This is so stressful to deal with. I have a generator for the whole house, the reef was the main reason for that as about two years ago, had 7+ power outages in a 6 month period. Now that I have a generator.... 1 power outage for 45 min in 2 years... nice.
I've been pouring water every 30 min since last night. Going to get a battery powered air pump as soon as the store opens. My old one doesn't seem to work. Tested it several years ago but never needed. Tank is going to get cold soon. At least it wasn't all that cold last night.
I've kept tanks warm through a 12+ hr outage in the winter by wrapping it in sleeping bags.
If you have comforters or anything available... you can tape them up to help insulate the tank.
Good luck! Hope they get this sorted soon. I left home this morning and saw Xcel trucks a few houses down...hoping my power didn't get cut too long for repairs.
Cheap gennys are awesome, but if you do ever get one, I would not plug anything sensitive stuff into it. Heaters, pumps and lights are about all that I will use... no controllers or anything more sensitive than power tool or battery charger.
For such a long tank I imagine it'd be hard to make a dent. And I've only ever done it when kickstarting an empty tank. But if you can get something heated (gas fire) you could try drizzled in safe spots boiling RODI or maybe a rotation of scalding hot metal. If you get that desperate and can't get something else worked out.
Obvious im sure but ....just in-case. If you have a gas stove you could always heat water and fill milk jugs or the likes or obviously you could just fill up jugs of hot water from sink to help combat dropping temps.
Really just use it for the return pump and heater only. You just go out and start your car occasionally to keep the battery from running down. Its just cheaper than buying a generator... unless you buy it at Harbor Freight.
No power yet. Put a battery powered air pump on it. A friend is bringing a generator over for this eve if I need. Goona get one this week though. Just to have.