Which UPS do you suggest?

[Mr.Yuk]

I have occasional brief brownouts here in houston when there's a storm or something. I've never had more than a few minutes of power loss. I'm interested in an APC UPS to run the main recirc. pump of my 75g tank only [not heater, lights, etc] in case of a brief outage, mainly to prevent it from being quickly jammed off/on by the power outages.

Can anyone suggest which model would be appropriate? I don't know much about electricity..thanks

[ri]

I have an APC SmartUPS 1400. Runs my Iwaki 70 and a few other small items for about 1 hour.

The real cheap UPS units don't have a decent "simulated" sine wave output and arn't very good for AM motors/pumps.

ri

[Mr.Yuk]

One hour is not bad. Does anyone else use anything smaller, cheaper? My return pump is 700 gph and pulls about 70W I think.

[guitarfish]

As a computer geek, I've used APC UPS's for...18 years? I never use any other brand. The SmartUPS models are designed to communicate with PCs. The BackUPS models are designed for non-PC applications, we use them on phone switch systems, routers, etc.
The Backups 650 is probably the entry level unit if memory serves, I wouldn't go any smaller because you won't have much runtime. The Backups 1000s are about the size of a car battery - real big mommas.
On APC's web you can calculate approx. runtime if you know the parameters of what you're powering.

[Steve175]

Looking into this as a backup option. Anyone with experience using them on a reef? Steve.

[cyrilp]

Make sure you get APC *Smart* UPS.
They have sinusoidal output and will work with your pumps.
____
cyrilp

[kmatwill]

Why worry about an hour outage? Your tank will survive. I don't think your pump will get jammed by being turned on and off quickly.

[Locarius]

Get an DC to AC inverter and just keep a spare car battery around the house. Much cheaper.

[sambryce]

I got an APC Back UPS PRO 1100 from Sam's Club for $120. I have my mag 9.5 plugged into it, but I haven't tested how long it'll run it. Sounds like a good thing to test this afternoon :D

[sambryce]

OK....I yanked the plug and the UPS kept my Mag 9.5 running for 3 hours. At the 3 hour point the low battery alarm started beeping constantly and I couldn't take it anymore. I would think it only had another 5-10 minutes left in it though.

That was much longer than I previously thought or calculated. The mag 9.5 must draw less current than I thought.

That is also longer than the average power outage we have here. We're moving into another house in a couple of months that the previous owner wired for a generator that will run about 1/2 the circuits in the house. That'll work for the longer outages.