Emergancy Heaters (Power Outage)

desertgoldhound

AC Members
Nov 17, 2006
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Lake Havasu City
I havn't had to use this yet mainly becouse it just hit me tonight. However if you need emergancy heating then you could place a heat pad in a fishy bag and full of air and place this in the tank. I would keep a close eye on the temp and make sure it doesn't get 2 hot. If the temp drops even more add another. This could give you days of good temp. I would suggest adding a battery powered air pump to keep the water moving and prevent hot spots.

If anyone triies this let us know how it goes.
 
Most heat packs would get hot enough to start melting the bag, then would die from lack of O2. Better would be simply to have a generator or small inverter....both could run small heaters and filters.
 
you can also help keep the heat in by covering with a blanket. or if you have hot water in your tank still, or gast still to your stove, you can use warm water in a container (water bottles, 1/2 gallon milk) and fill those, then float in the tank. again, keep an eye on the temp but those work in a pinch
 
...or (assuming you still have hot water available) you could do multiple small water-changes with warmish water...it will help make up for the filters not working, too.
 
I thought of buying a UPS- uninteruptable power supply . like for a computer , its a battery back up .
 
They would work never thought of those - this is what I was talking about , you could keep it in the stand .
power supply
 
What type of fish are you trying to keep warm? I had two Pink Kissers and a pleco & two pictus cats survive a 5 days in northern minnesota one winter during a power outage. The water temperature dropped very low and everything in the tank became very dormant. When the power came back on activity resumed as normal.
 
Toirtis said:
Yes...the small power boxes sold (now inexpensively) at larger hardware shops will run a filter and small heater for several hours.

examples:

http://www.canadiantire.ca/browse/p...4443291417&assortment=primary&fromSearch=true

http://www.canadiantire.ca/browse/p...7209827762&assortment=primary&fromSearch=true

Several HOURS is right. You will not get much time out of these. I doubt your tank temp would drop all that much in a few hours. You will have to spend several thousand to get a battery that will run over 24 hours. It would make more sense to purchase a gas generator. As long as you keep filling it with gas it will run.
 
i dont think filters use that much power. i have one of the jump starter battery things for my car that can power my laptop for well over 6 hours. i am sure it would be able to keep a filter and heaters going. i agree that a gas generator would be the best way to go.

garbon2535 many bad things can happen if the water gets to cold. their immune system doesnt work as well. i think its better just to keep the fish warm and safe then worry about what might happen if they get too cold.
 
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