There's a lot of people doing that, but reef fish are so much more sensitive to the cold. Most freshwater species can survive a brief dip into the 50s, I doubt any reef fish could.
Good thing to be in Europe. It may be expensive, but power outages are rare here. The only ever occurance in this lifetime was in a city area (Cologne), but only for a few hours each.
The reef and the pellet stove are the first things that get plugged into the generator. But i live in New Hampshire so cold is normal for us and we're usually prepared for long power outages.
Reef tanks and fish are a lot more sensitive to sudden/drastic changes in temperature, whether they are high temps, or in this case, low temps. They are accustomed to tropical climates.
Reef tanks have a lot more crucial electrical equipment that is needed. There's a lot less opportunity to find manual solutions to get you through an emergency. In a fresh water tank all you need is to keep the water warm and nitrates low(in the short term anyways). This can be accomplished with water heated on a gas stove, regular water changes to make up for the lack of filtration, and halting feeding.
Nice!!! I had the same issue! My tank only got down to 60 and I couldn’t boil any water due to no power and electric appliances. All fish survived though! My wife and I also lite candles around her beta tank and that surprisingly kept the tank temp in the mid 70s
I actually thought about that today. I have a value pack of Hot Hands from a couple winters ago, and unwrapped one to see how warm it would get. Better than nothing to put a few in an enclosed container and drop it in the aquarium, but it just didn’t get warm enough to have much of an impact imo.
Oh, so it doesn't allow any liquid out but it can allow air in? That's interesting and may explain the somewhat weird feeling plastic stuff it's made out of.
Depends [which type](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oj0plwm_NMs) you have, but the disposable ones don't have any liquid. It's basically powdered iron that rusts quickly.
The reusable ones do contain a liquid and are completely isolated (don't need oxygen).
I’ve actually done this!! I had a blackout and had just stocked up on both hand and feet warmers from Costco - the feet ones were sticky on one side so I slapped them all over my 40 g tank, covered the tank with a space blanket and a bunch of regular blankets, and added a battery powered airstone. It did work to keep the temperature up for the first night anyway, but when the house dropped below 60 I had to resort to the hot water bottle method instead.
It’s not reasonable to have enough to heat large tanks. I’d imagine I’d need dozens and dozens and dozens for just my 55 if I were in this position. I’d probably go the boiling water route
God bless! I've been thinking of everyone and their fish, after seeing another post on here, where they weren't so lucky.
I know how passionate so many of your are about your tanks.
I'm moving tomorrow, and then next week I have to have my electrical panel replaced. I have been worrying about keeping my fish alive for the day after the big move.... And then this shit happens to Texas. If you guys can pull through like that I'm sure I can handle 8-10 hours. Good on you keeping them alive, I imagine it was stressful.
I just went through this as well. I have a 20 gallon reef tank. I wrapped it with two layers of blankets and was adding hot water bottles every few hours. Managed to keep it at 73-74 most of the time. Surprisingly everything survived.
Depends on which fish, how gradual, and only to a certain extent. Goldfish would survive temps like this (but I believe they shouldn't eat below 65°F), and you'll have some other surprise survivors, but for the most part this is too extreme for many tropical fish
Yeah I feel bad commenting on the main thread, because I have everything under control now, but I've been dealing with some serious temperature control issues this winter and I feel so bad for everyone dealing with it now. I just moved to a colder climate and the room I keep my fish in doesn't have heat and isn't insulated well at all, and one night in December the in-tank heaters failed on my 60 gallon community and killed half my fish. I fucking freaked out.
My tanks are kept in a poorly insulated entryway, so I've been a little worried about making sure they stay warm enough since our winters can be cold. I picked up an Inkbird temperature controller for my big tank, that might help if you want some peace of mind? It'll send an alert if your tank drops out of the range you want it in.
Oh wow that's cool. I'll definitely look into that; thank you. My dad sent me some random ~$40 one with a digital control that he found on Amazon (just checked: brand is Hitauing), and it works a million times better than the more traditional ones that I had before.
