Battery Back-Ups...Who Uses Them?

Hey Guys,

We are looking at about 16 inches of snow in Virginia right now and another 8 possible today and tonight. A power outage hasn't happened yet but it has me thinking. How many people have battery back-ups in case of an outage? I have the vortech MP-40W but didn't buy the battery back-up. I have also seen some battery powered air pumps. I was wondering what everyone does with a power outage and how long can it last that way. Is there anything else that you can do? And what do you do for heat? Thanks!!!

Regards,
Ivy

 

I have heard of some using a APC computer backup for a while but it will only last so long. You will also need to worry about heat during this time too. Really matters how much money you have invested but a generator is a good piece of insurance to have.

 

I've been seriously thinkin about gettin an apc as well. If the power goes out, hopefully it can run a heater and an air pump for a bit. I have some lying around at my sisters house so I will put it to the test and see how long it lasts to get an idea. I will post my results here.

 

+1 on the generator.

Do your tank a favor, and buy foam insulation, and cut pieces to "wrap" your tank in it. That way, if you lose power, your tank will remain warmer longer. Also, try to cover the top a good bit to keep heat in, but make sure to use battery powered airstones to keep the water oxygenated.

I used to live in Maine and we had frequent power outages for good amounts of time with ice storms. I never lost anything in my FOWLER tank by insulating it and running battery powered airstones. Doing the steps I mentioned if you don't have a generator is a good way to keep your tank healthy.

 

An APC backup will run about an hour on a maxijet 1200. I would skip the heater, and insulate the tank instead, and run a powerhead off of the UPS with the air venturi open to oxygenate the tank water.

The heater will very quickly drain the UPS, especially wit not much to no water movement.

 

Thanks guys!!! I am seriously thinking about the battery back up for the vortech. It says that it will run for up to 24 hours on a battery. I might also look into a small generator for the tank. Any idea of what size would be good? I don't know much about generators. An hours worth of time isn't much and i would be freaking the whole time waiting for the power to come back on. Thanks again!!

Ivy

 

I have a generator for my tank in case the power goes out. Generators have a wattage output given for them. So, look at what you would run during a power outage, count up the watts used, and buy accordingly. Most generators produce way more wattage than you will need. My generator actually runs better when I run a 1300 watt space heater along with my tank. By the way, it is a 3000 watt generator. Keep in mind that the smaller you go, the less fuel you will go through.

 

This entirely depends on the size of the UPS. They have a very large product line. The larger beasts will perform far longer, especially for a small pump and heater. I throw an air pump on mine as well with an airstone in case of a power outage.

 

I just bought an APC 1300 XS. The display says it will run my two Koralia 1s for 14 hours. The inverter inside the APC actually draws more power off the battery than the powerheads since the display shows the same run time with or without the powerheads plugged in.

I also bought an APC 1500 XS. This one has more capacity for a higher current load. Because of this the inverter pulls more power off the batteries and it displays less run time with no load (and the two K1s) than the APC 1300 XS does. Since I get more run time for my tank with the smaller one I'm using the bigger one for my PC.

Not all powerheads will run on the stepped sine wave output of this inverter when it is running off of batteries. I found that K1s will run but K2s and K3s won't. You'll have to experiment to make sure. I spent $100 on the UPS at Fry's. A true sine wave output APC with the same capacity runs $500.

The UPS will not be able to run a heater for very long. I'm using the it just to run two K1s in the event I'm not home when power goes out. For long term operation I have an inverter that I hook up to my car. This will run a heater and my return pump as well.

 

An uninterruptible power supply, also uninterruptible power source, UPS or battery backup, is an electrical apparatus that provides emergency power to a load when the input power source, typically the utility mains, fails. A UPS differs from an auxiliary or emergency power system or standby generator in that it will provide instantaneous or near-instantaneous protection from input power interruptions by means of one or more attached batteries and associated electronic circuitry. The on-battery runtime of most uninterruptible power sources is relatively short—5–15 minutes being typical for smaller units—but sufficient to allow time to bring an auxiliary power source on line, or to properly shut down the protected equipment.
While not limited to protecting any particular type of equipment, a UPS is typically used to protect computers, data centers, telecommunication equipment or other electrical equipment where an unexpected power disruption could cause injuries, fatalities, serious business disruption and/or data loss. UPS units range in size from units designed to protect a single computer without a video monitor (around 200 VA rating) to large units powering entire data centers, buildings, or even cities. Although the larger units are much more expensive than what you would find at you local electronics or office store.

For most of us, our tanks can survive a power outage of a few minutes to hours. The serious concern is when a power outage stretches out to many hours or even days. This is beyond the ability of any reasonably priced UPS but is entirely what a generator is designed for. There are several classifications of generators but for your purposes you should consider either an emergency generator or a standby generator. Basically, a standby is one that is always connected to your house through an automatic transfer switch. This switch monitors the voltage coming into your house and if it senses a loss of power, automatically turns on the generator (and disconnects your house from the electric grid so that the generator isn't sending live voltage back down the power lines and posing a hazard to utility workers trying to repair the lines). This type of generator has some real advantages in that it comes on automatically even if you are away at work, on vacation, or sound asleep. Depending on where you are when a power outage hits your tank, a lot of damage could be done before you ever got a chance to turn on some other type of generator or take other emergency action. A generally less expensive option is a small emergency generator that you pull out of storage, fill with gas, and pull the starting cord to get running when you need it. Depending on the size of the fuel tank and how hard you are working the generator, you will need to refill the fuel tank every few hours (day and night, rain or snow). I'm not sure how much gas or diesel fuel you keep on hand but you might also need to make a few trips up the road in bad conditions to get more fuel.
As with most things in life, your choice of emergency power (or lack there of) will be based on a balance of pluses and minuses. Any choice beyond keeping your fingers crossed and hoping that you stay lucky will involve some amount of cost with the more reliable, robust, and convenient solutions being more expensive. A simple test might be to look at what it would cost you to replace every living thing in your tank and add then an apropriate amount for whatever pain and suffering you would feel watching you tank die and going the the labor to rebuild. Compare this amount to what it would cost to buy either an emergency or standby generator. Once the first number is getting close to the second number, it's probably time to get a generator.
As an added bonus, depending on how you size your generator, you may realize some benefits for the comfort of you and your family as well as your fish tank.