Power Outages...

waiting

waiting

Member
I wasn't sure what forum to put this one under.
My tank will finally be a year old in June, and we have experienced 2 power outages in the last two weeks. One occurred during a thunderstorm, and occurred when I was at school. The thunderstorm knocked out power for about an hour long before we got things working, the school one, I'm not sure.
Does anyone have any suggestions/tips/adivce about what to do during/after a power outage in order to keep the tank from crashing?
Thanks.
 
doglvr

doglvr

Member
I read a story in one of the fish mags about a guy who had a black out and kept the tank going by rigging up battery operated drills with extra long bits over the tank. The drill kept the water moving
 
guinness

guinness

Member
you can by battery operated air stones. my friend had a power outage for three days and was able to keep the temp of with hotwater from another friends house. the only thing he lost was his xenia colony.
 
crt81

crt81

Member
Yeah but what do you do if your not at home?
If your at home you can run a battery backup but if your at school or work and no one is at home, you are pretty much screwed!
Does anyone have any suggestions of if there is any backup unit that will automatically turn on and not just run an airstone but maybe run powerheads or the overflows with powerheads?
Could a battery from a computer work? -You know the battery backup types!
Has anyone had any luck with this major problem that faces us all?
 
earlybird

earlybird

Active Member
Someone brought this up and I got one it's a great idea. Plenn Plax Silent Airs (you'll have to google it) is a battery operated air pump that also plugs into an outlet. When the power goes out it comes on. There are 2 styles make sure you get (if you decide to) the one that plugs in. The other is just battery.
 
xokarmaxo

xokarmaxo

Member
Originally Posted by earlybird
Someone brought this up and I got one it's a great idea. Plenn Plax Silent Airs (you'll have to google it) is a battery operated air pump that also plugs into an outlet. When the power goes out it comes on. There are 2 styles make sure you get (if you decide to) the one that plugs in. The other is just battery.
I have this one and feel a lot better when I'm at home and wondering if there is a power outtage at work (where my tank is) and wondering if everything is going to be okay.
 
crt81

crt81

Member
Originally Posted by xokarmaxo
I have this one and feel a lot better when I'm at home and wondering if there is a power outtage at work (where my tank is) and wondering if everything is going to be okay.

So the one you have isn't a pump with an air stone like the one from Zoo (it can be found on Drsfosterandsmith.com)
I had the one made by Zoo but I didn't realize that it was a pump for an airstone. I thought it was a battery backup that was for the entire tank!
I wanted it to be able to plug into a power strip ans when the power went off it would automatically switch over to battery!
 
crt81

crt81

Member
Originally Posted by earlybird
Someone brought this up and I got one it's a great idea. Plenn Plax Silent Airs (you'll have to google it) is a battery operated air pump that also plugs into an outlet. When the power goes out it comes on. There are 2 styles make sure you get (if you decide to) the one that plugs in. The other is just battery.

I just googled it and I'm having no luck with finding what you were describing!
 
xokarmaxo

xokarmaxo

Member
Originally Posted by crt81
So the one you have isn't a pump with an air stone like the one from Zoo (it can be found on Drsfosterandsmith.com)
I had the one made by Zoo but I didn't realize that it was a pump for an airstone. I thought it was a battery backup that was for the entire tank!
I wanted it to be able to plug into a power strip ans when the power went off it would automatically switch over to battery!
The one that I have is the PENN PLAX Silent Air Battery Pump. You can copy and paste that into google and it will come up.

It cost me about $10-$15 and it has a plug for you to plug into an outlet, but it runs on 2 "D" batteries. It's a small, rectangular blue box with a little hose connected to an air stone that you place in the tank (the hose/air stone part). Once the power goes out, it automatically turns the pump on. It's not a pump for the entire tank, but it will provide enough air bubbles/circulation to help save your tank in case of power outtages. My tank is only a 14 gallon Biocube, so it works perfect for me!
 
earlybird

earlybird

Active Member
Originally Posted by autofreak44
not too long, i would say no more than a day
Sounds about right. There are some on here who claim to have gone through a 6-8 hour outage and didn't do anything and they made out fine.
 
symon

symon

Member
I have thought about this myself, I have a surplus store close to me that has a pile of old CPU battery backup units. I am wondering if you could work them in a series to hold you over for days without much change in how your system works! Hmmm i am gonna have to get off my rear and work on this!
 
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