What will my tanks temp be if it is 58 outside?

[Anonymous]

And the power is off? No heat. No a/c.

If Wilma hits, and it certainly looks like she is coming my way, a cold front follows. Lows in the 50's.

I thoroughly expect power to be off for a while.

Living in Florida, I don't even have a heater in my tank. In the rare event that we actually get cold weather, I just heat the whole house up.

Do you think my tanks temperature will drop so much that I should be concerned?

Louey

 

[Anonymous]

in a nutshell.. yes

if it's say 65 degrees inside, and there's no heat, your tank can potentially drop to 65 degrees, now how long that takes depends upon certain factors, but it'll happen quicker than you think (ie I wouldn't be surprised if a day or two later your tank is frozen).

 

[Anonymous]

My best guess is that warmth will stay in your house for some time. As long as the roof hasn't been ripped off, the temp should drop fairly slowly if you keep the house buttoned up.

Good luck Louey, and stay safe, my friend.

 

[Anonymous]

Of course sfsuphysics is a physics guru, so I'd give more weight to his response!

 

[Anonymous]

hahah, well I'm just saying the water will approach the ambient temperature of the room quicker than one would think, I mean 300 gallons while big isn't THAT big. Now how warm the ambient stays, well that's a question for insulation techs

Maybe if you have to evacuate take some frags with you & a small 10g tank to a hotel room or something if you leave for a "just incase" situation?

 

[Anonymous]

Is it supposed to be sunny? If you keep shades open on southfacing windows it should get pretty warm in your house...

 

[Anonymous]

Maybe I should just go ahead and go to HD and get a roll of insulation to wrap the tank with.

That would keep the temperature more stable.

Louey

 

[Anonymous]

Dan Conner wrote:

Is it supposed to be sunny? If you keep shades open on southfacing windows it should get pretty warm in your house...

The fish room is on the south side of the house. I will open the curtains as soon as the ***** blows though.

Louey

 

[bradl.]

What about a cheap kerosene heater? I would think heating just that room would be possible.

 

[reefGod]

If you can, get one of these beasts :

http://www.apcc.com/resource/include/te ... u=SUA3000I


If you use it only for aquarium water heating during a power outage, it will probably last for days...i have half my home plugged into one of these (including 4 aquariums), and it provides all the power i have needed up till now during power outages, of course if you suspect a long power outage, i suggest you turn everything power hungry like lights and stuff off and leave only the BARE essentials on just in case...

 

[DK]

Hey, It will only go to the 50's for one night, right? If you are really concerned, cover the tank for a night with a blanket.
Back in 1996, we had a winter storm that killed the power for a couple of days. The outside temp was in the 20's. The house temp got to 52 and the tank temp went to 62. I think I lossed one fish (had no ick) and one coral. Since the lights were out, everything went into low energy mode. During the power outage, I would blow some air into the tank once every couple of hours. After that, I got those battery powered air pumps and they have worked quite well.

 

[Anonymous]

Just heat the tank by draining the sump and putting a bunch of candles in there instead.

then you have light and heat all at once!






Stay safe louey!

 

[Anonymous]

Depends on how cold it gets in you house. It take my house all night to cool down 5 deg when the outside is around 50.

 

[Anonymous]

I wonder how Louey is doing atm. :|

 

[Anonymous]

I'm fine.

Still without power at the house.

Back to work this morning where we have power and internet.

It was 57 outside when I woke u this morning. Inside it was still 73. I wrapped the tank with R-13 insulation yesterday. The tank temp went down from 80 to 78.

The insulation was probably not necessary, but if the power stays off a few more days then the temperature keeps getting into the 50's at night, I am sure the the house and tank temp's will steadily fall. Better safe than sorry.

Louey

 

[Anonymous]

how warm is it during the day? Warm enough to bring the temp back up? Ie remove the insulation if it gets to 80+?

 

[Anonymous]

It's in the mid 60's now. Might hit 70 by days end. So I don't think I have to worry about the room getting warmed by up before I would have a chance to remove the insulation.

This cold front is supposed to last a few days. Hopefully, I'll have power by then.

Louey

 

[Anonymous]

We had a really early wet and heavy snow some years back while leaves were still on (and still green!) and with all the weight, limbs were snapping left and right and taking down lines all OVER the place.. (It was pretty eerie, sitting in near silence outside and hearing the squeal/crunch of them coming down..)

But yeah, I was one of the lucky ones and was out of power for about an entire month.

It stayed pretty chilly, dipping below freezing for about a week straight.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/de ... 67-0503856

This puppy kept my 16x16 bedroom warm enough to sit in my shorts and read by candle.

I'm sure Mr. Heater has larger and more efficient models available though...