power goes out ?

scsinet

Active Member
A generator is a good insurance policy to have, especially since they can also keep the fridge going, so you can keep your beer cold.
Lots of folks use battery backups, but those only last a short time. A cheap generator is only about 150 bucks and will last as long as you can keep gassing it up.
 

scsinet

Active Member
Originally Posted by tdog7879
http:///forum/post/2624906
how long can the tank go without power?
It depends entirely on your stocking levels, and other factors such as how warm it is or cold it is (therefore whether you need to heat or chill the water).
A lightly stocked tank with plenty of live rock in the DT can go for a while... maybe 4-6 hours without much risk. But if you are heavily stocked or rely on significant biological filtration in the sump or some other external filter things can go bad.
 

nordy

Active Member
Agree on the generator recommendation-not onl;y for the tank but to keep the beer cold as well.
If you get a battery operated UPS you can squeeze a little more time by hooking up just maybe one pump and one powerhead to the ups instead of all the other stuff we usually have powering our tanks.
 

mr.m

Member
Well 2 hrs can realy play blank on some tanks but outhers can get buy. but why not just buy a cheep generator you can get them now for 190.00 and we spend a lot more then that just on rock and sand. I bought one but i live in Arkansas and we lose power a lot from storms

Mark
 

nuro

Member
Originally Posted by MR.M
http:///forum/post/2625246
Well 2 hrs can realy play blank on some tanks but outhers can get buy. but why not just buy a cheep generator you can get them now for 190.00 and we spend a lot more then that just on rock and sand. I bought one but i live in Arkansas and we lose power a lot from storms

Mark
some of us live in condos where generators arent allowed :)
a back up battery is my best friend. I've got two actually, one for the pump in the sump and another for a fan blowing directly on the tank, if you want to get slick and have some computer skills you can actually buy automation stuff from x10.com that will allow you to turn things on and off in the event of powerfailures
 
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dborne3

Guest
I was also looking at this situation because i lost power for about 6 hours the other day and was starting to think about the battery back up. I will be going out of town for my honeymoon and i would like to get a battery back up just in case the power goes out (since a generator wouldnt help me here).
So does anyone suggest a certain type? I have a 30gal with just a powerhead and hanging filter (Emperor 400) that would be plugged in.
 
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dborne3

Guest
But i have no idea on what im looking at... i just keep seeing ones made for your computers and i have no clue on how long that would last on my tank. Also no clue on how many VA to look at.
 

scsinet

Active Member
You can also go to the product selector at :
http://www.apc.com/tools/ups_selector/index.cfm
Click "Configure By Load" and key in the total wattage of the equipment you want to run, and the amount of time you want them to run. It'll then show you the UPS sizes required to do the job. You can then buy a UPS of the same VA rating from any vendor and get reasonably similar amounts of runtime.
I will stress though that a UPS should be a secondary choice to a more robust solution such as a generator.
 
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dborne3

Guest
Well i have tried to figure out the wattage of my filter - which isnt the Emperor 400 but it is the Penguin 350 - but i cant read the wattage of the filter because its in a corner and cant get to it.
I feel so stupid but i cannot find out the wattage of this thing. I've looked everywhere. Would anyone know of it offhand??
I would definitely be buying a generator if i was to be stayin at home but im going away for 12 days with someone feeding them every now and then - so a battery back up might save me some hours if power were to go out with no one there.
 

scsinet

Active Member
It's probably no more than 100 watts...
A kill-o-watt is a tool every aquarist should have laying about. You can plug anything into it and it will tell you real world wattage draw (most things don't draw as much in actual operation as their nameplates say).
 
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dborne3

Guest
Well the more i look into this - the more i think its a total waste of money. Even if it has 100watts, i would have to buy something over 100$ just to get an hour of backup time. I would like to have a generator instead but i dont think it's worth it for such little time of use.
Thanks for helping everyone
 
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