Power loss=Lost fish

cougaran

cougaran

New member
We had several good sized tornados rip through the Springfield area, I ended up losing power for some 13 hours. My tank could have been alot worse, but I ended up losing one of my favorite fishes of 3 years- a very healthy bicolor angel. I found him on the bottom of the tank with mouth wide open. The two wrasses-a cleaner and a six line showed up later after I thought they were a loss too. A yellow cucumber climbed the tank wall to the top. So it looks like a very low oxygen condition.

My question is some suggestions for a mostly FOWLR setup- I have a 90 gal, but have a 300 still in planning stage. I dont want to go into a generator. I was thinking of possibly one of those battery backups used for the computer. I'm wondering what would be the best bang for long term power loss. There are nearby areas still without power. I was thinking that for my 90 the possibility of just keeping 2 powerheads(20 watts each) on battery backup to prevent a loss till the battery drains. Anyone have any experience or suggestions....

I also have 2 small portable battery powered airpumps and was planning to use those this AM, but the power finally came on. Unfortunately, I needed "D" batteries to use them.
 
Get a couple of Penn PlaxB11s

They come on when the power goes out and run at least 24 hours with fresh batteries. I have one on each of my nano tanks. Of course it helps if you have batteries in the pumps when the power goes out.
 
UPS systems are NOT cost effective. You will need a unit that outputs a true sine wave if you wish to run pumps or powerheads with it. A decent unit will cost you as much as a small generator and will only run your pumps for a few hours. Batteries are expensive and need replacement every 18-24 months. Even a DIY unit comprised of a few deep cycle marine cells, a charger and a sine wave inverter will cost you as much as a small generator. To add some perspective, I sell high end UPS systems (Liebert) and wouldn't dream of using them on my tanks, even though I have several laying around :)

As Agu pointed out, small battery operated air pumps are great and can last for days on a handful of small batteries that can be stored long term. An airstone or two can move a lot of water and help to sustain oxygen levels.

For long term situations where the lack of heat and/or light may become a problem, a generator is really the only viable option.
 
BeanAnimal said:
UPS systems are NOT cost effective. You will need a unit that outputs a true sine wave if you wish to run pumps or powerheads with it. A decent unit will cost you as much as a small generator and will only run your pumps for a few hours. Batteries are expensive and need replacement every 18-24 months. Even a DIY unit comprised of a few deep cycle marine cells, a charger and a sine wave inverter will cost you as much as a small generator. To add some perspective, I sell high end UPS systems (Liebert) and wouldn't dream of using them on my tanks, even though I have several laying around :).
Click to expand...

Wow, didnt realize that they are really that inefficient..I had thought with the low watts that I would be better off.. I guess its buy some D cells for emergency and pull the 2 battery powered airpumps from storage that i already have. For a 90 I imagine two would be good enough?

As far as the 300, I think im going to have to look into a generator then....
 
There are generators and then there are generators. Research first before buying. I run all my tanks on a whole house generator that automatically comes on when required and runs off of natural gas.
 
Agu said:
Get a couple of Penn PlaxB11s

They come on when the power goes out and run at least 24 hours with fresh batteries. I have one on each of my nano tanks. Of course it helps if you have batteries in the pumps when the power goes out.
Click to expand...

Without a generator, this is a great solution.
 
snorvich said:
There are generators and then there are generators. Research first before buying. I run all my tanks on a whole house generator that automatically comes on when required and runs off of natural gas.
Click to expand...


A whole house (standby) generator is ideal and not really that expensive for a modest size unit (when put in perspective of the cost of a 300 gallons system.

As far as portable generators go, I don't feel anything beats a Honda. However, a good Honda portable will cost almost as much as the whole house standyby!

If neither are in the budget, then the cheap China alternatives are still viable, as many of them have knock-off honda engines. The 6kW Harbor Freight units can be had for less than $400 on sale and the 2kW units less then $200 on sale, the 800W ultra portable for about $100. While these gensets are by no means Honda's and will by no means last a long time if exposed to extreme use and duty, they do fairly well for as occasional use gensets.

If the genset you are looking at does not explicity say it has a Honda, Briggs or Tecumseh engine, then it is likely a knock-off and the same genset as he Harbor Freight, no matter what "brand" it is. Sportsman's Guide, Lowes, Home Depot, Sears, Cabella's, etc., all sell the same China import gensets under dozens of brand names. Even some of the larger well respected manufacturers sell smaller gensets (anything under about 8kW) that are the same rebadeged imports from one of the same China factories.