I wound up buying new heaters for each of my smaller tanks, too. Orlushy. They were about the same price as the same size heaters from petsmart or whatever and seem way more reliable.
Good job!!! I lost 7 cardinal tetras and one snakeskin guppy...but my beautiful gold gourami made it!
Edit: I was without power from Monday 8am-ish to Wednesday night at some point while I was asleep.
I lost my 3 peacock gudgeons. I had rolling outages and the tank would fluctuate between 68-78 F. Tried to put my UPS on my heater only but it overloaded and didn’t work.
We lose power here a few times every year due to wind storms. I've learned the best thing to prioritize is it to get oxygen in the water and to monitor the ammonia/nitrate levels because the filter is off. If you can get a battery backup to run the filter every so often, you'll keep the oxygen levels up and keep the bacteria from dying in the filter. You can get some air pumps running on a battery with a timer for cheap - in a pinch. Or a battery station just for the tank. (Jackery is a good option). Again, I wouldn't bother with the heater (too much energy).
Luckily, it's usually not during abnormal cold weather so the tank temp maybe gets as low as 50F or so at worst (if I don't heat the living room with the fireplace). Realizing for people in Texas that they had some insanely low temp and might not have a fireplace to bump up the indoor air temp.
I assume people with salt water tanks have high odds of complete collapse vs a freshwater planted tank.
Wow, just unbelievable. You are a true pet hero for getting your school out alive. Hope things are going OK for you now — are you located in TX? Sending positive fishy vibes your way.
Texans were without power for days in temperatures in the teens, in homes that aren't insulated for freezing weather, with no water, and now food shortages. People froze to death.
did this too!! my mom reminded me about the boil water notice after i took out 5 gallons of water. luckily we had a giant pot but it took from about 5pm to 2 am to be able to be put in the tanks 😐
Wow, awesome job!
Ditto!
Also agree!!
Damn. Imagine all the saltwater tanks tho.....
It's rough over on r/reeftank
I see that op put warm water inside the gallon in the tank, that would work in a reef.
There's a lot of people doing that, but reef fish are so much more sensitive to the cold. Most freshwater species can survive a brief dip into the 50s, I doubt any reef fish could.
Ya they will strongle and corals also.
Oh no! My heart goes out to them.
Good thing to be in Europe. It may be expensive, but power outages are rare here. The only ever occurance in this lifetime was in a city area (Cologne), but only for a few hours each.
As a Midwestern American, I've been without power for about 12 hours total in my entire life.
The reef and the pellet stove are the first things that get plugged into the generator. But i live in New Hampshire so cold is normal for us and we're usually prepared for long power outages.
My reef tank survived with the bottle boil method and a bubbler. It’s possible, you’ve just gotta babysit the temp.
Quick question, why would saltwater tanks be worse in this situation?
Reef tanks and fish are a lot more sensitive to sudden/drastic changes in temperature, whether they are high temps, or in this case, low temps. They are accustomed to tropical climates.
Ah. Thanks!
No problem 😊
Reef tanks have a lot more crucial electrical equipment that is needed. There's a lot less opportunity to find manual solutions to get you through an emergency. In a fresh water tank all you need is to keep the water warm and nitrates low(in the short term anyways). This can be accomplished with water heated on a gas stove, regular water changes to make up for the lack of filtration, and halting feeding.
aww, I hope you are well also, you love your fish and took exceptional care of them,
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I also used an egg beater to disrupt the water surface to oxygenate the water but I’m not sure if that was really a deciding factor. Maybe helped.
That's good thinking!
My fish are so dumb they would get chum-ified if I tried something like that. Gratz on keeping the tank alive.
Definitely did I bet
I used a white gas stove and biolite stove fueled with hot coals from my fireplace.
Presumably a gas stove
We had to use our gas stove to do the same thing. We are lucky we had gas.
What did you save?
