Good Idea, or Not.

[joyski58]

I worry about winter time power failures, even though I have a generator that can handle things if necessary. However, not everyone has generator access. So .... I was thinking about how I could keep my aquarium water warm in that event. I thought about the hot packs that you can buy at WalMart which I use for snowskiing, or that can be used for hunting in the cold, or for in kids' mittens or boots. They even have ones that are as large as a hand. Why couldn't I paste them on the outside of the tank, or put them in a ziplock back and sink them with rock? They last up to 8 hours and put off an even heat for all that time. They are on sale at WalMarts now for $1.00 each. I stocked up ... just in case.


Just a thought.

 

[Altpers0na]

outside the tank : glass is an insulator, its not going to pass much heat to the tank.

inside the tank, as long as they are sealed up really really well, i dont know that it would hurt.

i know of two types of warmers.

one is a gel with a metal plate that you snap to activate. these can be reused.

the other is like copier toner. and is a single use item.

the gel packs should work fine., i dont know how effectively...

the powder type, i find i have to compress them to keep them hot. so i dont know how well that would translate into tank use..

 

[Altpers0na]

also, heat is generally a waste product.. and its generally the most common waste product from just about any process. heat is usually easy to get , cold is harder..

you could run heat ducts from your generator to your tank... regulating the temp could be a problem..

 

[Altpers0na]

drat, my pic didnt take..

 

[rnhrtfan]

why not a battery back-up like used on a computer??? A little pricey but is stable for a few hours anyway....

 

[carb850]

For the majority of the year in this area, I would think providing water flow and oxygen would be a more important issue.

To keep a tank warm, I bet putting on glass-tops (assuming you dont' have them all the time) would help. Also, i think I heard people talking about wrapping the tank in blankets or other forms of insulation.

 

[kyelr]

When we lost power we insulated our tank with blankets, wrapping it up tight... The hand warmer idea is an interesting concept, I wonder how effective it would be at heating a larger tank????

 

[Altpers0na]

a pc backup power supply is going to drain fast... really really fast..

a generator, i think is the only way to get over a couple of days with out power..

a battery powered aerator is a very good deal... run em off a car battery so it lasts a lot longer...

 

[firefish2020]

Your #1 concern will be water flow and for that there are a few options including battery backups and some newer power heads such as Vortechs and Tunze now offer backups and emergency run features. I have seen and been through several incidents of power outages, heat and cold were not issues the dying off of bacteria was the real killer. That said an SPS dominant tank is very temperature sensitive and drops and rises can lead to serious bleaching episodes.