koddyVT
New member
I feel extremely fortunate how this power outage turned out for my tank so instead of gloating, I took it as an opportunity to plan for future outages.
I did some research and it appears that most common UPS (uninterrupted power supply) units will not handle powering your tank for more than a couple hours (or less). UPS units are also expensive and there is little information regarding what/how long you can power devices off a UPS (depending upon what you're trying to power, what intensity, etc).
A marine boat battery (people suggested these over car batteries) can be used and fed into an inverter and provide many days of battery backup. Although, these setups are not typically something you can place on your system to automatically kick on if the power drops.
A battery+inverter or a generator is probably something you should invest in as a worst case scenario backup. Although, as I am currently a broke college student so I do not have the money to drop on a generator so I kept the wheels turning.
The next option if you have a vortech is their backup battery. This would be great to place into your system and allow it to turn on automatically when power is lost. Although, this will not send you a warning if you are not at your house when power is lost.
The more I read, the more I felt it was not necessary to power the entire tank for most power outages (this one is the worst in history in this area, so probably worst case scenario). I feel like having the knowledge your tank is not operating is probably the most crucial piece of information you can have in a power outage. If you are home this will allow you to stir the tank, float ice to keep it cool, wrap the tank with blankets in winter, etc. So in order to receive an e-mail/text you need to battery backup for your apex system, router and cable modem.
I found that some people use the Belkin BU3DC001-12V Battery backup (~$20) to provide temporary power to their Apex system (12V from Belkin straight into power port on the Apex). I e-mailed Neptune to make sure this was an acceptable means for temporary backup and the guy ensured me that it was okay (and said "just be sure to use the correct 12V power adapter (12V, 500 mA output, 2.1 mm tip, center electrode positive"). I ordered one of these this morning and will test it after I receive the unit.
The belkin battery backup will take care of keeping your Apex system up and running (~4hrs is what I read), and a smaller UPS (>$50) will keep your router/cable modem up so that at least you can get a warning to your phone/e-mail.
In summary
-UPS is not designed to sustain a long term power outage.
-Battery+inverter or a generator will provide enough power to get through most power outages but typically cannot be placed to automatically start up when power is lost.
-Vortech battery backup is almost a must and can provide circulation in your tank and buy time if you are not currently at your house.
-Warning there is a power outage is probably the most crucial piece of information you can have (I heard many stories about people left town, came back to rotten fish smell).
-Small battery backups for the control system, cable modem and router can be utilized to provide warning of a power outage.
I wanted to share what I had found in my research....I would love to hear other people's input or ideas. Please stick to the topic on how to provide intelligent solutions for managing power outages.
I did some research and it appears that most common UPS (uninterrupted power supply) units will not handle powering your tank for more than a couple hours (or less). UPS units are also expensive and there is little information regarding what/how long you can power devices off a UPS (depending upon what you're trying to power, what intensity, etc).
A marine boat battery (people suggested these over car batteries) can be used and fed into an inverter and provide many days of battery backup. Although, these setups are not typically something you can place on your system to automatically kick on if the power drops.
A battery+inverter or a generator is probably something you should invest in as a worst case scenario backup. Although, as I am currently a broke college student so I do not have the money to drop on a generator so I kept the wheels turning.
The next option if you have a vortech is their backup battery. This would be great to place into your system and allow it to turn on automatically when power is lost. Although, this will not send you a warning if you are not at your house when power is lost.
The more I read, the more I felt it was not necessary to power the entire tank for most power outages (this one is the worst in history in this area, so probably worst case scenario). I feel like having the knowledge your tank is not operating is probably the most crucial piece of information you can have in a power outage. If you are home this will allow you to stir the tank, float ice to keep it cool, wrap the tank with blankets in winter, etc. So in order to receive an e-mail/text you need to battery backup for your apex system, router and cable modem.
I found that some people use the Belkin BU3DC001-12V Battery backup (~$20) to provide temporary power to their Apex system (12V from Belkin straight into power port on the Apex). I e-mailed Neptune to make sure this was an acceptable means for temporary backup and the guy ensured me that it was okay (and said "just be sure to use the correct 12V power adapter (12V, 500 mA output, 2.1 mm tip, center electrode positive"). I ordered one of these this morning and will test it after I receive the unit.
The belkin battery backup will take care of keeping your Apex system up and running (~4hrs is what I read), and a smaller UPS (>$50) will keep your router/cable modem up so that at least you can get a warning to your phone/e-mail.
In summary
-UPS is not designed to sustain a long term power outage.
-Battery+inverter or a generator will provide enough power to get through most power outages but typically cannot be placed to automatically start up when power is lost.
-Vortech battery backup is almost a must and can provide circulation in your tank and buy time if you are not currently at your house.
-Warning there is a power outage is probably the most crucial piece of information you can have (I heard many stories about people left town, came back to rotten fish smell).
-Small battery backups for the control system, cable modem and router can be utilized to provide warning of a power outage.
I wanted to share what I had found in my research....I would love to hear other people's input or ideas. Please stick to the topic on how to provide intelligent solutions for managing power outages.
