about not being able to start a generator the new ones have puch button start, even better the ones that run approx 400 bucks you can find with automatic on in the event of loss of power, they have some that can run on gasoline or natural gas whichever you have handy. Can be found on amazon.
If I were you I'd definitely think about investing in one especially if power goes out that often. Don't take a chance with your temp dropping like that. If it's out just one hour too long, your expensive lil piece of the ocean will die off while you watch helplessly. Also get a back up battery bubbler if you don't have one already. They can be found on amazon.
 

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