Hurricane Season :(

[rawbomb]

Since we all know whats coming soon, what is everyone using to back up thier tanks. i have a gen and battery air bubblers but i want something a little nicer since last time gas was a luxury and i went thru alot of bats.

I have seen alot og people using units with deep cycle marine bats, anyone have a set up like this and a place to buy it?

 

[ReefWreak]

I've seen the people with the marine batteries, and people swear by them. If you're serious about your big tanks, then check out the EcoTech vortex powerheads that have 20+/- hour battery backups as an option (designed so you have until the generator is brought around). They're also comparable to Tunze Streams, so if you don't have heavy duty powerheads for your big tanks yet, then it's definitely an option.

 

[rawbomb]

i wanted something like a deep cycle system. cant afford those 350 pumps with 130 bat packs at the moment.

 

[don954]

I have a live-well pump hooked to a dedicated deep cycle battery, which is connected with a relay that closes when power is lost & turns it on. I have tested it and it will run for more than 24 hours on type 27 battery. The pump is plumbed into a dedicated nozzle for my tank that has a venturi to keep O2 levels up.

 

[Abengochea]

hey don, how many amps is ur pump? Ill probably piece mine together using golf cart batteries b4 hurricane season hits but was curious as to what u were using.

 

[rawbomb]

did you make all that yourself

 

[don954]

The pump is rated at 2 amp but it draws closer to 1. I got the relay from radio shack, hooked to wall power to activate it when power is on. The battery is hooked to center, and the pump is hooked to the engergized=off side. A battery charger is on the engergized=on side.

 

[Rogger Castells]

Ray all you need to make a DIY back up with a battery are the following:

A battery, deep cycle prefer (they las longer)
like this one
battery

A Charger/maintenance device, Walmart sells them for about $24 to $200, get the one that have an automatic maintenance switch, this means that it will only charge the battery when it detects it needs charge otherwise it will be connected but not charging.
like this one.
battery charger baterry charger

A power inverter, this is the device tat is going to convert your battery electricity into usable 115v for your devices.
like this one
power inverter

all the above items are sold at Wallmart

if you want to get fancy you can buy a relay at radioshack that is normaly open and closes the circuit when looses power, you will need to install this in your live wire and it will turn your devices on automatically as soon as you loose power.

 

[Rogger Castells]

forgot to mention, you want to find pumps and airpumps that are as power efficient as possible to make your battery last longer.
Either way I will still have a generator ready to go

 

[FleeVT]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9713461#post9713461 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Rogger Castells
if you want to get fancy you can buy a relay at radioshack that is normaly open and closes the circuit when looses power, you will need to install this in your live wire and it will turn your devices on automatically as soon as you loose power.

Rogger, what prevents everything else plugged into wall outlets in the house from drawing power from the battery (e.g. VCR clock)?

 

[jeffbrig]

I think you guys are headed down the wrong road when it comes to hurricane planning. Battery backup systems are great for short term outages (I use one myself), but you will find that the capacity is insufficient in an extended outage.

I strongly recommend having a gas generator if you have a significant tank investment. An inverter hooked to a car can also be used, but they are less efficient. An idling car burns as much gas as a large generator, but the inverter provides a lot less power.

I have a 3 phase power backup plan. First is a 7000w generator that burns 8-10g of fuel per day. I stock 45-50g of gas in the garage when a storm approaches, which should be enough to get through the first few days of aftermath and gas shortages. I also have a UPS (battery backup) on the Tunze Streams in my tank. That allows me to keep some flow running and turn the generator off periodically to save gas. If the worst should happen and I find myself without gas and the batteries run down, I have some battery powered bubblers that can go in the tank.

Works so far, I made it through 6 days and change after Wilma with no power, and didn't lose anything.

Jeff

 

[compulou]

15K Generac home generator here. With enough gas (propane) to run my entire house for a week!!! Also have a 1300w rack mount UPS that will run my entire system for about a day w/lights. Longer if I run just pumps.

 

[pedromatic]

During the storm you should have enough deep cycles to run at least the circulation pumps with a power inverter. Otherwise, you can run some bubblers off a UPS from your computer for hours - no power anyway so you won't be on here 80). Afterwards you can run your tank(s) off a generator. Charge your deep cycles with the generator at the same time. Repeat.

 

[Rogger Castells]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9714901#post9714901 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by FleeVT
Rogger, what prevents everything else plugged into wall outlets in the house from drawing power from the battery (e.g. VCR clock)?

Don't understand the question, how could anything draw power out from the battery? the charger is connected to the wall outlet, battery is connected to the to the charger and the inverter is connected to the battery and the devices you want to power up.
Are you saying that the battery juice could travel back through the charger into the house outlet and drain the power that way?
I am not sure if this could happen but I guess it is possible, I guess the ony way to prevent this would be to disconnect the charger from the wall once you loose power.

