Lost power !

[fltekdiver]

Been without power now for 15 minutes had a bad storms come thru Florida been home thank God when do I need to start getting nervous do I need to run out to the car and disconnect the battery and money power heads through sn invertor?

I only have 2 clown fish and my clean up crew in my 120 I could just got done cyclin last week when should I start worrying an hour or two from now if it doesn't come back on?

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[dkeller_nc]

If that's all that's in your tank, it can go 4 or 5 hours without power if you will occasionally dip out a quart or two and pour it back from a height of 2-3 feet. Anything longer than 3 hours and you may wish to start acting on your backup power plan (gathering the proper extension cords, setting up the power inverter in your car, adding an air pump and air stone to your tank, etc...

[fltekdiver]

Thanks they are now saying we may not have power to 10 p.m. Tonight I have the inverter going off the car with the power heads going right now and the power heads in wave mode to stir up the water. I will have to run to the store in a little while to get some ice to put in a tank As I am sure that the temperature is rising

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[Snookslayer85]

I live in south florida and know the feeling bud. Invest in a small generator. It will give you peace of mind for our normal summer storms. Also make sure to get you a grounding probe as well for your tank.

Good luck!

[dkeller_nc]

Originally Posted by fltekdiver

Thanks they are now saying we may not have power to 10 p.m. Tonight I have the inverter going off the car with the power heads going right now and the power heads in wave mode to stir up the water. I will have to run to the store in a little while to get some ice to put in a tank As I am sure that the temperature is rising

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S3 using Tap Talk

Actually, ice isn't going to help you all that much if it's really hot in your house. If you do the calculations, you would need roughly 80 lbs of ice over a 12 hour period if your goal is to keep a tank at less than 82 degrees and the surrounding air temp is 90 degrees. Obviously, this figure varies enormously depending on how much heat generating equipment you have in your tank, whether the tank has a hood or not, whether it has an enclosed stand or not, etc... The figure I quoted is based on a 120 gallon's glass area, 25 watts of internal equipment, 90 degree air temp, still air, an enclosed hood, an enclosed sump, and about a 70% R.H. in the air surrounding the tank.

What I'd suggest instead is going to Lowes and buying a $15 vortex fan. They use very little power so you can run it off of your inverter. Either completely open the tank's hood, or better yet, remove it. Set up the fan so that it blows directly across the length of the water's surface. That will cool your tank far more than adding ice to the sump/tank.

[eastfernstreet]

One solution I've heard before is to go to a sporting goods store and buy a "bait" aerator. It's a small, battery powered aerator that is used to keep oxygen moving in the bait bucket during a fishing trip.

Good luck!

[fltekdiver]

Originally Posted by eastfernstreet

One solution I've heard before is to go to a sporting goods store and buy a "bait" aerator. It's a small, battery powered aerator that is used to keep oxygen moving in the bait bucket during a fishing trip.

Good luck!

Man, I have one of them, never even thought of using it!

[fltekdiver]

Power came on about a hour ago !

I had the power heads and bubble stone running off my truck inverter

I have a APC battery back up, but it didn't last that long ?

Ok, What do I need to do, in case I'm at work all day ?

I was very luck today it happened on a Saturday

I will get a Generator for sure , but how can I get power heads and fans etc going all day If I was at work ?

[nlgill13]

I would look into getting vortech powerheads with a backup battery...This has come in handy a few times when there is a massive power outage.

[fltekdiver]

Do they switch over automatically ?

How long will they run on the battery back up?

[nlgill13]

Do they switch over automatically ?

yes...if they are connected to the backup battery

How long will they run on the battery back up?

it depends on how many and what powerheads and backup batteries are connected...(ie if you have one MP10 hooked up to 2 backup batteries...it should last somewhere around 144 hours)

[fltekdiver]

Which battery back up?

[nlgill13]

http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/vortec...y-back-up.html

not sure with other battery backups

[fltekdiver]

Thanks. They are pricey. I would need a 40 size, which is $450.00 plus another $170 for the battery backup

I'm running 2 Jebao WP 25's which use 20 watts a pc at maximum , today I was running them half speed, so figure 30 watts total

My skimmer uses 25 watts on full, I can back that down to level 4 and it will skim fine

But let's say I run both power heads and skimmer at full maximum speeds, I'll be using 65 watts.

