Guest clownfish4 April 13, 2004 Share April 13, 2004 How do you keep your tank up during prolonged power outages? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peacetypes April 13, 2004 Share April 13, 2004 Generator Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sph2sail April 14, 2004 Share April 14, 2004 Basically, a reef is the land of a million mouths. All those animals/bacteria/coral polyps/ ... Given the bio load, our run out of oxygen to support life after about 4 hours of no water motion and aeration. Peacetypes is right. Work on a backup plan. I have a generator for four reasons: refrigerator/freezer, septic pumps, gas furnace heat, keep my reef alive. I had to run this generator for 3.5 days during Isabel! Depending on your need, this may be an excellent choice. Others have acquired battery backed up air stone units that run in a lift tube system to aerate and move water. s Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grav April 14, 2004 Share April 14, 2004 Consider a power inverter. Save $500 and turn your car into a generator. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flowerseller April 14, 2004 Share April 14, 2004 I use a 10hp - 5500 watt generator. I put a 2pole 30w breaker in my box and run a cord to it from the generator. I can select which breakers I want after that. Sparingly! I also ran mine from 7a - 9p during Isabel and lost only a 6yld flame angle and almost a coral beautiful. Oh yeah I also "lost" a "friendly" neighbor but gained a few more after I hooked them in. I tried a computer back up but it was not that great. Chip Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SDBDRZ April 14, 2004 Share April 14, 2004 I too have a backup generator, funny thing is it has about 50 hours on it and I have never had to use it personally. My friends sure like it though ooh I have a sub panel sitting in my garage waiting for me to hook it up this summer. I am going to move the breakers for my reefs to the sub panel along with a few other items so that when/if I need to run my generator I will not have to run cords through the house. If you think about it a generator is not a huge investment considering the amount of cash most of us have tied up in our reef tanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SDBDRZ April 14, 2004 Share April 14, 2004 One other point I might add. If you go to Lowes or Home Depot to get a generator realize that the lower end generators may not be the best choice for continuos multi day running. I opted to spend a few extra $$ and get a generator with a Honda motor. It has been run for 4 days straight without any problems. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sph2sail April 14, 2004 Share April 14, 2004 I have a Generac 4200 generator w/Honda motor. It produces 17 Amps on each 120V leg, so you can power quite a lot of stuff. You really have to be careful in selecting what to run and when. Start up loads for most motors is huge, so be careful. Also be aware that backfeeding a house (as tgallo will point out) is not advised w/out a full transfer switch. Code mandates the transfer switch these days. Check out Back-up power for Isabel. We spent a lot of time on this topic back then. s Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michaelg April 14, 2004 Share April 14, 2004 OK for the people who cannot afford a generator- There are backup air pumps that will help a lot. Main concern during a power outage is anoxia- you need to keep the water moving somehow (I have made it through with zero causulaty with hand mixing through the night- not advisable). These air pumps need to be run in a downdraft tube (a piece of PVC with an elbow is all that is needed) which IMO can be aquascaped. Mine are now covered, and one serves as my blennies home Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mogurnda April 14, 2004 Share April 14, 2004 During Isabel, my corals survived with just a battery air pump for circulation for 3 days. Since then, we got a 5500 watt generator, which means we can run the fridge, some lights and the tanks. We lost power for 8-24 hours three times since we got it (thanks Pepco!), so it has been a good investment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest cjm033 April 14, 2004 Share April 14, 2004 i lost everything in my tank because i didnt have anything to backup and we didnt have power for a week. but now the tanks back up and running better than ever and im gonna get battery air pumps soon just incase,Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michaelg April 14, 2004 Share April 14, 2004 If you go the air pump route- make sure to keep multiple sets of extra batteries and to check them ocasionally by unpluggin them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mogurnda April 14, 2004 Share April 14, 2004 Totally. Funny that it seems like you have plenty of batteries until you've been without power for 24 hours. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest goblinshark April 14, 2004 Share April 14, 2004 How cheap are generators? I mean all u hav to run is the pumps and heater right so u dont need to powerful a one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sph2sail April 15, 2004 Share April 15, 2004 Generators are expensive. Mine was about $900. Add the in house wiring and cables and I was over $1200 total. But, due to Isabel, I saved about $4-500 worth of food, kept my tank alive, run a TV and couple lights occaisionally, and we could use the toilets (pumped septic field)!!! Was a good deal (I guess). I also agree with Michael. As I posted earlier, battery air pumps are a great solution for the occaisional hit. I recommend them as well. s Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krish April 15, 2004 Share April 15, 2004 I have a marine battery + automatic battery charger + 300W inverter. I power a powerhead, which is on all the time. When the power goes out, a relay engages the powerhead to the inverter. Also the air pump will come on. I expect this setup to power the tank for atleast over 20 hours. This setup has automatic takeover and has a higher capacity than a computer UPS. Probably will go the generator route in the future, but there is something to keep the tank up and running until one is home to start up the generator. -krish Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cbashaw April 15, 2004 Share April 15, 2004 here is a much cheaper option for a generator http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=4625 It's not great, but it's better than nothing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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