Help. Power out. (1 Viewer)

[UoH_Chibi]

Edit: deleted prior.

Alright so my blocks power just surged a few times and it had me freaking out. I'm going to be buying a power strip with a back up battery in the next few days and I also have a gas powered generator but what do most people do when they have a power outage?

I don't want to run for the gem every time the power flickers. My neighbors would think I am crazy. Even more than they do now. I know they sell battery powered pumps at some bait shops. Anyone know local ones or online ones or a good price.


Ps, if you don't have a back up plan then let me tell you. You will freak out when you loose power, not a good feeling to call walmart asking if they carry any battery powered air pumps, only to have the English as a second language operator reply back, "battery?". "yea, something that doesn't plug into your wall". Q

 

[merkurmaniac]

Academy sells bait aerator pumps. They are 12Volt. I think that they have a few different sizes.

 

[ShaneV]

Penn-Plax B11 is the begginihng of my power outage plan. Its a battery powered airstone that plugs in the wall, whenever the electricity goes out it automatically turns on the bubbles. (which is great when your not home to know of the outage)


Then I have a good UPS that will run a single powerhead for 4-6 hours, anything longer then that a generator comes out.

 

[d2mini]

Do you have Vortechs?
I have their new battery backup which will keep the vortechs running for like 30 hours or more. As long as the tank has flow you are good for a while. Don't feed.

Otherwise I would probably follow the same principle. Run a powerhead or two in your tank off some kind of battery backup for as long as possible. Consumes less power than running the whole system so the battery will last longer. Then if you are still without power you can switch to the generator and get the whole tank running again.

 

[jamesw]

That all sounds like a good plan. Not as overkill as a natural gas generator and automatic transfer switch Which is what I've got now.

Cheers
James

 

[UoH_Chibi]

I just got my MP40w in the mail today, haven't open the box yet. Self control test. I plan to buy one of the new battery backups they are manufacturing.

Still need to find a good deal on a UPS so I can add that to my arsenal.

Power was flickering and then went out for about 10 mins, I was about to roll out the generator. Bet that would of woken up the neighbors

 

[trb]

Our power went out for about 20 min during the storm several days ago. I didn't worry about it, the fish would be OK for a while, but if it went on for more than an hour, I do have a dual outlet power inverter for my car battery that I used during Ike. I had a 225HP (5.0 Mustang) generator! Best ~$50 I've spent.

I burned a full tank of gas keeping the battery charged, but it powered my FW tank lights, air pump, filter, satellite receiver, projection TV, DSL box and wireless modem and recharged my laptop. I'm sure I could run everything fish related but maybe the MH lights with it if I needed to again.

I got a PC UPS from Fry's several months ago. It was like $35 and supposedly has like 20 min of power. I might try it out on just my Koralias and MJ to see how long it lasts.

 

[mpwolken]

I have a Xantrex Freedom 1000HF, an inverter charger. It maintains two 12V trolling motor batteries wired in parallel and can provide up to 1000W of 110V AC. I keep a small subset of equipment hooked up to this unit (a circuation pump, a small skimmer for aeration and 2 of my T-5 bulbs). It can run that stuff for several days. It works just like a computer UPS (in fact, as a system it is a UPS) but it's more robust and much cheaper per capacity. (I'm not sure what the limit is on number of batteries you can charge, but I think I can add a few more too)

 

[KIPS]

trb, where did you get that and what do i look for? I have always thought how big of a pain in the arse it would be to get a generator. What youa re saying sounds awesome. Nasically a power strip that hooks up to your car battery? I have a $50 check already written!

 

[mpwolken]

I'll reply for TRB. You can get an inverter for your car just about anywhere from Wal-Mart and Target to Fry's and Best Buy.

 

[mike13oy]

My Diy 12v battery back up pump, cheap and easy.. works wonderful..

http://marshreef.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=42540

 

[jamesw]

The one thing that bothers me about all these pump only backup plans is what about the temp? It got into the 90's after Rita and Ike if I recall. If your tank hits 90 with only an air-stone or circulation pumps what will happen?

I think it's a great idea for short-term circulation to keep things from going anoxic.

Cheers
James

 

[trb]

I think I got our power inverter at Walmart, it is like a 400 watt version. They have even higher capacity ones but they will drain your battery faster.

This looks like the one we have:

http://www.invertersrus.com/vec024b.html

I used my Mustang since it was easy to push start a manual car if the battery drained too much. Usually I hooked it up for a while, like an hour, then ran the motor for 15-20 min to recharge, then turned it off again. Stuff would run a good 2+ hrs before the battery went totally dead, did that a couple of times at night when we went to bed. When we were running everything, (TV, sat, and fish stuff) I left the car running for several hours to make sure everything had enough power.

I probably overloaded it, LOL, but it kept on working just fine. Hook it up to the battery directly and do not close the car hood, it gets hot with the motor running and can melt the plastic on the inverter! I know! I would add up the watts for what you want to run, and then get an inverter with more continuous capacity than that.

 

[RR-MAN]

My Diy 12v battery back up pump, cheap and easy.. works wonderful..

http://marshreef.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=42540

Hey Mike, Walmart also sells the charger for the battery???

 

[mike13oy]

My Diy 12v battery back up pump, cheap and easy.. works wonderful..

http://marshreef.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=42540

Hey Mike, Walmart also sells the charger for the battery???

I dont know but i got my at autozone (expensive big one) because i use it on car too. i charge my battery every 2weeks and my is kinda big so i dont hook it to the battery all the time.

Academy sell this one.. its small and you can keep it under your stand and plug to the battery all the time. I need to get one of this..


http://www.academy.com/index.php?pa...atteries&start=16&selectedSKU=0105-04023-0005