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i live in fl so the threat of hurricanes every year, when one does hit we are usually out of power for 5-7 days, i learned to get a generac generator for the house, runs on propane and has a 10 sec. delay, so when power goes out 10 sec. later the generator kicks in and viola whole house has power again. Best investment ever

To heat your tank: take a 12oz plastic water bottle and fill it 1/4 with sodium chloride/magnesium chloride (ice melt) fill the rest with water. Shake it up and in a few seconds the chemical reaction causes it to heat up. Drop it into your tank. One of these should be good enough for a 20 gallon tank, but if you need more make more. These work so well, It is actually possible get the water too hot with these, so this is the best method for keeping tropical tanks heated when the power goes out. You can also manually supply your sponge filter with air using a bicycle pump, having a battery op pump is preferable, but a bike pump works, and can supply several tanks at once. I always keep this stuff around, and have used them a few times.

I learned my lesson with power outages!! Back in March I went almost 22hrs without any power. I came home from work and over half of my Rainbows were dead. I lost a total of 14 fish that time and I swore never again!! I lost about $200 in fish due to my heater and airpumps going out...Tank was 67° down from 79° I bought 2 battery powered minnow bucket airpumps from Wal-Mart for cheap! I really wish I had known what I know now! Thank you and I'm considering sharing my tank with you all, but haven't made my mind up yet..lol. Thank you all.for making this video bc I have no doubt this video will help other fish keepers!

As soon as i saw the thumb nail for the video, I already knew what the video was going to be about. Before my lady and i met, she had a koi tank. She had those cuties for years, and from what she told me they all knew her. She would come home from work, and they would all swim towards her. She said they're like fish puppies. They liked to be petted, she gave them all names and they knew their names, they always got super excited to see her when she past them by. She had six of them, all of them were pretty big. She took super great care of them. ...then... it happened... This happened during the summer, of all seasons, when the power was out for three days! My lady and her mom were trying to keep the water moving (I feel a daily water cleaning would have saved the koi, but she was in panic mode, so it never occurrd to her)... but one by one each koi fish was dying. By the time the power came back on... all the fish had died. My lady was trying so hard to keep them alive, she never left her tank... and nothing. She was so heart broken, she never wants koi fish ever again. She buried them all in the garden. That happened three years before she and i met, and she was adamant in not wanting fish. Recently, though, her love of fish is coming back, but she is sticking to small fish like bettas. So far we have four tanks, three with bettas and one with a small community. But kois are out of the question. The incident hurt her so much, and I dont want to push her on it. She blames herself for the incident. But I blame edison. I have been thinking about buying a generator just because you never know. We have a lot of animals that need power, plus its just a great security for us as well. My fridge is full of food, and considering the pandemic wasted food is a tragedy. AC, TV, lights. Getting a gen is just practical. This video solidified my gut instinct.

a small inverter, and a deep cycle battery will run a filter for a loooonnggg time. pretty cheap setup for emergencies.

I live in South Africa and we have a thing called loadsheding, which means the government turns off our power when they want. I found this video very helpful 👌👍

I have an old UPS (made for computers) that I can use and since the draw is so little it would probably last for days and I can plug multiple things into it

The kerosene heater needs good ventilation or you'll have issues with fumes

First morning after getting my fish, and someone ran into a power line. the entire neighborhood went out 🙂 I was freakin out. The person was fine thank god, so I didn’t feel guilty about being mad at them. Lol

Just a few things I learnt through a terrible experience and that might add some tips to this video: -If a generator is too expansive, a UPS does the job too (at least for a few hours). this one is cheap and works great! (APC Back-UPS (BE600M1) is a great example) -If you have a CO2 injection system, turn it off. -Some filters, like the aquaclears, need to be "primed" before they can restart. Don't expect your filter to just restart when the power will come back on. -If you don't have gaz stove, a propane BBQ does the job as well! Hopefully some of these tips might be helpful to someone.

Load shedding in South Africa We get power cuts almost every day for a minimum 2 hours 😠

just came out of a 5 day power outage. This info really helped as I watched it a few days before. On the morning of day 2 I rushed and bought a battery powered air pump to power the filter. I spent more on batteries than on the pump but luckily the fish are alive. Did not need a heater since its goldfish but thankful for this video.

Love this - fish keeper and power lineman in NY state. Big storms lately, keeps me working long days. Has me calling my wife” please feed the fish” ha ha. Recent storm isaias- everyone in my family was out of power, it was scary. Lucky it was summer, winter storms are another story.