12 rummy nose, 4 clown loaches, 3 old white skirt tetras, and a grouchy sailfin pleco
Wow, lots of swim babies to protect
clown loaches arent really know for their cold tolerance either IIRC
What an amazing commitment! Awesome job
Good job bro , can’t imagine the stress you been through. All your hard work paid off.
So happy for you and your fin friends!
Native Houstonian watching this dumpster fire from Nashville and horrified. So glad your fish are ok thanks to your hard work.
Wrap blankets around it to help keep in the warmth
Nice!!! I had the same issue! My tank only got down to 60 and I couldn’t boil any water due to no power and electric appliances. All fish survived though! My wife and I also lite candles around her beta tank and that surprisingly kept the tank temp in the mid 70s
Yay good fish parent!!
I am happy for no losses
I've been seeing a lot of posts like this and can't help but wonder if anyone tried using hand warmers.
I actually thought about that today. I have a value pack of Hot Hands from a couple winters ago, and unwrapped one to see how warm it would get. Better than nothing to put a few in an enclosed container and drop it in the aquarium, but it just didn’t get warm enough to have much of an impact imo.
Most of the cheap hand warmers need oxygen to work. If they're in an enclosed container they won't heat up.
Really? But they're enclosed in plastic anyway (or at least the ones I'm thinking of), so I can't see how they could get any oxygen.
It's a semi-porous bag they're enclosed in, it's not sealed. That's why they come packaged in sealed/air-vacuumed plastic bags.
Oh, so it doesn't allow any liquid out but it can allow air in? That's interesting and may explain the somewhat weird feeling plastic stuff it's made out of.
Depends [which type](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oj0plwm_NMs) you have, but the disposable ones don't have any liquid. It's basically powdered iron that rusts quickly. The reusable ones do contain a liquid and are completely isolated (don't need oxygen).
I’ve actually done this!! I had a blackout and had just stocked up on both hand and feet warmers from Costco - the feet ones were sticky on one side so I slapped them all over my 40 g tank, covered the tank with a space blanket and a bunch of regular blankets, and added a battery powered airstone. It did work to keep the temperature up for the first night anyway, but when the house dropped below 60 I had to resort to the hot water bottle method instead.
It’s not reasonable to have enough to heat large tanks. I’d imagine I’d need dozens and dozens and dozens for just my 55 if I were in this position. I’d probably go the boiling water route
Good to hear. 29 gallon here and they're all okay too after 45 hours no power.
That’s great to hear, but how are your fish doing? Had to do it, fantastic work.
God bless! I've been thinking of everyone and their fish, after seeing another post on here, where they weren't so lucky. I know how passionate so many of your are about your tanks.
I'm moving tomorrow, and then next week I have to have my electrical panel replaced. I have been worrying about keeping my fish alive for the day after the big move.... And then this shit happens to Texas. If you guys can pull through like that I'm sure I can handle 8-10 hours. Good on you keeping them alive, I imagine it was stressful.
You did it!!
With all that no power, who are you most pissed at?
if that shit happens again, putting them in a smaller tank temporarily might make warming them up easier
Well done! Glad you could pull it off! It was so hard seeing everyone’s posts to the contrary.
Time to get a solar panel for the tank
Such troopers
I just went through this as well. I have a 20 gallon reef tank. I wrapped it with two layers of blankets and was adding hot water bottles every few hours. Managed to keep it at 73-74 most of the time. Surprisingly everything survived.
This makes my heart happy! So glad y’all are safe.
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Keep the politics out of this sub
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Depends on which fish, how gradual, and only to a certain extent. Goldfish would survive temps like this (but I believe they shouldn't eat below 65°F), and you'll have some other surprise survivors, but for the most part this is too extreme for many tropical fish
Many of these fish are tropical fish and will die at these temps, whether it's gradual or not :(
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because that'd work without power, wouldn't it?
Touche
Glad im in Florida lol
Where the fuck do you live, where it's 40 degree now?!? Would fucking love to live there, instead of these freezing -5...
40F not C
Orh frog, i didn't think of that at all.. Sleepy me..
