Your First Priority - for Power

[rcastreje]

Greetings Community,

I am planning a BTA tank and am thinking of the UPS System (Battery Backup Power) (I am a computer guy and have the gear, so why not).

Given a choice of having 2 specific feature of your tank's life support systems, what would be your highest priority item and then 2nd choice that you feel would be the best use of a battery backup.

(Ex. Heating/Filter/Water Flow/Lighting/Skimming/etc).

I am guessing filter pump, but would to hear your thoughts and if something other then filter pump, why.

Thanks,

 

[2OceanLovers]

Your first priority is always water movement. That way there is always oxygen in the water. I have heard of many tanks crashing and everything dying because of no water movement. I would think that no. 2 would be either lighting or skimming.

 

[Anemone]

It really depends on your filter pump. If it's an energy gobbler that will drain the UPS in an hour, then no, I wouldn't connect that one. The important thing is having surface agitation to aid in gas exchange/water oxygenation. So, sometimes a smaller powerhead, pointed at the water surface that lasts 8 or 10 hours on the UPS would be a better choice.

FWIW,
Kevin

 

[OrionN]

UPS system to run an air pump that would pump an air stones in the tank and sump when the power is out is really needed. Running the main pump or light is just consume too much power for most UPS system. Other than that, I would get a converter that convert car battery power to 110 w AC to plug what ever you need. A generator is a more expensive and noisier solution for longer term power black out.

 

[rcastreje]

Awesome - thanks for the input.

I am going to go with an extremely small power head that points at an angle to break the water's surface.

Thanks again for the great input.

-Rich

 

[flasher1]

I would hook up my seio because it has a very low watt draw and the t5s from my mh t5 combo to keep the sps and nem happy. With no flow through the tank you can bet your a$$ i would be doing water changes to help with aeration and with removing excess waste. Just MO.

How many hours can a battery back up system like that last on 150w total power (t5's and seio)

 

[rcastreje]

Well - I have 2 450w UPS Units - One Unit is going to power only a single 20w PowerHead that will function as Kevin recommended above. That will yeald about 20hrs. The 2nd UPS will run lifesupport for about 2 hrs. Lighting and other in-tank current will not be covered.

I am only looking to protect my enviroment in the event of a Southern California Rolling Blackout (sucks) which only last a little more then 1 hr.

A $60 UPS (Guessing as I did not purchase these units) will only give you about 3 hrs. of protection at 150w. (Still guessing as I know very little about electricity and have determined at an early age that Electricity is not my friend and therefore we don't interact much)

 

[OrionN]

I got two battery operated air pumps (for live baits) that operated by 2 D bateries for 3-4 days (less than 10 dollars each including the air line and air stone). I am set for short outage. I also got 800W power converter that I can hook up to my SUV. With my car running, I can power my tank plus a few essential things in my house for a long period of time. Right now I don't have storage space to store a Power generator, but when I finish remodel my house (in about 12-18 months, I plan to restart my large tank and will have a generator at that time.

 

[maxxII]

I have a couple of these:

Penn Plax B11 Silent Air Pump

Read this...

Disaster Readiness

Those are short term for me. For a longer term outtage, I went ahead and bought a generator. Be smart of you're gonna buy a genset, learn about the potential dangers of them, (electrocution, axphyxiation from Carbon Monoxide, and fire), and for Gawds sake...dont buy one just big enough for the fishtank if you're married...you'll never hear the end of it.

Nick

 

[OrionN]

That is great Nick. I just ordered three units. Having it automatically turn on when power outage is detected is very important. My air pump, I must manually turn it on.

 

[maxxII]

I cant say enough about them. They work great for my purposes.

Granted for longer outtages, I need to fire up the genset....but I can make until then.

Nick

 

[dc]

I have about 8 of those penn plax pumps. I put them in my tanks when I go on vacation. I put 2 in my 75, 1 in my refugium, 2 in my anemone tank and 1 in my FW. I bought them over a period of time.

Here's a post with a link to increase circulation for them.
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=618700&highlight=silent+and+air

 

[maxxII]

Thanks for the heads up about that Debi. I keep two on the tank at all times. I just switch out the batteries every time I change the smoke detector batteries w/ daylight savings time changes...

Nick