LISTEN TO JOHN!!! I'm from Stafford, Virginia. Close to where King George County. The Blizzard we just had was like living in my own frozen personal hell. We just got power back. Luckily most of my fish survived (I have a lot of tanks of various fish). However, I still lost some great babies. I luckily lost none from my African cichlid and bichir tank, for now. I had a battery powered air pump, and was able to spread it between two large tanks. I also However, I could of saved them all if I had just got a generator. IT HURTS SO BAD TO SEE YOUR FISHY BABIES DIE SLOWLY AND BE HELPLESS TO STOP IT. UNLESS YOU WANT TO GO THROUGH WHAT I HAD SUFFERED THROUGH, GET A GENERATOR! Thank you for reading... Rip Pain (blood parrot with a resting beep face), Brandon (my auratus cichlid), Cupid (female betta from sorority), most of the tiger barb squad, Akido(golden gourami) and Goldie Locks (female peacock cichlid), Eros (my mother's male twin-tail betta).

I never worry about power outages.. I had a whole house Natural gas generator installed after Sandy hit us in the Northeast. Works like a charm ;)

Dude, my power is supposed to go out tonight in a few hours. Thankfully we have generators, but this is definitely helpful.

We have power outages here in the Philippines like every week and sometimes can reach 2-5 a day

My power was just out for 84 hours and I just took my fish to a petco near me since it was just my house that lost power so this was very helpful it is a big hassle to bring your fish to a petco

Hey John and Lisa. saw your video about power outages and it made me think of another good video idea. i think it would be cool if you made a video completely about how to feed your fish while you are away for a extended period of time and test out all the different products etc. recently just got a betta in a 5 gallon and your videos have been very helpful! thanks

Great advice. All 4 tanks I own, no matter what size or other filters, have a sponge filter also, running on a USB powered air pump. Great insurance and I can use power bank to run for days. No backup for lights and heat yet. I have also used a cycled sponge filter to set up an emergency hospital tank.

Thank you for covering this! Not sure if you saw my comment on a video maybe two weeks ago about our power going out in the middle of the night, and being told it'd be several hours before it came back...but ended up coming back on pretty quickly. I got my battery powered pumps from yours store, and have em loaded with fresh batteries, ready to go! :)

Within the last 7 days I had a 30 hour outage. I had backup air for some tanks but the fish farm toughed it out. This is why I keep freshwater fish.

My backup battery operated airpunp came in handy during power outage other night...honestly u guys gave me the idea 2 get 1 awhile back and what a great suggestion. My fish thank u for time u take 2 make these videos

I had a huge cichlid tank back when there wasn't KZfaq or at least not enough videos to help! I used to fill cola bottles up of hotwater and place them in the tank to keep them warm. Thank you so much for this!

Just got a battery operated air pump, hope to get another soon. So far I have corries and a betta and four little juvenile male guppies. Thanks for your videos John and Lisa. This is one of the first channels I found researching fish keeping and you introduced me to Cory and planted aquariums.

During a historic heat wave a few years ago my local fish store used ice in any form they could get. It was placed in zip lock bags and floated in the tanks. I have a daylight basement so it never got hot enough to cause a problem with my 2 small tanks. The winter power out is just too scary to contemplate. But I have heard of using disposable hand warmers. And I know a great place where they have little generators that will run the filters at least. You may have heard of them. Credit card coming up. And winter is coming soon. You just saved me. Thanks for the boatload of information.

2003 hurricane Isabel i remember that power was out for a long time and yes friendly neighbors were nice to have at that time. Also it was fun to run and play in the rain 🌧 also wasn't into fishkeeping at the time was a bonus. But I love fish now and would hate to lose them all. Thanks for this video. Also may try to add solar panels to the list of emergency tools

Omg my tanks went out earlier and this video is published

We have regular power outages and it's actually affecting my health. I have anxiety and PTSD. Before we had fish tanks, a power outage was an inconvenience but now that we have numerous tanks it's a constant source of anxiety and worry for me and when the power inevitably goes out it is like it's the end of the world and my brain goes blank like an idget lol. This video is a huge help for me so thank you for making it!