Lets figure another 25 watts to run a fan across the top of the water

So at 100 watts. I could run close to 2 full days with what I have now, on a APC battery back up. I have one, but the battery was dead today. Go figure

http://www.amazon.com/APC-BR1000G-Ba...use+generators

[fltekdiver]

This one will keep me up and running for a week !

http://www.amazon.com/APC-BR1500G-BA.../dp/B003Y24DEU

[Jeff000]

Originally Posted by fltekdiver

This one will keep me up and running for a week !

http://www.amazon.com/APC-BR1500G-BA.../dp/B003Y24DEU

This will be your best bet.
They just need new batteries every couple years to keep the capacity up. New batteries are fairly cheap though compared to the full unit.

[fltekdiver]

thanks, I'm going to buy it.

How would I run everything though? Right now I have everything going through an Apex
controller

Because if I were at work. And it switched over to a battery back up, my led lights. Controller. Everything would be running through the battery back up?

[nlgill13]

I would run only essentials when the power is out, like your main pump, heater, and your powerheads.

[Jeff000]

Originally Posted by fltekdiver

thanks, I'm going to buy it.

How would I run everything though? Right now I have everything going through an Apex
controller

Because if I were at work. And it switched over to a battery back up, my led lights. Controller. Everything would be running through the battery back up?

1500va should run a 90g full system for at least 5 hours. No heaters or chillers though.

Might be worth picking up one of those kill-a-watt meter things to plug in your system and see what it draws, could get a fairly close guess to how long it would last. But even at 1200 watts you should get almost 2 hours. Although I've had a couple drinks and on my phone. Just remember that VA is a vector calculation.

Having the apex control everything makes the backup a little tricky without using relays.

[jjmg]

I've gone through a couple hurricanes with a 110 gal. Keep the pumps to a minimum while power is out, since pumps will just add heat to the tank, and remove the canopy if you have one to allow more air movement. One small power head mixing the water at the surface will keep you tank going for days. The temp will rise since these things happen in the summer but just keep the surface agitated for O2 exchange.

Ensure your skimmer is clean and monitor it when the power comes back on to make sure it doesn't overflow. Having some water for a water change after power comes back on is a good thing also. If power is off for more than a few days, bring your lights back up slowly and allow the corals to get used to it again.

I didn't lose anything with the power off for 8 days one time and 3 another. If you live in Florida, be prepared for a hurricane and extended power outages, it will happen sooner or later.

[ryeguyy84]

I made my own vortech battery backup from parts at radio shack the day before sandy hit Jersey.

All I used was a 12v 18AH sealed battery, a fuse, some wire, a battery maintainer, and a plug that fits the vortech. This saved my tank as we didn't have power for days. The only issue was the cold but luckily my stove is gas so everything was okay.

This could run mp10 for over 72 hours and an mp40 for 36 hours.

http://www.bostonreefers.org/forums/...Battery-Backup

[fltekdiver]

Thanks, I'm going to order the APC 1500 Battery Back up

Yesterday, I kept 2 power heads and a bubble stone going for 6 hours off an inverter off my truck in the driveway.

I'm also going to buy a 4-stroke generator as well, in case we loose it for a week

There's a few things I'll have to figure out

How to run everything through the Apex Controller, but I guess unplug everything from the controller if, or when I get home, after the powers been out for " Not sure " if I'm at work

How do I run the skimmer, because I'll need the return pump to run, maybe re-design my system to an ext pump?

Canopy off, lights stay off for heat, first I'll run everything off the APC battery Backup

Then after a day, if its going to be that long, or longer, buy a generator, and charge the battery back up off the generator, and when that runs out of gas, switch back to the battery back up

The Apex Controller is throwing the loop into everything

[athompson]

What a nightmare. Im in south alabama and made my husband go out and buy a generator for hurricane season. I have thousands of dollars in fishtank and would not want 1 stupid storm to knock em out. Get a 7500 watt at lowes for less than 1000 bucks. Imo its a must in hurricane and power outrage zones like we live in.

[fltekdiver]

Your right. We get terrible summer storms down here, and yesterday I was stressed out, running around like a nut with extension cords, etc, trying to keep the tank going

We're going to buy a 10,000 watt generator , 4 stroke so its quit and can run at night also

My heart was racing all day yesterday, worried about the temp in the water, we just introduced two clown fish, our fist fish in the tank 2 days ago, so I didn't want to re-stress them out

[cincyjim]

Originally Posted by eastfernstreet

One solution I've heard before is to go to a sporting goods store and buy a "bait" aerator. It's a small, battery powered aerator that is used to keep oxygen moving in the bait bucket during a fishing trip.

Good luck!

+1 on the aerators. I've had to use those many times!