CADE L. - Entry #17
As I learned of the severity of the storm, I began to insulate the windows closest to both of my systems. Pillows and blankets were used for this and I hoped they would be enough to slow the cold in case of a power outage. The first day of snow we were okay, the power stayed on and everything was fine. At 4am that next morning out power turned off. I woke up to a silent house and immediately thought of my fish and coral. I only had 5 gallons of pre mixed salt water ready and used the stove to warm the water before adding it into the tank as a perpetual water change of sorts. Multiply this process by 3 for each of my tanks (2 fresh water and 1 saltwater ) and I was busy deep into the day. I couldn’t warm the water too hot or it would shock the fish, but not enough and it wouldn’t make a difference. Despite my efforts and nearly 18 hours of water changing, my tanks were beginning to get dangerously cold. I needed something more drastic, and I found a solution. I took aluminum foil and any other insulation and covered the tanks. With one side open I took my camping lanterns and set them next to the tanks. I vented the hot air up and across the tanks. Amazingly it worked! My temps slowly began to rise on both my my tanks. Unfortunately I only had 2 lanterns so I had to sacrifice my biggest tank and hope for the best. Slowly throughout the night the tanks began to rise back up to temp. I stayed up around 30 hours between those first few days and watched the flames to make sure the fire was contained. Due to the proximity to flammable items it was a extremely dangerous hazard if left alone. The next few days power would come on and off and temps would fluctuate. Thankfully by the end of the storm, losses were minimal. As a person named Cade, I’ve always been interested in your brand but as a college student I can’t afford a tank like this. I plan on posting my experience on forums to help potentially save others animals in the future from natural disasters like this one.
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