BLACKOUTS SUCK!!!!!

[BeelzeBob]

:mad2: so last night in boulder we had wind gusts reaching 120mph.

as i was sitting on my couch just before midnight and, ZAP! power goes out.

i spent all night last night waking up on the hour every hour, draining a gallon of tank water into a jug, filling the sink with hot water, lettin the gallon warm up for 20 mins, and draining it back in the tank.

i also covered the tank w/ towels and jackets. (you should have seen fatboybob runnin around)

power popped back on @ like 7am. needless to say i was late for work, and got little sleep.

every body made it out ok. the temp never dropped below 76, which is still not kosher.

this whole black out thing sucks. 2nd time its happened in 2 months. im going to buy a battery powered heater and air pump this weekend.

any of you super reefers gots like, special techniques and solutions for blackouts?

i mean, im a college student, and i plug more $$ into a 20GAL tank than i do for rent each month. id be real butt-hurt if all my critters died

 

[Ace25]

Definately seen my share of blackouts and had to do the "wrap the tank in towels" thing to keep it warm. Unfortunately my solution would not work for you. Between myself and my downstairs neighbor we sprung for a generator. Since buying the generator though all power outtages have lasted 10 minutes or less.. just enough time for us to freak out, get the generator setup, extension cords run unstairs and down, and just about to fire it up when power comes back on.

The other solution may be to put the heater on a computer UPS. Not sure the wattage of your heater though, but shounds like is it is small enough that a $100-$200 UPS (battery backup) would do the trick for a few hours.