power outage!?@!#$~

[Anonymous]

Just had a major power outage here!! Suppose to last 24 hours!! I have two battery powered pumps oxygenating the water. Its a 60 gal reef with 60 lbs of premium fiji live rock and 50 lbs of aragonite sand. Filtration is the rock and protein skimming which is in the sump!! Should I run to walmart and get a battery and a ac to dc converter for my pump? Thanks for any advice in advance!!

[This message has been edited by Archiver (edited 01 June 2000).]

 

[Anonymous]

You don't need to skim and you have done well to put the oxygenating pumps in there. The thing I would be most concerned about is temperature.... It could potentially get pretty low. What you can do is wrap the tank in towels (insulation) and if your tank's top is open, close it!

I think they may sell battery operated heaters, but I'm not too sure. If not, then I would plug it into the DC to battery converter you are talking about.



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E >< () !} !_! S

"So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living and moving thing with which the water teems,... And God saw that it was good."
(Genesis 1:21)

 

[Anonymous]

What are oxygenating pumps? if you dont mind my ignorance. Thanks

[This message has been edited by Archiver (edited 01 June 2000).]

 

[Anonymous]

Keep in mind that a DC/AC inverter probably won't power water pumps because of the type of AC power they generate. I say this based on experience. It should run an air pump, I believe. Also, buying a battery might not be worthwhile at this point since it probably won't come with a full charge. You may have to use your car battery. I can test the air pump on the inverter in an hour and let you know my results.

 

[Anonymous]

Oxygenating pumps are basically air pumps with tubing and an airstone attached. You submerse the airstone into the water column and it produces bubbles, surface agitation, and a bit of water flow.

------------------
E >< () !} !_! S

"So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living and moving thing with which the water teems,... And God saw that it was good."
(Genesis 1:21)

 

[Anonymous]

My inverter worked fine with my air pump.

 

[Anonymous]

for 500$ investment, a power generator is a must for me,

 

[Anonymous]

For 24 hours you probably won't have much of an issue with temperature. My power went out this past Winter during a snowstorm where Charlotte got 10" of snow (2-3" is major for us). Power was out for 18 hours at my house. Temperature in tank was below 64 degrees when I finally located a generator. I had nothing going in the tank at all for 16 hours with this low temperature and didn't loose anything (lucky I guess). Stuff only dies in my tank when all the paramenters look good.

You will probably be more concerned about temperature increasing to high this time of year. I don't think you have to worry about your tank getting to cold unless you are in the mountains somewhere. The airstones with a small battery operated fan blowing across the water where the bubbles hit the surface should help keep the temperature of the water from getting to high.

If you are in an area where power outages are a common occurrence I would definately invest in a generator. Lowes carried the smallest one I could find (4300 watts) for $399. It is big enough to run all the pumps, heaters on my tank and also has a 2nd line available to keep the refrigerator running. This size will run 7-10 hours on 5 gallons of gas. Best of luck!.........RR

 

[Anonymous]

Wow thanks guys those were some great posts well everythings well the powers back! I think I will try to save up for a generator seems like a good ticket to saving your investment!

 

[Anonymous]

RR, you beat me to it! Except that we were out of power for nearly 72 hours down here in Union County. Nearly a foot for us of the white stuff! Was still here in patches two weeks later!

Fishchevious,
RR is right that a cheap generator may be a good investment. The heat issue was not too bad for us as we have a ventless gas log that kept the place fairly toasty. I don't think the tank got below 74 degrees. But the lack of water movement concerned me. I cut back on food significantly, and did a water change when power came back. Only lost one scarlet cleaner shrimp. Fish and corals seemed to weather things just fine. Seems that these set ups may be more resiliant than we think.

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sanity is overrated!

 

[Anonymous]

As to power outages, and how I've tried to address them:

-I bought an APC UPS (that's a brand of Uninterrupted Power System - basically a battery back up gernerally made for computers). The one I bought will run my circulation pumps for about 4 hours.

-Into this I plugged two battery powered air pumps. Penn Plax makes one that plugs in and will go on only after the power goes off.

So, if the power goes off, I have circulation pumps for about 4 hours. When they die, then the battery powered pumps kick on, and will generally last 8-10 hours.

-Finally, I bought a generator (I told my wife it was to run the refrigerator and freezer......lol). This whole setup allows me to run the generator during the day, and keeps the tanks going at night on the UPS and the battery-powered pumps (the UPS will charge off the generator the following day, the batteries in the pumps I'll have to replace, so I keep a bunch of "D" batteries around). I do it this way because generators are LOUD (unless you buy the really expensive ones, and I'm too cheap). If heating or cooling becomes an issue, I can change what I have plugged into my generator or the UPS.

-$500 for the generator (a 4500 watt)
-$100-$150 for each UPS (one for each tank)
-$7 per Penn Plax battery-powered pump

This certainly can sound like a lot of money, but when compared to how much I've already invested in my tanks, it's not really that much......

Kevin

 

[Anonymous]

Here's what I'm doing to avoid power outages in the future. I have a marine battery that is constantly kept at full charge using a battery charger/monitor. The battery is connected to a AC inverter. Between the battery and the inverter is a relay. This relay is connected to a 12 volt adapter that is plugged into the wall. As long as the relay senses power from the adapter, it breaks the connection between the battery and the inverter. I have an air pump and a heater plugged into the inverter. If the house looses power, the air pump will begin to pump air to a large airstone in my tank. The heater is set to come on if the tank dips below 74 degrees. I will be doing a test soon to see how long I can run the heater and air pump. I can always add a second battery to the system to double the capacity. I plan to post details (part #'s, etc) soon. The whole setup cost me about $250. The beauty of it is that I don't have to be home to activate anything. For me, it seems that most problems occur when I'm not around.