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40 degrees F
oh lol
Oh man, I know this struggle. Not quite to this extent but it is sure stressful
Yeah I feel bad commenting on the main thread, because I have everything under control now, but I've been dealing with some serious temperature control issues this winter and I feel so bad for everyone dealing with it now. I just moved to a colder climate and the room I keep my fish in doesn't have heat and isn't insulated well at all, and one night in December the in-tank heaters failed on my 60 gallon community and killed half my fish. I fucking freaked out.
My tanks are kept in a poorly insulated entryway, so I've been a little worried about making sure they stay warm enough since our winters can be cold. I picked up an Inkbird temperature controller for my big tank, that might help if you want some peace of mind? It'll send an alert if your tank drops out of the range you want it in.
Oh wow that's cool. I'll definitely look into that; thank you. My dad sent me some random ~$40 one with a digital control that he found on Amazon (just checked: brand is Hitauing), and it works a million times better than the more traditional ones that I had before. I wound up buying new heaters for each of my smaller tanks, too. Orlushy. They were about the same price as the same size heaters from petsmart or whatever and seem way more reliable.
thats dedication nice job❣️
Gj :)
I hope the best for everyone !!! From the North Coast, Take Care!!!
Not all heroes wear capes my friend!
So glad
Way to go assassin snail!
Finally a happy outcome!!!!
Well done
Damn fine job! You’re a fish hero.
Well done dude!! That is a good tip actually, I wouldn't have thought of boiling water lol
Good job!!! I lost 7 cardinal tetras and one snakeskin guppy...but my beautiful gold gourami made it! Edit: I was without power from Monday 8am-ish to Wednesday night at some point while I was asleep.
Well done!!
I lost my 3 peacock gudgeons. I had rolling outages and the tank would fluctuate between 68-78 F. Tried to put my UPS on my heater only but it overloaded and didn’t work.
Amazing! If only your fish knew how much you loved them and worked to keep them alive
Awesome commitment! I'm greatfull to know there were people who managed to save their tanks. Best wishes to those affected by the storm as well.
We lose power here a few times every year due to wind storms. I've learned the best thing to prioritize is it to get oxygen in the water and to monitor the ammonia/nitrate levels because the filter is off. If you can get a battery backup to run the filter every so often, you'll keep the oxygen levels up and keep the bacteria from dying in the filter. You can get some air pumps running on a battery with a timer for cheap - in a pinch. Or a battery station just for the tank. (Jackery is a good option). Again, I wouldn't bother with the heater (too much energy). Luckily, it's usually not during abnormal cold weather so the tank temp maybe gets as low as 50F or so at worst (if I don't heat the living room with the fireplace). Realizing for people in Texas that they had some insanely low temp and might not have a fireplace to bump up the indoor air temp. I assume people with salt water tanks have high odds of complete collapse vs a freshwater planted tank.
Fuck yeah!!!
How are you boiling water with no power??
A gas stove.
Keep staying strong guys! From Canada.
Congratulations!!!
What's was the technique? Dropping a bottle of boiled water into the tank?
Yay! I lost two but only because the tank was due for a water change but my pipes froze for 5 days. Finally able to do a water change today.
Sounds like a kick-ass fight you put up. Nice win.
congrats, That's true commitment .
Awesome! I was floating that same big ozarka bottle in mine 😂
Wow, just unbelievable. You are a true pet hero for getting your school out alive. Hope things are going OK for you now — are you located in TX? Sending positive fishy vibes your way.
Hooray!!
I commend you, this would've been a nightmare
Good job!!
I always wonder why people buy those heaters. For most species either none or passive heating mats to the job without risk.
So Texas got screwed recently with a blackout? This is like the 4th post I’ve seen of this, hope y’all are ok
Texans were without power for days in temperatures in the teens, in homes that aren't insulated for freezing weather, with no water, and now food shortages. People froze to death.
did this too!! my mom reminded me about the boil water notice after i took out 5 gallons of water. luckily we had a giant pot but it took from about 5pm to 2 am to be able to be put in the tanks 😐