Heaters

[jobney]

During the cold snap we had a few weeks ago I placed a bunch of foam egg cartons my wife had saved for recycling on the surface of the fish tank. I opened them and placed them outside up / inside down to trap a pocket of air against the water. I placed a recycle bin tote lid over those to hold them still and a curtain rod from edge to edge as a brace. I then put a quilt over 2/3 of the tank (held down by bungee and an old shower curtain over the whole thing as a wind block.

It was cold again last night but I did no covering and as expected the goldfish did fine.

[kingjam]

We are colder in Sarasota and my fish in IBC is still alive. Not eating much though. On the two freezing nights a couple weeks ago, I just covered the IBC with plastic I got from Home Depot and took a little portable room heater, put it on the ground under the side of the plastic aiming it at the side of the IBC. I set the heater for 70 degrees and left it on overnight. I figure that sufficient heat would warm the side providing a warm spot where they could huddle if they desired. The rising warm air also collected under the plastic and was trapped there. I wasnt interested in optimally heating the tank, just wanted to prevent them from dying until it warms up again. I had removed the babies and my breeders and put them into a 125 gallon indoor aquarium as a precaution to save my stock should the outdoor grow out fish die. The aquarium is heated to 83 degrees and they are eating voraciously and growing fast. When I redo my outdoor set up I was thinking of a greenhouse fabric cover with a rocket stove to warm it on cold nights.

[jobney]

I've used a small space heater and a quilt to kill some drywood termites that had a colony in some furniture. I had to blow the space heater under the corner of the quilt but not sit it under as it has a safety that shuts it off if it gets hot. It still did the job. 120 degrees for an hour or two is overkill as it just takes a few minutes to kill them but better to be safe then sorry.

[GaryD]

Hi KingJam,

When I redo my outdoor set up I was thinking of a greenhouse fabric cover with a rocket stove to warm it on cold nights.

I'm also pretty keen on rocket thermal mass heaters. I like the idea of being able to turn low value fuels (like sticks, twigs and junk mail) into heat for use in my AP systems.

I'm hoping to get something happening in that area once things cool down around here.

Gary