Retain the Existing Heat in the Aquarium
The first thing to do when the power goes out is to quickly take steps to retain the heat that is already in the aquarium. Heat rises, and newspaper has amazing insulation properties. By wrapping the outside of the tank with thick layers of newspaper, covering the top and blocking off any hood vents, you can prevent heat from rising and escaping from the aquarium. In all likelihood you won't be running the aquarium lights, but if you have a power source to do so, DO NOT cover the light hood, as this is a potential fire hazard. If yo don't have newspaper, towels or a blanket can be used.
How To Manually Generate Heat in An Aquarium
Once steps have been taken to retain the existing heat in the aquarium, here's how you can begin generating it to keep the aquarium warmed up.
- Boil water with anything you have available, such as a portable propane camping or hiking stove, a wood, charcoal or propane powered BBQ.
- Pour the boiled water into any type of sturdy plastic container that can be tightly sealed, but more importantly will not melt due to the high temperature of the water. We tested this method using clean one gallon bleach jugs, and these worked very well.
- Place the hot water filled container in the aquarium and let it float. When the container starts to cool off, refill or replace it with a newly filled one.
Hot Water Container Method Usage Tips
- You can float multiple containers. Depending on the size of your aquarium, how cold the temperature is getting or how fast it is dropping, you'll have to decide how many you want to use.
- Some water may need to be removed from the aquarium before putting the container(s) in the tank, because the water level will rise to some degree.
- Before putting the container in the aquarium, even though the chlorine in tap water should be gone after boiling, you may want to add a touch of dechlorinate as a safeguard against container water leakage.
- Remember, heat rises, therefore much of the warm water generated from the container will be at the surface. A good way to circulate the water throughout the aquarium is to pour aquarium water over the container, which is also the way to generate oxygen manually when the power goes out.
If you are having a problem with keeping rising tank temperatures down, something that typically occurs when the power goes out during hot weather conditions, here's what you can do.