I live in an area that commonly gets hit by hurricanes. It is not uncommon after a hurricane for us to be without powers between 2 days to 2 weeks. What I do is keep a sponge filter going in a tank or atleast the sponge on an intake that can be put on a sponge filter, and slap on USB air pumps on a usb power bank (solar). Each my tanks have a pair of rotating solar power bank (32k mAh) . Each power bank last in general for about 3 days. And during that time the other power bank can recharge to full on solar. That way I keep a seeded filter going to avoid ammonia spikes. When you experience power outages that go over two days, you really start running into your beneficial bacteria dieing off. This really does help to provide a means to keep those bacteria going.

We just came out of a 22 hour power outage due to winter storm Izzy. I am soooooo thankful my two Bettas survived. I was so unprepared. 😔 Their water got so cold. I'm definitely going to get some kind of back up in place to keep their tanks going.

I like to keep a tank on hand where I grow a ton of hornwort and duckweed, as both absorb a lot of nutrients out of water, and they do it very fast. They make a good emergency measure in case of an extended power outage.

In the 4 months that I've had my betta. I've had 2 power outages...in the 15 years of living here, we've only ever lost power not even a handful of times..of course 2020 😅

Very good suggestions. Thanks!

My red tailed shark survived a four day power outage. During a heat wave!! What a crazy tough guy, love red tails.

It’s scary when the power goes out. Every time that happens I put warm water into my tropical tanks every 30 minutes to keep the temp normal

Lots of good information John.

Very late comment, but I just have say thank you so much. This video was very helpful.🙂 Power outages have always caused me so much stress since I became a fish keeper years ago. I still remember my first fish, about half a dozen tiger barbs. Came home after a winter trip, no power, the house was freezing, and they were all dead. RIP boys

"Indonesia which is like an oven" I agree to this

We get ice storms and live next to a wooded area. Last winter power outage (a real one, not just a couple of hours), I used every extra blanket on hand keeping myself from freezing. Next year's tax refund = GENERATOR. I'll be doing it for my fish and frogs, but will definitely enjoy the benefits myself, as well!

We Have 2 generators. And haven't had to use them yet. They also sale a portabke heater for camping that is ran with the little green propane bottles. Great Video

Honestly, I worry more about earthquakes, I only have glass tanks right now.

Because of the hurricane that just hit my tank went a week with no power, I was prepared to loose everything but I didn’t loose anything. All I had was a battery air pump

I have solar and a battery back up on my house since I have a solar company and it’s been perfect against stuff like this. No outages for me :)

Like the discuss tank. Would like to see how the lids was modified to fit the HOB's...........

Yup. We lost power last winter for long enough I was starting to worry. Wrapped the tanks in blankets and moved water in cycles with a cup. We are looking at putting in a gas fireplace that will keep the house warm no matter what.

I'm also in VA and we have never been happier to have a house with a wood stove. On thing I used in the past and I need to get another is a battery backup for computers. The only thing is the APC beeps while it's running. I need to look for one that doesn't. Another option is the battery powered jump start box. Mine is a few years old and even has a USB port.

You guys rock! Thank you for all of your informative, interesting and useful information. :)

Just go and buy a PC UPS. A 800W one can run your Heater/Pumps/Lights for days if you calculate the amount of capacity you buy comparing to what your combined system will need. Ask someone to do the math for you and voila. Problem solved. I have 1 UPS on each Aquarium all these years and they never failed me. If you buy the expensive ones, you can even get notifications on your phone when the power is out and you are on vacations

Great video. One suggestion of a topic to add would be the consequences of not installing one way valves on the airlines to prevent flooding if the pump stops for any reason.

I have a couple different solar options, jackery power generator, and homemade battery backup, work great after thunderstorms knock out power few weeks ago

I live in an apartment, so a generator is a difficult option since it's so loud. And honestly, a generator is a huge overkill, unless you're going to run other appliances on it too. For waterflow/filtration, I would use a UPS. This is a great option as it's always plugged in, and takes over instantly when the power goes out. Just unplug the non-essentials and only run your pump/filter for short cycles like he mentions in the video. You can also have a car battery on hand, with a DC-powered pump (or less efficiently, use an inverter for an AC pump) Wire it to the battery and that will run a small pump for (probably) days. Keep monitoring the voltage if you can, before the voltage drops lower than 12v, swap it out for your car's battery and run the engine for as long as you can to recharge. Then keep swapping the batteries if needed. As stated by other commenters, AGM deep-cycle batteries are the best for long-term, short voltage draining. But a cheap 12v group 24 battery from Walmart will work. Can't confirm this, but air stones should be helpful with oxygenation. Maybe someone can chime in on that. If you buy a battery-powered bubbler, get one that has USB recharging or direct USB power. You can run that off a battery bank or recharge it in your car. Maybe get two batteries so one can be recharging while the other runs the pump. Propane grills are great for heating water as a commenter below mentioned. Great idea. Always good to have one for cooking food for yourself, anyways.

