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I've had two of those. The first one when I didn't have gyres. I bought a second one but it failed. Maybe because the kind I bought doesn't work with gyres. It's hooked up but doesn't work on power fail. I run my gyres through it. I now have a portable generator when we had snow in Texas, it came in after the crises, go figure, brand new still in the box. I need to find a battery backup for gyres.
I like it. Where do I get it and how much??It's gonna happen. You will lose power at some point. MOST of us will never experience a catastrophic power outage where we lose our whole reef tank but preparing and mitigating can sure give you peace of mind and offer assurance IF it did happen. But do we have to have a super expensive home generator in place or can we protect our tank inhabitants with simple battery backups? Let's talk about it today!
YES a generator is best but let's talk batteries!
1. What is a cheap but effective battery backup solution for your aquarium?
2. Do you have a battery backup plan in place and if so tell us what?
image via @dactylo
I've been looking at those. Maybe I'll get one soon.Have belts and suspenders with Sansi-belt slacks
Had 2 EcoTech for return and powerheads, backed up with a gas powered THEN last month bit the bullet and gifted the family with a Generac - it has kicked in twice already, once for 4 hours
Here you go, this and a couple D batties and I use a nori clip to hold hose down and behind rocks. Use a check Valve but run hose only, air stones clog too fast.I had a breaker flip on my then 125 g tank while I was at Disney in Florida. At the time the Apex Fusion power notification wasn't a thing. I had a fellow reefer checking the tank every other day. He checked it Monday and all was fine. On Wednesday when he checked it again he got a call as I was parking in the disney parking lot. "I'm really sorry to report to you but I got here and your breaker had flipped and all your fish are dead. I'm removing what I am able to and restarting everything."
He had got to it in time to save the corals from a massive ammonia spike, but, it had to have shut down after he had left Monday night. I had lost power for 12 hours and the fish were fine. So, I anticipate 24 hours was probably the point at which they started suffocating one by one.
I still don't have a power back up solution, but, I have the Fusion heartbeat monitor, I've built a lot of redundancy into my electrical. I have one EB 8 on its own circuit with GFCI and a second EB 8 and the Apex computer module all powered on a separate circuit on it's own GFCI. Plus a Wyze Cam and the network router on a completely separate circuit. Should a single breaker flip it SHOULD not be catastrophic as I should be aware of it.
I agree a backup air pump is a great idea and I need to find a good one that has auto switch on if power lost.
I've considered a generator and since we have a camper now too. Debating getting the home plugin installed for one so we can use it through the house. But, still deciding on the investment being worth it. It's worth it when it's needed and when it's needed is when its too late to purchase one.
Cheap and effective is the title guys!!! Generators and expensive equipment is not in everyone's budget.
I DIY'd a battery backup based on this YouTube post: