Winter Time Power Loss

March 5, 2008 @ 12:19 pm · Filed under Philippines Internet Koi Society

I’ve been through 2 power outs here in Kansas. First time I lost all of my fish.
So: I bought a bunch of silver space/emergency blankets. I get mine in the camping section at WalMart. They cast about $3 each,.
When temps drop, I drape these over my bird cages and aquariums and large windows. Ususally blankets or towels go under the very thin silver blankets.
I also stock up on Hand Warmers. I get these for $1 at hardware stores and WalMart. This year I activated the little pads - which give off a lot of heat - and placed them against the glass of my tanks. I had to press something against the pads to keep them right on the glass…
Then, someone pointed out that these need air to continue giving off heat. So I will pick up some “fish boxes” This is what a lot of fish stores use when the catch fish for you. They are plastic boxes with a lip that hangs on the inside or outside of an aquarium. Next power out, I will have enough on hand to float a hot hand warmer in each aquarium. NO water will be allowed to get into the boxes….
I lost every Cichlid in my house - (I wonder if having the hand warmers held in place by something place against slowed down the heat given off) but most of my SE Asian fish survived. Even the Loaches that had no hand warmers
I draped the hand warmers over perches in the covered bird cages the first night. The 2nd night I moved most of the birds to my sweatshirt where we huddled under a massive blanket pile - except for the Indian Ring Neck who kept slipping out to perch on the back of our Lazy Boy blanket teepee
And I used chemical Light Sticks for illumination and listened to detective stories on CD.
When the power came on - after about 50 hours off, the sponge filters started running right away. I don’t think the beneficial bacteria died - perhaps they slumber when chilled.
Joanna, LMD Restocking my Silver Blankets, hand warmers, light sticks and buying fish boxes for next winter.

to the — In UniQuaria@yahoogroups.com, “Greg” wrote: > > I live in Cleveland, OH and last night we had a bad ice storm. > Thankfully, my neighborhood did not lose electric power, although some > nearby did. As this is my first winter with aquariums, it got me to > thinking about loss of electric power and its effect on my aquariums > (or is it aquaria?) If, heaven forbid, I should have a power loss > during the winter where the temperature in my house could fall very > low, very quickly, what can one do to protect their fish? I had the > idea of draping blankets over the aquariums to try to reduce heat > loss. Is that pointless? I don’t have an auxiliary generator, so I’m > at the mercy of First Energy. If there is an extended power loss > during the winter, are my fish “toast” (or popsicles) so to speak? > > Greg >