UPS and a controller?

[Dhelseth]

I have a reef keeper lite plus but i want to incorporate a Uninterrupted Power Supply into the set up to help with power surges and provide battery back up. Anyone plug the PC4 or other controller splitters into the UPS directly? What UPS are you using?

I'll have a Octopus diablo xs160 skimmer, mag drive 12, a couple korolia 950 power heads, and 2 AI hydra LED units.

 

[Decadence]

UPSs are awesome for a reef tank. They have some pretty good ones for cheap at SAM's club if you have one of them near you. Get something nice and big to run your return pump and a couple power heads off of.

 

[d2mini]

Unless things have changed, a UPS doesn't have much power to run a full tank for long. Heck, they don't even run my computer for all that long.
I think it's a great idea for surges and power blips, but for a real outage you will need some other options. I would at least pick up a second power supply just to run your power heads. Flow within the tank is the most important during extended power outages. The system pump does not need to be running.

 

[maroun.c]

Guess it depends on the Amp rating of the UPS and the batteries you use. If you go with 200amps batteries, it might be able to run a medium size tank with MH lighting, minimum flow, and skimmer for 5-10 hours (depending on bulbs wattage), that is without chiller of. Course. Move to LEDS or minimum T5lighting or even switch off your lighting and then you have enough power to run the tank for days maybe. Of course battery status will affect how long they last in an outage.
Don't see why you wouldn't be able to hook your power bars to outlets fed from the UPS. Same for the controller supply.

 

[reeftails]

Most consumer sized UPS' wont last that long with all of that equipment. However, it might be a good idea to only plug in the most crucial items such as the return pump.

 

[acabgd]

Actually I would rund only the reutrn pump and heaters with UPS. All other items can wait for power to come back, if it lasts longer than a few hours or half a day UPS won't help anyway.

 

[Decadence]

When I had my 20g long SPS reef running, I could run the whole tank and all of the equipment for a half hour. The same UPS will run a return pump and a couple power heads alone for four hours.

 

[d2mini]

Actually I would rund only the reutrn pump and heaters with UPS. All other items can wait for power to come back, if it lasts longer than a few hours or half a day UPS won't help anyway.

I would run the powerbeads inside the tank before I ran the return pump.
Flow is the most important thing, especially with SPS. Your power heads provide a lot more flow, using a lot less energy. Best way to keep things alive in a power outtage. If you have to, drop your heater into the display temporarily. You don't need to worry about skimmers, reactors, etc.

 

[acabgd]

I would run the powerbeads inside the tank before I ran the return pump. If you have to, drop your heater into the display temporarily.

Acually this is a pretty good idea. I might want to do exactly this with my UPS.