Great topic. Unfortunately I'm currently in the boat of battery operated air-stone as my fall back. However, the solution I personally appreciate (And one of my next purchases) is a DC circulation pump with a compatible battery backup (I run a Sump); which keeps both volumes in motion and allow the overflow to drain. I personally want the EcoTech Vectra S2, But have thought a great deal about just running the backup on an EcoTech Vortec (what I would do without a Sump). However, this solution does come with sticker shock and costs more than other options... even if they are good hardware. I'm also not trying to advocate brands, their are several options. Those are just the one I like, and want. I also had not considered a heating solution, so thank you for that thought process.

We lost power for over a week and half! After an ex cyclone 🌀 (hurricane) I had a single tank then. I was freaking out. I now have 11. This has been helpful!

Having air hose line splitter is good. I've used those battery pumps to run 2 or 3 air lines. I have sponge filters already in tanks so I can keep my filtration going

hey, heatwave horror story!! i have a small 3.5 gal on my desk at home and one day this summer our AC went out. i lost 3 cherry shrimp before i realized their water was over 88 degrees! i used binder clips to clamp an ice pack on the outside glass to slowly bring the water down and put a fan blowing across the surface to add more oxygen and help cool.

Very rare here in the city of Rochester , NY. Many years back , they put all power lines underground. Have only had maybe 4-5 in the 45 years I have lived in the city and none were more than 24 hours. The furnace is a natural gas boiler (radiators) that has a millivolt thermostat that does not require electric , so the furnace works even with the power out.

I have had like 5 power outages in the last few months... twice they were 4+ hours. I have my main tank's return pump on a UPS which gives me an additional hour of usage at it's normal power. If I cut it down to 50% power, I can get an hour and a half of use. Luckily I haven't had any major issues yet but I bought a battery powered air bubbler to have just in case.

The Bubble Box is the best air bubbler. We just had a power outage for 3 day and put one set of batteries in one time and it kept going for over 24 hours, but then we got the power back. I don't know how long they last, but they are pretty amazing. We have a 29 Gallon with Platys and Mollies.

I honestly can’t remember the last power cut we had in north Essex Uk it must have been years ago , guess we are lucky thank goodness.

The battery powered airator is mainly used for bait when fishing and I say you could probably make for a week or two.

For a safer choice for heat without the bad smell, I have used the BBQ style propane tanks with a small heater that mounts to the top. They are very conveinent and easy to use.

In South Africa, we have load shedding. It means that the power can go off for 2 to 4 hours, when the power company says that demand is higher than capacity. At times we have this every day, leading into weeks. Other times we have months without it happening. It can strike at any time, with 0 notice. In the past I've used a UPS to run air pumps and filters, and this has helped a lot. Living in a sub tropical climate, cold is usually not a problem. If it's winter I can cover tanks with blankets.

In South Africa we have loadshedding. Every few months at least twice a year we have power outages for 2 hours at a time scheduled at different times. roughly 6 hours in between where power is on again. Sometimes it happens twice a day. meaning for 4 hours there is no power, with power on for 6 hours in between. Sometimes 3 times a day. Giving 6 hours with no power with 6 hours power on in between. The authorities makes these loadshedding happens for at least two months sometimes 3 months on end and then stop it for a some months before it starts again. I do have fish dying during these times or at least fish dying withing 2 weeks after the loadshedding stopped. My local store suggests if it is 3 times a day that power is off (6 hours a day) I need to do a midweek water change. Also recently they advice, as if it is a big secret, to add clean sea water to the tank in small increments according to tank volume with a day or two separate in between. We live close to the sea.... PS, I have 12 tanks of which 2 is quarantine tanks. The past loadshedding, casualty count is almost 30 fish spread across different tanks. Two of my tanks have battery operated pumps running air curtain. but fish still die... What would your suggestion be if you were us here in South Africa?

I live in South Africa and experience almost daily planned power outages. I really want to have a fish tank, but I don’t want to risk my fish being killed. Thank you for this video, hopefully I can figure something out…

Good ideas but trim the time down a bit. This should have been a 10 - 12 minute video.

