Hurricane preparedness (ernesto)

[blackthunda77]

I just want to know what ideas you guys have for keeping you tanks functioning witha power outage (without a generator) I live in a condo. I have gone through power outages b4 and have managed pretty well. right now i have some battery powered air pumps so i should be ok. i wanted to know if there are any battery powered pumps like power heads for wtaer circulation. does anyone use car batteries, inverters, ect.

 

[funi42]

i would suggest a car battery and power inverter. this way you can run a mj maybe 2 and use the battery powered air pumps to give the mj's a rest

 

[jeffbrig]

If you intend to run it down to nothing, I highly suggest a deep-cycle battery rather than a conventional automotive battery. Car batteries just aren't designed to be run down like that.

I have a large (1400 VA) UPS hooked to a 45w Tunze pump in my aquarium. I run it that way all the time in case of power outages. When tested in the past, it ran over 3 hours without getting low. With a smaller MJ powerhead, you could probably get 4-5 times the running time. For longer outages, I have a generator, and if the first two ever fail me, I have battery powered air pumps.

As you can see, I have backups for the backups for my backups.

 

[Agu]

Don't use the airstone with a bubbler, the larger bubbles create more turbulence and more flow. A piece of rigid tubing works best to get the bubbles to the bottom of the tank.

Have plenty of RO/DI water handy, have some waterchange water handy, and fill your freezer with bottles of water. (Open them first and remove some water to allow for expansion.)

 

[Kurt03]

maybe instead of just airstones bubbleing put them inside a airlift tube and just hang them on the side? Or is this what you planned on doing with the air tubes?

 

[blackthunda77]

well i have an air stone and also bought a larger flat airston, i guess its for aesthetic pposes in fresh water tank, it outs out a lot of bubbles though. if i keep the batteries relatively fresh there is alot of air put out. im just trying to figure out how to get some current via one of my small power heads. i have a car jump pack, its like an inverter and it has jumper cables on it nad it puts out power but you can only plus in things with a cigarette lighter input. im trying to see how i can get around that but i havent been able to so far.

 

[Agu]

I made airlifts for a bubbler and they work really well if you have a larger or deeper tank. Made them out of 1/2 pvc, anything bigger and it didn't create good flow. For my tanks it wasn't necessary............

 

[Kaos]

The only thing you are going to need for Ernesto is an umbrella!

*I get tired of the weather/news people getting everyone all up tight for nothing. Their just disappointed we haven't gotten all the hurricanes they originally predicted (although, I know, the season isn't over yet).

 

[blackthunda77]

id rather have it this way then to have it explode right b4 it hit land and then just stall for hours like wilma did last year.