What's your backup power plan?

[Frick-n-Frags]

I have none. the tank is in the basement and is super low bio-load. it can sit in the dark for a day, no problem. In the winter I would watch the temp and maybe heat water for it. in the summer, nothing. one fish in 100 gallons gets plenty of oxygen from surface exchange, even in still water.

a snail halfway down an overflow hose might be screwed though.

[Pea-brain]

Emmmm....lets see....My backup is a glass measuring cup, my wrists and too much free time. But if both my arms and jaw ever get broken my fish are screwed

Dan

[maxxII]

Since I moved here in '99, I think I've had less than 1 hr of total power loss. I use a 750W UPS to back up one of the Tunze 6100s.

Power has never gone out for more than 5 hrs here though.

I live in St louis Mo. From 1997 until last year, I hadnt lost power for more than 4 hours. I still decided to have back up battery powered airpumps "just in case". (Penn Plax B-11 silent air pumps).

Last year, St Louis got smoked by a series of heavy storms. Two in the summer which wiped out power to over 600,000 homes in the area, and again in December, which wiped out power to 500,000 homes. These outtages lasted up to two weeks in some areas. We were out of power for 3 days during the first storm. We got lucky and were able to find a 8.5Kw generator for sale and got it running shortly afterwards. The follow on storms werent such a big deal other than buying gas for the generator...

Point of this sermon is that I have sizable amount of money, (for me) invested in my tanks, and I'm not all interested in losing that money because Ameren UE decided to increase profit margins by cutting back on tree triming. Alot of people lost tanks due to the power outtages, it can happen anywhere, anytime.

Nick

[MC Lighting]

I don't agree with not having any kind of backup plan but to each his own... I just moved to a place that "never had any power outage except for maybe an hour here or there" and then last winter they had a freak storm and the power was out for over a week in most of the state not just a city block or localized event…
I personally have a bit of an overkill setup but that is the way I am and most of the things I use I have purchased for use doing other things as well so it is a shared investment. As stated there is too much money and heart ache involved in these tanks and to loose it all because I am to cheap to spend a few hundred bucks to protect it is nuts.
First line of defense is a 4kw Power inverter with 4-4d batteries, it is capable of running the tank for several days if I shut down the lighting and run only the pumps and maybe the heater for a little while if the need arose although I think I would fire off the 400w halide instead since it does a plenty good job of heating the water and they would get light on top of it plus my heat is gas here so keeping the room temp us is a big plus. The inverter is in line with the circuits I want protected so it is always conditioning power as well as boosts power when say the chiller starts which helps protect motors and such from low voltage. This also runs the refer and my office equipment so I can keep up and running for work as long as the cable or phone companies don’t both die on me which the cable company was down for several weeks this last storm DSL however was ok.
Second line of defense is my little 1k Honda generator that is super quiet but easy to steal, so my plan of attack is running everything on inverter at night and recharge the batteries during the day as the generator does not need to be rated for the load of the tank as the inverter can "make up" the difference if it needs to. I can also recharge the inverter batteries with a portable solar panel that I have (used to be permanently installed on my trailer but now live in an apartment) or if things really go to hell like the week + event they had this year I can disconnect one set of batteries at a time and recharge them off of my Diesel pickup for an hour running at high idle and then do the same for the other set, so I have many choices to keep things up and running for quiet some time.
I also have my demo trailer that has its own Batteries, 1500w inverter and solar panel installed that could be used and can be recharged by the truck too so as I said overkill yes but VERY flexible and redundant plus I have a friend with me who is disabled so it helps with the stress standpoint as to keeping the environment a little more stable…

Just my .02

[pledosophy]

I think Raul is prepared. Props !

