Battery backup...

[BestMomEver]

I don’t have any kind of battery backup which is totally stupid because I live in an area where storms are common and power outages happen fairly often. Usually they are resolved quickly but I get really frightened whenever we have one. And then there are the hurricanes....

I’ve wanted a battery backup for a long time. Now that I have an Apex, I thought of getting the Neptune battery because of its ability to run individual outlets and reduced speeds, which means it will last longer. But as with everything else, I’m sure there are alternatives. What are y’all using and why do you like/dislike it? Thanks!

 

[laverda]

I use a couple different things for my 300 gallon tank and 70 gallon sump. None of my EB8s are hooked to back up, but the APEX brain is for notification purposes only.
First I have a large 1500 amp hour ACP UPS with addtional battery pack. The battery pack is hot swappable. This is my second one. I was able to find the UPS of amazon new for less than $50. I thought it was a scam as the are $130 and up typically and what I paid for my other one years ago. Just keep looking. This will run my return pump for a day or more. My orginal one earned its keep several times during some 8-12 hour outages a few years back. It was a good feeling not worring about the tank.
2nd I have a large sealed battery hooked up the a larger Tunze pump near the waters surface using the Tunze safety switch. The battery is hooked to a small 2x6" solar cell to keep it charged. This also worked well when I needed it.
3rd I have a battery powered air pump that turns on automatically when the power goes out. I just added this to mu bsck up plan from Marine Depot for $35.00 on sale recently. It comes with an addtinal USB battery pack like sold for cell phones. I have several other similer batteries already which is nice. I should be able to run it for days and easily recharge the batteries from the car if needed.
4th I have several D cell battery powered air pumps. While not automatic they work amazingly well, with the batteries lasting much longer than I would have expected at 12 hours plus. They are handy for other things like transporting fish. I even hooked one to a float switch and used it as a ATO fir a nano tank. They used to sell gor just 15.00 I think the are $20-25 now.
5th I have a generator that I have had for 10 years and never used. My other solutions handled the power outages without my need for it.

I also have my modem on a UPS so I can get notifications from my apex if the power goes out.

 

[scott11106]

i also have a 300 gal with 100 g sump, i run 3 eb8" and each of them are hooked to their own APC1500 that will last 10 min or so keeping the entire system up and running minus some small items plugged directly to a wall outlet. I also have a house generator that kicks on when power is out for 5 min so with that being said the battery backups are in place to keep everything from cycling down before the generator kicks on. One thing you have to pay close attention to is the peal wattage as if your system peaks past the maximum range on the APC the APC can shut off and not reboot until you manual do so. having said that if you stay below that wattage you are fine (hence why i have 3 APC's ) and i balanced the load across the 3 especially lights and heaters as they are the major power hogs.

 

[laverda]

There is no reason to run lights and some of the other things during a power ououtage. For most tanks a flow pump near the surface is all that is needed. Some people may need to run heaters, but I have not had to here. Heaters are going to require a bigger UPS or work for a much shorter time.