Well, I have ten tanks, but whatever. The point being that I have a lot of aquarium equipment. What does this have to do with country living? Wait for it.
Tonight we're getting down to 19 degrees Fahrenheit with steady wind around 15mph. Brr. The chickens were all fluffed up, the ducks couldn't care less. I chipped ice out of the 5g waterer today and I don't think I want to repeat that very often. Cue the search for what heated water solution we want to use for the winter. Metal heating stands and floating de-icers and some interesting dyi solutions that all seemed expensive and a bit dicey. The metal ones rust and the plastic model we found was a pain to refill. The floating ones seemed likely to melt our plastic waterers. It seemed to be a matter of picking our poison or accepting that we'd be hauling out buckets of water.
It took me until today to realize I have an entire box of heaters meant for use in water that won't melt plastic and aren't a fire hazard. Not my most shining moment.
I dropped some aquarium heaters into the waterers for tonight. The 5 gallon waterer also got a powerhead to help out the 25 watt heater. The open bucket of water out for the big girls just got a 50 watt heater chucked in it. That should be plenty to keep 2 gallons of water warm. Their nipple water system has frozen solid, but we'll be fixing that this weekend. A five gallon bucket with four nipples stuck on the bottom and an aquarium heater chucked inside should keep them well hydrated this winter.
Much simpler than dropping $60 for a metal watering system that will rust out or a plastic system with a reputation for melting. Thanks, but no thanks. I'll stick to my aquarium heaters.
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