[tmz]

I live in Buffalo. Last October we suffered a devastating snow/ice storm. The trees still had foliage and they came crashing down through power lines roofs and anything esle that got in their way. On Thursday morning the roads were all but impassible and of course there was no power. I had lost power the previous evening and was running two battery backup air pumps and several air pumps off.( a 400watt inverter hooked up in my truck.(I run 8 tanks). Fortunately we had a supply of wood for the wood stove and were able to keep the central area of the house where the display tanks are warm, I needed gas to keep my truck running and d batteriews for the air pumps ,radio flashlights,etc. It took over an hour to get out to the main road and when I did most fo the gas stations were closed -no power for the pumps. I found one that was pumping and after an hour wait in line filled up and went home to assure my wife that I had not met my end on this 4hour adventure. It warmend to about 45 degrees and the snow about 6inches of it started to melt. The house sump had no backup so the bailing started. No generators were to be had in Buffalo for virtually any price. Reports suggested that the earliest hope for power return was 8 to 10days. My aquariums were doomed. I felt hopeless and frustrated.The next morning at 3am my son and I headed out of town .We located a Lowes about a hundred miles away with generators and bought a 5500 watt for $700,hurried home to releive my wife who was still bailing and got the generator running. What a wonderful sound it makes when it runs. I lost a couple of fish to a subsequent ich outbreadk but was able to save almost all of my specimens. Many in the area lost entire systems. I will never be without that generator and gas to run it.
Tom

[wooden_reefer]

I will just make sure I use a separate curcuit for the absolute essential: the return pump and aeration. The lights will use another circuit.

When my investment get more and more serious, I'll use a UPS for computers for the aeration only.

I have never had an outage longer than a couple of hours.

[fsn77]

I rely on our boat batteries and a 750w inverter. I had to use it just a week or so ago... lost power for 5+ hours thanks to a tranformer going up the street a mile or so. I only used it to run our return pump and 3 MJs, and it worked fine.

If my wife keeps adding tanks to our house, we'll have to buy a generator.

[wooden_reefer]

Originally posted by fsn77
I rely on our boat batteries and a 750w inverter. I had to use it just a week or so ago... lost power for 5+ hours thanks to a tranformer going up the street a mile or so. I only used it to run our return pump and 3 MJs, and it worked fine.

If my wife keeps adding tanks to our house, we'll have to buy a generator.

I was told that inverters give square-wave AC. Can return pumps run on square-wave AC? What brands of return pumps do you have that run on inverter AC?

[wooden_reefer]

Originally posted by fsn77
I rely on our boat batteries and a 750w inverter. I had to use it just a week or so ago... lost power for 5+ hours thanks to a tranformer going up the street a mile or so. I only used it to run our return pump and 3 MJs, and it worked fine.

If my wife keeps adding tanks to our house, we'll have to buy a generator.

If there is enough gas in your car, why do you need a battery? Can you just run your inverter with the car running for a few hours? I guess you may have to go somewhere with your car. Is that it or am I missing something.

[sherm71tank]

Large UPS (for when I'm not home) and a generator.

[chunchma]

Where does one find some of the things listed below that you guys are talking about?



1st line of defense: UPS capable of keeping 2 SEIO 800's going for 5 hours.

2nd line of defense: 2 air pumps set to automatically start pumping when the UPS dies. These will run for 5 days on 2 D batteries.

3rd line of defense: 1 deep cycle/marine battery w/ inverter capable of running powehead, fan, minimal lighting for about 8 hours.

4th line of defense: 1 generator, capable of running, powerheads, portable AC unit for 8 hours on 5 gal of gas.

[Sk8r]

Actually, that came due this morning when we had a power out on a holiday---fortunately, it got fixed in a hurry.
My plan [tones of Pinky and the Brain]...
a) live close enough to downtown they have to fix an outage real fast.
b) if it looks really bad run to Sears and finally buy that generator.

[BWine]

I just recently bought a generator specifically for my tank.

[kh6sat]

Small UPS. Runs main circulation pump, power heads and air pump. Runs them for 30 mins. After that I have a battery powered air pump. Hopefully power is restored by then. Next plan is to add a generator for long term.