 

[Osteomata]

I dont have a big aquarium yet, but I have a couple questions for those who do:
Given a hypothetical 220G aquarium containing medium biolode and mainly softies/LPS, what would you say is the minimum requirement to get through a few days without power? I am in a condo and CANNOT have a personnal gas powered generator, and the condo's emergency generator (yet to be installed) will only power firefighting equipment, emergency lighting, and the elebators, so I am out of luck.

 

[Rogger Castells]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9715082#post9715082 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jeffbrig
I think you guys are headed down the wrong road when it comes to hurricane planning. Battery backup systems are great for short term outages (I use one myself), but you will find that the capacity is insufficient in an extended outage.

I strongly recommend having a gas generator if you have a significant tank investment. An inverter hooked to a car can also be used, but they are less efficient. An idling car burns as much gas as a large generator, but the inverter provides a lot less power.

I have a 3 phase power backup plan. First is a 7000w generator that burns 8-10g of fuel per day. I stock 45-50g of gas in the garage when a storm approaches, which should be enough to get through the first few days of aftermath and gas shortages. I also have a UPS (battery backup) on the Tunze Streams in my tank. That allows me to keep some flow running and turn the generator off periodically to save gas. If the worst should happen and I find myself without gas and the batteries run down, I have some battery powered bubblers that can go in the tank.

Works so far, I made it through 6 days and change after Wilma with no power, and didn't lose anything.

Jeff

Jeff, I think you are missing the point, Rawomb has a generator but he wants to know of alternate methods since gas was a luxury last time we had a hurricane, I think he brings a very good point, having a battery back up as a second insurance or as an alternate life support to alternate with the generator is a good thing to have.

I agree that a generator is the way to do things but I also understand that not everyone can afford one and some can't even have them because of housing restrictions E.G. high floor apartments!

Also remember that not everyone has large size tanks like you and me, some members have smaller tanks can perfectly well survive with this battery systems.

 

[Rogger Castells]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9715542#post9715542 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Osteomata
I dont have a big aquarium yet, but I have a couple questions for those who do:
Given a hypothetical 220G aquarium containing medium biolode and mainly softies/LPS, what would you say is the minimum requirement to get through a few days without power? I am in a condo and CANNOT have a personnal gas powered generator, and the condo's emergency generator (yet to be installed) will only power firefighting equipment, emergency lighting, and the elebators, so I am out of luck.

Short term (up to 12 hours) Minimun req will be 5 to 8 small battery operated airpumps pumping air through air diffusers placed all arround the bottom of the tank and in the rock formation. this pumps will go for a couple of days non stop. Don't forget to place difusers at the sump and refugiums as well.
If you have Proteim skimmers and/or canister filters and reactors, take this time to empty them and give then a clean, but don't let them stay through the power outage with the water standing inside as it will quickly go bad and guess were that toxic soup is going as soon as the power is back

 

[REDDAWG43]

As per Armando Bengochea (his RC is not working)

Ok, here’s what I have calculated. Using a low consumption powerhead like the koralias (3.5 watts) means that it is .0304 amps. (amps x 115 volts = 3.5 watts) So using a power inverter at 90% efficiency, then that makes the powerhead consume .0338 amp (.0304 / .90 = .0338 amps) Now if you get a deep cycle battery like the 12 volt military batteries made by US Battery which has an Amp Hour rating of 110, then that means that 110 / .0338 amps will give you 3254 hours of usage which should give you 135 days of usage. Now I know that one will never need that many days of continuous use but if you add a second powerhead it would still have plenty juice to power them. Then you can charge the battery once you get your power back J

 

[jeffbrig]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9715686#post9715686 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Rogger Castells
Jeff, I think you are missing the point, Rawomb has a generator but he wants to know of alternate methods since gas was a luxury last time we had a hurricane, I think he brings a very good point, having a battery back up as a second insurance or as an alternate life support to alternate with the generator is a good thing to have.

I agree that a generator is the way to do things but I also understand that not everyone can afford one and some can't even have them because of housing restrictions E.G. high floor apartments!

Also remember that not everyone has large size tanks like you and me, some members have smaller tanks can perfectly well survive with this battery systems.

Very true Rogger, but I wanted to make sure that others reading the thread understand the limitations of a battery backup. They're very helpful, and like I said, I also use them in addition to my generator.

 

[Rogger Castells]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9713499#post9713499 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Rogger Castells
forgot to mention, you want to find pumps and airpumps that are as power efficient as possible to make your battery last longer.
Either way I will still have a generator ready to go

So did I