delyall Posted August 17, 2010 Report Share Posted August 17, 2010 Hiya, I live in an area where the power goes out a fair bit.. downside to living in the bush.. My concern is, that the power can go out for over a day sometimes, and the water can drop to below 16 degrees in winter So far my bettas have survived any power outages.. but a lil' BN and Yoyo loach wernt so lucky How can I keep the water from dropping so low? Is there anything I can do? I have a 150l, 200l, 115l and a few small tanks.. Thanks for any ideas you can give :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bettarazzi Posted August 17, 2010 Report Share Posted August 17, 2010 If you're at home at the time of the outage you could try insulating the tanks. Covering them with blankets springs immediately to mind but you could probably be more creative than that. If the room they are in is very cold the temperature will still drop but maybe the insulation can slow it down a bit. Given that this is a regular occurrence and you may not always be around when an outage occurs I would be looking at permanently insulating the bottom, back and sides of the tank with styrofoam or something similar. Heat will still escape from the front and top but as before, perhaps it will slow things down until you can get home and throw a blanket over the tank. Do you have gas? Can you turn on a gas heater? During an outage can you boil a kettle and perform a water change with warmer water? If this happens all the time you might also consider investing in a portable gas heater. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
delyall Posted August 17, 2010 Author Report Share Posted August 17, 2010 Ill definitely see if I can find something to permanently insulate the tanks, any lil' difference should help Im not sure about having a gas heater, Im a bit nervous about having a few gas heaters set up I was thinking about adding warmer water from the kettle, but I wasnt sure if thatd be a shock or what exactly to do.. do I add water conditioner to the boiled water? Would it be safe to put into the tanks without it having sat for awhile? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zhong89 Posted August 17, 2010 Report Share Posted August 17, 2010 why don't you use a hot water bottle like way? You can put the boiled water into a bottle and put the whole bottle into the tank. It will slowly (depends on your tank's temperature) release heat and you don't have to treat the water. But the downside is you have to do that every few hours. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bettarazzi Posted August 17, 2010 Report Share Posted August 17, 2010 I was thinking about adding warmer water from the kettle, but I wasnt sure if thatd be a shock or what exactly to do.. do I add water conditioner to the boiled water? Would it be safe to put into the tanks without it having sat for awhile? You would mix the hot water with some cold water and get it to a few degrees higher than the tank and then add dechlorinator. The boiling should remove chlorine, not sure abour chloramine. It's really the cold water that you're dechlorinating. I don't recommend pouring boiling water straight from the kettle into the tank. You're likely to cook something. With bettas I don't bother ageing the water. But I can't comment on how this would affect other species. Although if you're only keeping common community fish I would think it would be fine. You don't want to raise the temperature too much because that will probably shock the fish. It really depends on how much it's dropped and when you're likely to get power back. I would think that your large tanks would lose heat quite slowly if you manage to get them covered with blankets reasonably soon after the outage. How about testing how quickly heat is lost while you HAVE power? So turn the heaters off, chuck a blanket or two over the tank, and test the temperature every hour. Obviously you wouldn't allow the tank to go absolutely stone cold. You're just trying to get an approximate idea on how quickly it loses heat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuckie Posted August 17, 2010 Report Share Posted August 17, 2010 Maybe invest in a generator? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarah Posted August 18, 2010 Report Share Posted August 18, 2010 hmm.. good idea Lilli :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hobbygodz Posted August 18, 2010 Report Share Posted August 18, 2010 Hi Delyall, If you are concerned re adding un-aged tap water,(as I would be), just boil some tankwater instead. Don't make tea with it though......(lol). During summer I keep ice-cubes made from aged water in the freezer to bring tank temps down if required. -Brad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
delyall Posted August 19, 2010 Author Report Share Posted August 19, 2010 @lilli great idea, but a bit expensive I was thinking something like the 'hot water bottle' type thing too @brad Ahh! Clever I didnt think of boiling tank water And the ice cubes are a great idea too Thank you :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuckie Posted August 19, 2010 Report Share Posted August 19, 2010 Is it expensive? My daughter bought a little one to use while she's working. I assumed it must have been pretty affordable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
delyall Posted August 20, 2010 Author Report Share Posted August 20, 2010 Ahh, to tell you the truth, Ive never looked into the price of them, I always assumed they were too expensive to even think about getting.. after looking on ebay they doo seem quite affordable :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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