Power Outage

[Daynarita]

I live just outside of Philadelphia in Pennsylvania. Last week our power was out for three days some people haven't had their power restored yet. We had no heat, we did luckily have hot water. My fish looked awful and the tank was freezing. The tank temperature dropped. The only thing I could think to do was remove and replace the water with warm water I did this Four times during the power outage. It's dead of winter the warmest it's gotten so far today was 19*. I wrapped the tank in blankets the final night and when I came home it wasn't as cold.  Our electrical company has issued a statement about a Nor'Ester coming our way with a foot of snow and 40mph winds and ICE. My house always loses power... I only have a 20gallon tank but I can't physically move it. It's in the basement. which is my family room. 
 
What can I do to keep oxygen in the water and keep the water warm. I don't want to put my fish through much more stress. I've finally gotten them to stay healthy and happy and was considering a new tank and more fish. 

 

[tunagirll]

You can insulate the tank with foam material to help keep the warmth in. If you have access to warm water, you can look at making up 'hot packs' to float in your tank rather than constantly changing the water (although water changes are going to be needed while the filter is offline). A combination of these should help reduce the work.
 
For oxygenation, the easiest is to just cup water and then pour it back in from a height. If you are really struggling, you can (very carefully!) inject the appropriate amount of hydrogen peroxide into the water to oxygenate it. You do have to be careful with this though as it's easy to over oxygenate.
 
This might help:
http/www.aquariumworld.net/hurricane.htm
 
Cheers and keep warm

 

[csfishkeeper]

The warm packs are a really good idea. The chain stores like Petsmart sell battery powered air pumps that will help keep some movement and oxygen in the water.
 
http/www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=12264884

 

[Tongue_Flicker]

You can insulate the tank with foam material to help keep the warmth in. If you have access to warm water, you can look at making up 'hot packs' to float in your tank rather than constantly changing the water (although water changes are going to be needed while the filter is offline). A combination of these should help reduce the work.
 
For oxygenation, the easiest is to just cup water and then pour it back in from a height. If you are really struggling, you can (very carefully!) inject the appropriate amount of hydrogen peroxide into the water to oxygenate it. You do have to be careful with this though as it's easy to over oxygenate.
 
This might help:
http/www.aquariumworld.net/hurricane.htm
 
Cheers and keep warm

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