Power Failures

[baondayko]

What do you all do when there are power failures. I was thinking about the situation in Oklahoma and other places. Pickerington was out of power for hours on Saturday or Sunday.

I tried to run a small powerhead off a battery pack with an inverter (baterry pack is the type that can start cars), but it only ran the powerhead for about 30 minutes. I do have a small battery powered air pump, which I used. I have one. In a 90 gallon, do I need more than one?

Would a UPS systems work? What do you all use?

Thanks
Brock

[dicemanj]

I live in Pickerington - I was out of power for about 5 hours.

I bought a generator when I upgraded to a 180 reef two years ago. I have used it three times in the last year with power failures. It is nice to not have to worry about our fish. I kind of look at the expense as an insurance policy for my fish. Plus, when power is out it is nice to have lights and TV.

[Legacy2005]

I run a battery back up on my FW tank, it runs for 90 mins. all ui have plugged into it is my HOB, and a battery air pump that kicks on when the battery pack runs dead which gives me another 15-30 mins depending on the state of the batterys in it. im lucky that i live close enough to work that if we lose power at work i know i lost power at the APT so i can run home if need be.

i plan to run another for the sw tank im setting up. ill end up running the APC 1500VA. should give plenty of time running things if i keep what is plugged into it at the bare bones. return pump and power heads only.

a generator would work as well but if your not there to start it then what. maybe a small battery back up to let you get home and have a generator for long term power outages.

[RokleM]

A few APC Smart UPS's to run critical components immediately. That will keep me going almost two hours. If the power outage extends past about 1.5-2 hours, then I'm moving to my small Honda generator (true sine and throttle gas/speed based on load).

[Modena]

Battery powered aerators are good to keep handy. Also move the water around in the whole water columm with your hands and a turkey baster from time to time.

[baondayko]

Question,
How long can you usually run off of gas powered generators? I mean, if you are only running the basics (powerhead or two), will a generator with a tank of gas last 24 hrs, or are we talking a few hours before refilling?

I saw that circuit city had a battery backup on sale. I think it was like 1300VA, is there an easy way to compute how many hours that should drive a powerhead?

Thanks.

[llorence]

I got a gas generator two years ago when we had the Christmas ice storm. I've used it 4-5 times since. I can run about 18 hours on a tank of gas while powering my furnace, my neighbor's furnace (ran an extension cord to his house), some lights in the house, and all of my tank power needs. The peace of mind is well worth the $600 it cost me for the generator.

[RokleM]

I ran probably 800w or so in the last outage for a couple of hours. I barely had to top it off afterwards (so maybe a couple cups).

[baondayko]

awesome info...llorence.. what generator do you have brand/wattage?

Eric- what brand do you have?

Thanks
Brock

[MarineFishGuy]

I have a Coleman 6250watt generator (about $500 at Home Depot), but have never had to use it.
We had a power outage 3 months ago and I was at home at the time.
I ran a long extension cord from my Car (using a Power Inverter) into the house to power one power head. It worked great. I also setup a battery operated fan to blow air across the surface.
The Generator was buried in the back of the garage and it was raining hard most of the time so I couldn't easily get it out. I have since rearranged the garage so the generator is easy to get to.

The key is to maintain water movement to facilitate gas exchange (Oxygen in/CO2 out) at the surface. This really only requires a single (high volume=MJ1200 or better) power head placed across the tank at an upward angle. Make sure it agitates the surface sufficiently to keep any film from forming.
In winter a heater may also be necessary, but that draws a lot of power so I would use the lowest rated wattage you can get away with.

I am also looking to add a UPS so I have some circulation in case I am not home. I have a Tunze 6045 that only draws 8 watts so I would hook it up to that. A 1500KVA UPS could power that for several hours.

HTH,
Ken

[RokleM]

Honda eu2000i

[hollback]

Is that the generator you have Eric?

[RokleM]

Yes.