[Scuba_Steve]

Originally posted by wooden_reefer
I was told that inverters give square-wave AC. Can return pumps run on square-wave AC? What brands of return pumps do you have that run on inverter AC?

It will work, but no they are not good for pumps. Pretty recently though, true sine wave inverters have been developed. They are about 3x as much, but well worth it to save your pumps.

[Scuba_Steve]

double post......

[maxxII]

Originally posted by Sk8r
Actually, that came due this morning when we had a power out on a holiday---fortunately, it got fixed in a hurry.
My plan [tones of Pinky and the Brain]...
a) live close enough to downtown they have to fix an outage real fast.
b) if it looks really bad run to Sears and finally buy that generator.

Better hope Sear's/Lowe's/Home Depot/Ace Hardware/etc still has a generator in stock when you're shopping for one.

Lots of people were highly ****ed when the GM of Lowe's sold all 18 generators he had that came in a special delivery from Wisconsin,(just for the power outtages), to the first 18 people in line. The 19th guy was not happy...

Nick

[MC Lighting]

Originally posted by Sk8r
Actually, that came due this morning when we had a power out on a holiday---fortunately, it got fixed in a hurry.
My plan [tones of Pinky and the Brain]...
a) live close enough to downtown they have to fix an outage real fast.
b) if it looks really bad run to Sears and finally buy that generator.

lol if your think because your near a big city that it is going ot be fixed in a hurry I think you may be in for a surprise most of the state of washingotn was without power for over a week, it had nothing to do with what city you were near there were enough trees down in a freak storm that shut down the entire grid... Anyone remeber California and Oregons major power outage that lasted a couple of days when a forest fire melted main lines, or the east coast in 03? when most of the eastern states lost power due to a glitch. These are all of my points those that say well it won't happen here or it won't last that long I have now lived in 3 places that had never had this happen and then one day it was out for days...

I just cannot see how so many people on this board can spend in some cases tens of thousands of dollars on their tank only to squabble over $500 for a generator or even $200 for a decent quality inverter ut baffles me.

[wooden_reefer]

Originally posted by Scuba_Steve
It will work, but no they are not good for pumps. Pretty recently though, true sine wave inverters have been developed. They are about 3x as much, but well worth it to save your pumps.

If I'm home I can switch to inverter so sq-wave for a while is OK, but if I really want a UPS setup then my pump has to always run on the inverter. Which is to say that I do need a sine-wave inverter if I also want it to be a part of a UPS.

BTW. does cheap UPS for computers have sq-wave? In order to have a good UPS, you need a commerical UPS that gives sine-wave. Expensive.

[Peter Eichler]

Airstones, airline tubing, and lots of heavy breathing

[MC Lighting]

modified sine wave ie: square wave inverters will run the pumps fine they will however tend to run hotter and huml it is not good for the pumps however in an emergency case they will be fine in most instances I have run many motorised devices from mine and have not had any ill effects... Try to stay away from the cheapo models as they tend to put out pretty dirty power I personally like the xantrex brands and have had very good luck, the 800w in my other diesel is almost 13 years old and works just as well now as it did then...

[Mr31415]

Enough to carry everything excl. lights, chillers and heaters for 4 hours (30g, 145g, 480g)

[Bebo77]

if you dont have a generator you are asking for it....

[fsn77]

If there is enough gas in your car, why do you need a battery? Can you just run your inverter with the car running for a few hours? I guess you may have to go somewhere with your car. Is that it or am I missing something.

I could run the inverter straight off our car, but that would be a lengthy extension cord. The boat batteries are easy enough to just carry into the house from right outside, set in front of the tank, and plug the pumps from the tank into the inverter. We need to have the batteries anyway to run our boat, plus this way I don't have use up any gas.

I was told that inverters give square-wave AC. Can return pumps run on square-wave AC? What brands of return pumps do you have that run on inverter AC?

Our crappy, Catalina "return pump" ran fine for those few hours off the invertor. I think it's more of a large powerhead than it is a true return pump like a GenX or similar.