Cougeran,

It is not that UPS systems are inefficnet, the problem is their overall cost per Watt of output per hour of runtime. In the real world we don't really "run" things from UPS systems very often (due to the cost). By far, the most common role of a UPS system is to hold the critical load long enough for the genset to come on-line and up to stable revs. Real world, this is 5 to 15 seconds, so UPS systems are sized to hold the loads for a few minutes. We size them (worst case) to hold the load long enough for the systems attached to them to be safely shut-down (maybe 10 - 15 minutes).

Because I have access to the equipment, I have (2) UPS systems here that will run my (2) servers and network switch/router and broadband modem for 8-12 hours. The battery cost every 3 years is 20 batteries @ $30 each!!!
 
I'm a proud owner of a 3500W All Power America generator I picked up at northern tool for around $300 a few years back.....it's not quiet, and it's not a honda.....but it starts up on the first pull, and keeps the tank running, the fridge cool, and the TV / Cable on for the kids....for the price, you can't beat it really.
 
Oh, the one downside to my generator is that it is NOT quiet. It also makes the neighbors crazy when my house is lit up when they have no power. Keeps my tanks, pond, refrigerators, etc. all nicely functional. I seem to recall the total installed cost was about $5,000. Switch over is automatic.
 
I went out this spring during outage and bought generator too. Bought one large enough to run basically most of our house, although I have no intention of using it as such. It is not a auto on and all that good stuff, but It puts out quite a bit of power and was only about $1000. I have seen them on sale for as low as $700. So pretty small penny compared to what is in alot of our tanks.

I have already had to use it two times for outages that def would have been long enough to kill.

And ya, it is loud =P
 
I appreciate all the responses and am going to have to do a little research. If the inexpensive ones are able to run an aquarium then its well worth the investment, especially with all the livestock I plan on getting..On the upside if the power goes out I can also run some other stuff... I'll have to just figure exactly how much I want to spend on one to do the job....
 
The Back-UPS family offers guaranteed power protection for wireless networks, computers, gaming consoles and other electronics in your home or business. Models supply battery backup during outages and unsafe voltage fluctuations, as well as provide protection from damaging surges and spikes. They’re available in 'tower' or 'floor' styles, and together with a variety of standard features, they are the perfect choice to protect your data and keep you connected.
 
I have one at work. They are always testing generators there and so fare this things work perfect and price reasonable. Hope could help
 
UPS's are designed to be able to allow the user time to properly shut down a computer following a power outage, not run them while the power is out for an extended period of time. That said, they typically can only run a small pump for an hour or so before the battery is drained.

Dollar for dollar, a generator is a much cheaper solution, for the same $125 (cost of a good UPS), you can get a small generator that will run your tank indefinitely and have a little power left over to run the TV to shut up the kids.
 
I have a 3000 watt ups... it will run a long time, but for the same price you can get a generator. However at 13 hours, you will need a UPS anyway. What if you lost power on your way to work... 8-10 hours later you get home and find out... Gonna take an hour to get your generatour outget gas and get it started because you dont exersise it every week.


You need both...

FYI, most commercial UPS's are true sine wave because they have power conditioners. But all are $500 and up (way up).


I have a $100,000 UPS at work designed to run my phone switch for 24 hours... $1000 gets you a generator st HD and will run it as long as you have gas...
 
As has been said, nothing is going to replace a generator in a power outage that spans multiple hours like you are talking. The closest thing to it would be some vortechs with battery backups, but that is going to cost a ton of money QUICK. Any reason you don't want a generator? It wouldn't have to be a very big generator if all you want are pumps running.
 
jansonnick said:
The Back-UPS family offers guaranteed power protection for wireless networks, computers, gaming consoles and other electronics in your home or business. Models supply battery backup during outages and unsafe voltage fluctuations, as well as provide protection from damaging surges and spikes. They’re available in 'tower' or 'floor' styles, and together with a variety of standard features, they are the perfect choice to protect your data and keep you connected.
Click to expand...

I am not going to go very far out on a limb here and kindly point out that consumer priced UPS systems are pure junk. I see nearly a 100% failure rate of "consumer" UPS units within an 12-36 month period. They are very prone to surge damage, damage due to the inrush current of loads during switchover, etc.

Secondly, the "VA" rating of the UPS is not a measure of its runtime. The runtime is a product of the battery size and the battery management efficiency and the current draw of the load. Consumer UPS systems have a single small SLA battery in them, maybe 2 on the larger units. Most consumer UPS systems do NOT output a true sine wave and therefore ARE NOT suitable for running motor loads (pumps and powerheads) and most ballast loads will kill them.

There is a world of differnce betwen a motor load and a switch mode power supply in a PC.

If you insist on using a UPS system, then you need a commercial grade UPS that has a true sine wave output. Liebert, TrippLite and APC make suitable models, but be prepared to spend $500 or more for a reasonbly sized unit and batteries.
 
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