power backup

[cac]

Since I am still in the process of getting all my tank components I thought now would be a good time to ask the following. These June storms have knocked my power out on several occassions. Some times it is just a sec of on-off- back on, but two times this month it has gone off for 2-3 hours. How do you guys prepare for a loss of electricity? What should I be looking at to prevent any "bad things" from happening even if it is just a small on and off of the power. Thanks for the help :D

[Bigreefer]

I have a battery back up that you would normally use for a computer. I only pluged my main pump and one PC light to it. I'm not sure how long it will last but has lasted 8 hours when needed.

[Tim Marvin]

I don't use anything. The fish and corals are shipped in bags sometimes for 25-30 hours.

[JimD]

I have 60hz power inverter that I would use from a 12v car battery

[Bigreefer]

What about your bio filteration? Even if you are using LR only, don't you tink the bacteria would start to die off?

[Tim Marvin]

I haven't noticed any problems, but then the tanks have never been off more than a couple hours. The bacteria shouldn't have a problem. It would more likely be the fish starved of O2 and little gas exchange.

[Henry]

I have some battery operated airpumps that I can use. I'm not too worried about light and biofiltration. I'm more worried about O2 in the water.

[matt]

Excellent thread; I've often wondered what to do about this other than buy a cheapo airpump or spend big $ on a decent power back up. Maybe one idea is to look for a used gas or propane generator.

Matt

[cac]

Thanks for the advice. Looks like I will need some kind of ups type backup.

[captexas]

Just be glad we don't live in California where they were doing those rotating blackouts last summer! I've never had a problem with power although it did get knocked out a flicker a few times with the recent storms. I do have a regular computer UPS with only the sump pump on it. The tank won't need lights to keep things alive if the power goes out so I would not put that on there as it would just drain the battery faster. You can usually find these at stores for not too much. Depending on the size of your tank, they have some battery operated air pumps that will work for smaller tanks. They even have some that can detect a power outage and come on automatically.

If you have a big system and the money to spend, some people even buy back-up generators for their houses that keep power to certain circuits in the house. You'd have to have a lot of money invested in a tank to go spend several thousand dollars more for a household generator and have it wired in!

[OldSalty]

I use A DIY system consisting of a 12 volt inverter, a battery charger, 2 DPDT relays and a 33 ah battery. I only run the main pump from it. Running lights will just exaust your battery much faster and they really arn't needed in a power failure. It has seen many power outages and one was 24 hours.