Power outages (1 Viewer)

[inigomontoya]

We had a power outage last night for about 5 hours which made me think about "best practices" for the reef tank in these scenarios. I haven't had a tank during any lengthy (week long) outages and realize that a generator is really your only option there, but wanted to solicit best practices for several hours or a day or so and see if/when it really becomes an issue for fish and corals. I am still considering some form of generator for extreme situations but thinking more about the thunderstorm 2-24 hour outages that tend to happen in Houston.
I keep two battery operated air pumps I bought just for these situations and plopped them in the water. My tank is larger and seeing how little water movement this caused I think I need to up that number.
Does anyone know of or use a battery operated powerhead/koralia short of a battery backed up vortech? I also read up on taking up water from tank with a cup or pitcher and dropping it from some height to oxygenate. When should this be done, after a few hours or only really needed after a day or so? Just curious from those that have weathered the hurricane outages to when/how much is needed.

 

[ReefMaster32787]

I've been curious about what I 'am going to when an outage happens to. Hurricane season will be here soon and we are bound to get more sometime or another.

 

[steveb]

Wish I could take credit for it but credit goes to Mike13oy. Go Mikey!

http://www.marsh-reef.org/showthread.php/23380-My-Diy-Battery-Back-Up-Pump?highlight=battery

 

[RR-MAN]

It's hard to turn on the generator in the middle of the night so I bought one of these just to run the pumps.

http://www.homedepot.com/Outdoors-O...splay?catalogId=10053&langId=-1&storeId=10051

 

[SuperRay]

I have a couple of these:

http://www.wonbrothers.com/product/airpump/batteryairpump.htm


72hrs on 2 "D" batteries!



I did get fancy with one of them and used a N.C. relay so that when the 110VAC power failed the relay closed and the pump started but I don't usually use it unless I am away for a very extended period of time when I am traveling.

My APEX will alert me of a power failure (using UPS's for APEX and Modem/Router) and I can have a neighbor (who also has a tank) plug in my generator and make sure everything is okay.

 

[inigomontoya]

Here is the two I currently have, use Amazon prime so always look there first for free shipping. http://www.amazon.com/Hagen-11134-M...WXOS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1334605545&sr=8-1

Might get another one or two of these- what have people seen as far as "at what point" they are truly needed and would 3-4 of these work in an 8 foot tank?
I like the marine battery, inverter pump idea as well, could just plug one of my koralias directly in if power out for more than a few hours. Easier than pulling out and gassing up a generator when it might come on any minute.

 

[trb]

We had a transformer blow several months ago and once they told us it would be 5 hours to fix it, I hooked up my power inverter and ran extension cords to the tank to run the powerheads. Worked ok. I did the same, burning a tank of gas after Ike for our fw tank. That was for about 3 days.

I would say under 4 hrs would be ok in most tanks, but any longer and I would start thinking about getting some water and air moving.

 

[KyleH]

I use those battery backups for PC's to run my pumps. Office Depot had a crazy sale a few years ago for $15. for a 300VA. my power ran out 3 weeks ago, and aside from the annoying beeping noises to wake me up, it powered a 10 watt pump for about 1.75hrs (a little shorter than I wanted). But, I have 2 nano tanks. If it becomes a real "conservative" issue, 3-5w air pump can probably run for about 3+hrs--although the "beeper" probably chewed up wasted battery power. I would consider investing in a 600+ or even a 1500VA battery pack. With rebates and sales, you can catch them around $60-80.

Also, consider for < 100W, you can get a car inverter at Frys for $20-50. Anything more powerful, you can spend a little more for a 200W or 300W. Basically, the inverters convert a car's cigarette adapter into a plug for applicances. You can usually power your pumps with the help of an extension cord and the existing gas in your car's tank. (please remember open the garage if your car is running).

Anything else, you should consider a portable generator, or you can follow our current thread discussing the generac generator for the house that automatically kicks on and runs off of the natural gas that comes to the house.

-KyleH

 

[below radar]

I don't know much about aquariums but I do know a marine deep cycle battery will run a 110+lb thrust trolling motor, fishfinder/GPS, and quite a few other things all day on our fishing trips. Also you can leave a charger that has a trickle charge attached to these batteries to keep them fully charged and without harming them. That's my 1 cent...haven't been here long enough to give a full 2 cents.

 

[reeftopia]

I was going to suggest a marine battery also with an inverter you can run some fairly powerful airpumps for a long time, Lost my power for 7 days ran a generator for 12 hrs and only the airpumps for the other 12 hrs. If I could keep everything alive in my 3 big tanks with 1 marine battery you can too. Lost not 1 coral or fish in that 7 days. Now have a generac and love it though dont think that is practical for everyone

 

[Diesel]

This is a great idea for a Marsh workshop event. We all want everything decked out on equipment, water movement, filtration, LED's, photography, glass/acrylic, dosing, Oh well too much to mention but if it comes to back up your expensive hobby we don't see much threads of this.
I think there are a view handy guys on here that have something already in place and can show us how to built something like that and a workshop is a great event to do so.
I know most of the events are already on the calender for this year but maybe later this year we can fit this one in or even better maybe..... maybe before Hurricane season starts. I'm in for this one and pizza is on me.

 

[SuperRay]

This is a great idea for a Marsh workshop event. We all want everything decked out on equipment, water movement, filtration, LED's, photography, glass/acrylic, dosing, Oh well too much to mention but if it comes to back up your expensive hobby we don't see much threads of this.
I think there are a view handy guys on here that have something already in place and can show us how to built something like that and a workshop is a great event to do so.
I know most of the events are already on the calender for this year but maybe later this year we can fit this one in or even better maybe..... maybe before Hurricane season starts. I'm in for this one and pizza is on me.

Noted.....