From the recent power outage in NJ where power typically doesn't go away and where our PSEG does have "high tech" power outage information site,... I'd say my lesson learned is not to trust the info and assume the worst, if power comes back as promised - Hurrah! ... but better safe than sorry. I have a "quick backup" set for my tanks in the form of cheap UPSs that can run air bubblers and 1/3 of filtration (I typically run 3 smaller filters) for about an hour in power outage and a bit more complex plan for prolonged outage - running car (it uses surprisingly small amount of gas like that) and using marine inverter from it to power all 3 aquariums in that same 1/3 filtration&air mode for abut 12 -14 hrs per day. Now to lesson learned: First PSEG power estimate was 3hrs... I "bought it" and mentally got in the zone that power is coming soon so I didn't assemble more complex system. Than estimate moved to 5hrs, than 6hrs,... and it was night so I said, wait till morning, it will be on... Not! In the morning, with 12hrs delay from trust in PSEG, I set my more extensive system (and it run for 6 DAYS! So 3hrs estimate->6 days of outage). However, I think damage was done in that initial period. I got 3 losses, all the largest fish, in my 125 gal that is warmest and in the living room so a lot of natural light (one male O.Tetrastigma and two large old Mainganos). In my cool dark basement 75gal there were no losses and two losses in cool dark basement 50gal tank which I keep quite overcrowded with Yellow labs and Rusties (one of each perished). [I keep Malawi cichlids...]. So, although temperature in basement aquariums fell well below what I consider "safe" for fish in question, dark and cold seem to help. Overcrowding, OK with proper filtration, not so much.

Great video and advice. I run my air using the Aquarium Co-op usb pump for this exact reason. I have no idea, but I now wonder if you did put a blanket over, would the air pump introduce enough new air into the tank (and air space above it).

I have one of those Marina battery air pumps, and I can say that the batteries last quite long. (Live in Puerto Rico, where power outages can last for a week at least.) Longest run I had was three days and nights straight. By day/night 3 the air pump loses some of its strength, but it still works well enough to generate water movement. No dead fish whatsoever. Hopefully I won't need to test them out for longer periods of time (after a hurricane, for example)

So glad I have a mini solar generator from back when I camped a ton.. Though I also have a rechargeable air pump just in case.

I'm really glad that I live in Germany. We don't have blackouts, except when they work on your line but even then they inform you 2 weeks prior. So yeah. Nothing to worry for me. But good video, I like the 20 min. format.

We recently had a bad storm here in CT, lost power for 4 days, trees down everywhere. Thankfully i didnt have any fish at the time. My bearded dragons were easy, just put them in the sun lol. But definitely want to get a genny for the future

A fairly small power inverter will run a couple of tanks. Hook up to your car battery and run a couple of ext cords. You can get s small 1500 watt one for less than $100. Pretty handy.

The overheating thing happened to my friend - huge marine tank. We had a heat wave where it was 35 - 40 Celsius every day, and his tank cooling system failed while he was at work so he didn't know until he got home. Everything died. He was devastated.

We in Ct lost power for 6 days and we went away for 5. I was worried the whole time about my fish! Thank God they were fine!

Great video! You got lucky you didn’t have tanks when you had a 7 day power outage. But how was the food in the fridge!? 😝

Saw this after 3 day Power outage in Texas. Fish are all dead... Nice timing youtube

UPS Systems are fantastic and would highly recommend. Originally had one for my PC/Servers and had the bright idea to get a powerful one for my reef and planted setups just in case. Peace of mind it is always better to be safe than sorry.

Our electronic goes out a lot here in Florida. Going to get one soon.🐟😊👍

I went four days with no power during the rolling blackouts last year. All my tanks dropped to around 60 degrees. I was extremely worried, however I didn't lose a single fish. Nine tanks with fish of all sizes, from my dovii pair down to my shrimp, none even seemed distressed. Now that I know I can go that long I'm not nearly as worried. But I still think I'm going to get a generator just to be safe.

My heater broke a week ago and when I woke up my betta was in water that was 67 degrees. Luckily my betta survived but who knows how long the heater was out for.

