tanks with no heaters...

[Magnum Man]

so those of you, running cooler tanks. maybe even with no heaters, do you all live in warm climates???

I have a few cool water tanks, and I always run a heater, if nothing else , to monitor the water temperature ( newer digital heaters ), even though the tanks are normally at room temperature ( about 70 degrees F. for us ) however, we have been struggling, with this below zero artic blast, and our furnace has a worn out part, and we're trying to get by, with alternative heat sources in a drafty old 100 year old house, and barely able to maintain the house above 60 degrees... in this situation, the heaters of those cool tanks, is set at 70 degrees, which is close to our normal room temperature, so the fish are not getting exposed to colder temps... obviously depending on the type of fish, colder temps may not bother them, but my tanks contain fish, that are most comfortable at 70 or slightly above... so that's one less thing for me to stress about, before the furnace parts come in...

even if you live further south, this storm is sending that artic air much further south than normal... stay warm...

 

[GaryE]

I think most heaters are made to handle a 6 degree fahrenheit difference from the room. I saw that somewhere, but can't quote it.

If I were to lose all heat sources in my fishroom, the drop in temperatures after 24 hours would blow through anything a working heater could do. My heating is heat pumps and baseboard heaters in the house, and a dehumidifier that throws heat and rarely on baseboards in the fish palace. It's an academic problem since I am totally electricity dependent. The room is well insulated, and generally sits under 24c. I notice today, with the hard cold, that it's lost a degree, but the tanks haven't started coming down yet.
The lower rack is at 20.6, as usual.

Tomorrow, we get a nor'easter. It's going to be atypical - minus 16 but with 15 to 25cm of snow. Cold snowfalls are trouble. This one is going to be blowing around like crazy, and the drifting will be extreme. White out time. I think the kids'll have a snow day Monday.

Anyway, if you can attach styro or cover the tanks, it helps. In January 1998, we lost power for 8 days and I was able to keep the fish alive in an uninsulated old cellar for 48 to 72 hours. I got the survivors to a friend's company with an industrial generator, and saved about a dozen out of 4 or 5 hundred fish. But my initial 24 hour drop was 8 degrees, and it slowed after that.

Good luck to all. These cold snaps don't last for ever, unless you're in a place that's really frozen over...

 

[Rusty_Shackleford]

I'm scared. I've only.lived in WV for 5 years and I haven't seen a storm like this so far.
I've been hearing the horror stories of past power outages that last days.
What worries me is I looked at the future radar. We start woth snow and the around 3 am Sunday it switches to freezing rain . The future radar only goes out 24 hours but it shows freezing rain until at least 11 am on Sunday. So that's a minimum of 8 hours of freezing rain.
If the power goes out this place has horrendous insulation. I'll lose the fish, the tarantulas, and their feeder colonies.
I had been keeping fish at 70, I may bump up the heater to 74 just to give myself a few more hours before the water cools down.

 

[fishorama]

My sympathies to all of you facing extreme weather. We'd done that on the US east coast a couple times of several days long power outages. In MA we had a fireplace that helped keep us & the fish cool but ok. Small downstairs house footprint was good.

I tried to keep oxygen level higher by scooping up tank water & splashing it back into the tanks. I don't know how much it helped but I tried my darndest. I did buy a battery powered air pump afterward, but it was only enough for 1 tank, maybe another couple if they'd been close enough together.

Gas grill for people food & as a possible tank water heat source. Outside for people perishable freezer/fridge foods.

Makes 1 think of getting a generator. But no electricity, no local gasoline pumps work either. Storing a lot of gas might be dangerous. Propane tanks? Natural gas? Even my solar panels without battery storage won't help.

Good luck to all of you

 

[gimme30]

Between the weather and the unrest I sure wouldn't want to be in MN right now. I hope your heater parts arrive sooner than expected.