We used to loose power two plus times a month so I ended getting a whole house generator. My neighbors love it. Hadn't lost power since I got it. 😕

So our power just went out for 7hr And my house was not heated that day(4°c outside 😬 ) , I have a wood stove So I was worried the tanks would Kool a bit too much .... So started a fire 🔥 And in the morning The fish were just fine 👍 I got 2 of those battery 🔋 powered air pumps in a lot sale a few weeks ago They are great , and I also got a USB pump exactly like the one you showed 🙌 So I did not circulate the water the whole 7hr and the fish were fine , this could be - because I have lots of plants 🤷👍

I had a gift card to a LFS, that I saved for over nine months, until their annual half-off sale. Then finally, I got six congo tetras to complete my African river biotope. A couple of weeks later, we had a severe windstorm and lost power for 25 days. Lost everything.

I remember in April 2002 an F5 tornado touched down in Port Tobacco, MD, my house was the first to be hit. Then it traveled to La Plata, MD, and was down graded to an F4. Is this the storm you are referring to? Power was out for probably a week, I don't remember, my house was condemned and we couldn't live in it. Trees were down everywhere. Be prepared for a storm anywhere, anytime, it happens fast.

The shortest power outage for me was about 1 millisecond.

we went five days without power and tried everything to keep my tank going! i lost all my guppies and my koi betta 😢

Why are Uninterruptible Power Supplies so unknown in the fish hobby? I can keep my heater and air pump running on a $40 UPS for about half an hour, and you can use them to keep HOBs running and primed when the power goes out momentarily.

I've lost power in the winter here in NY and the first thing I do is connect my tanks to my portable generator. Heaters, filters, lights all get plugged in before anything else. I bought a Champion 3500-4000 Watt 8 yrs ago for under $400. Their customer service is very good.

Yea I have to leave on my AC when I go to work cause if I don't the tank water is gonna get too warm. I think imma buy me a small portable AC to save my real AC when I'm at work.

ive lost fish from heat. water temp got up to about 34c (heatwave of nearly 50c) power went out due to bushfires and i was using fresh water to cool tanks but the water from the tap was stupidly high 28c from memory and i didnt have carbon blocks so i eventually just ran out of conditioner. in summer its regularly in the mid to high 40c range but that was my first introduction to keeping fish through summer in my garage since then ive made some changes. that said i only lost maybe 10 fish in summer 34c = 93.2f 50c = 122f

I live in an area where we get a lot of storms and some flooding, As I type this there is a huge storm going on, its been raining all weekend with gale force winds and is expected to continue for the next few days. I have a small diesel generator that will power my tanks, the TV, my laptop and my cell phone, If the power goes out and my wife children and I are not home the fish are fine for a few hours till one of us comes home and fires up the generator. In 2017 after cyclone Debbie we were without power for 6 days and it wasnt a problem, ok the plants were not too happy because the tank lights were off but filtration and heating were unaffected. The generator was the best 1000 AUD I ever spent.

If you own a house and get a portable generator, also have a transfer switch installed. When the power goes out, crank up the generator and then hit the transfer switch to transfer pre-chosen circuits to the generator. Eliminates the need for a lot of extension cords. Just make sure you switch back to Line or Off before turning off the generator or you risk ruining the generator. Having said that, I still needed an extension cord from the tanks to a live outlet. This saved my fish after losing power for 7+ days due to Isaias. Luckily there wasn't a gasoline shortage as there was after Hurricane Sandy (10+ days). My fishkeeping was on hiatus back then. I wanted to add: do your neighbors a favor and shut your generator off overnight. Your fish tanks and perishables (in the freezer/fridge) will be fine.

I love my USB air pumps/sponge filters and i keep 6 or 7 power banks charged at all times! I'm in California... yeah we know how that goes.

My fear is the power going out when I'm away at work

My 30 gallon planted 3 Platy, a Cory and a Pleco tank survived 3 weeks with natural light and a CO2 source. Happened during the summer, would probably be different during the winter if I couldn't find a way to heat the house.

yeah power outages are pretty common here lots of hurricanes

One thing I do to maintaining temperature in the winter is keep a box of the XL hand/foot warmers and put one inside of a gallon ziploc bag with a layer of aluminum foil inside and then put that inside of a 2nd ziploc bag. Squeeze most of the air out and toss it in the top of the tank and let it float around. Again for summer, fill a gallon bag half full of water, freeze it and if my tank spikes above 83 ill drop it in and let it float around.

Watching this after hurricane Ian has hit SWFL. I lost power for 14 days. The only animals I have in my 5-gallon tank is 2 nerture snails and 1 beta fish. They all thankfully made it, but I can tell my betta was really sick. The betta (elio) wasn't fed for a total of 3 days, once it became safe to drive, my family member fed Elio for the rest of the durtaion of the 14 days.