Cheap but effective battery backup for your aquarium: Do you have one?

[Totlxtc]

Just a generator so the rest of us in the house are happy too.

 

[Appoloreefer]

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

In 2017 September 10th living in Florida Hurricane Irma went through Florida and we had 90 MPH winds and you could see the transformers just popping sparking colors of white and purple, the wind was blowing and trees were coming down. I had a saltwater tank 100 gallons and we lost power for 4 1/2 days, to keep my fish alive I would use battery operated air pumps and circulate the air with a spoon. I only lost one fish but it could have been worse. Now we have a generator so incase that happens again we will not have to worry. Some people may never experience an outage and be without power for days on end but believe if you live in the South it very well could happen. Back then fish prices were not so bad but now to lose a fish with the prices that they are would be horrible, not to mention the time and money we put into the reef tanks.

 

[BiggestE222]

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

Anybody without some power outage backup is asking for a disaster. You don’t have to pay for a whole house mega-power generator. Just get a Ecotech BB if you have MP pumps or an icecap if you have other kinds. Both less than $200 bucks. Which is the price of a decent sized LPS/SPS colony.

 

[Kernowzx2]

No worries here, have a whole house Generac system. At most we are offline for 5 minutes!

 

[BiggestE222]

Still setting up but we intend to get a UPS, even though we haven't had a power cut in about the last 5 years and I haven't known one that lasts longer than about 5 minutes in the last 20 years.

Here in Dallas most people’s power were out for 1-2 minimum days due to ERCOT and those unlikely below zero snow storms.

 

[ClownWrangler]

1. There is not cheap effective battery solution. You would need a huge battery bank to do much good. A tiny little battery that will get you through a 60 min power outage isn't even worth messing with IMO. Fish survive longer in bags the mail.
2. I will be investing in a generator soon enough.

 

[N1Husker]

We have a generator.

 

[BiggestE222]

1. There is not cheap effective battery solution. You would need a huge battery bank to do much good. A tiny little battery that will get you through a 60 min power outage isn't even worth messing with IMO. Fish survive longer in bags the mail.
2. I will be investing in a generator soon enough.

Well my BB will run an MP40 for 36 hrs

 

[tomboys]

Here in Dallas most people’s power were out for 1-2 minimum days due to ERCOT and those unlikely below zero snow storms.

I don't really know what you mean. What's ERCOT? I also don't know about any below zero storms. We've never had a power cut last longer than a couple of hours in my entire life as far as I remember (I'm 33).

 

[Rogueaquariums]

Ecotech battery backups on each tank and then we have 2 big and portable generators that can be hooked on. Next year we're installing a whole house generator.

I also have Ecotech battery back ups and a portable generator in case of a longer power outage

 

[Malcontent]

These and moving my fish into a cooler are my last line of defense. I bought two of these large stainless steel Kelly kettles this spring so if things get desperate enough I can efficiently and easily burn biomass to heat water.

 

[mslabonik]

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

We have a whole house generator and prior to that my husband hooked up our portable generator just for my tanks.

 

[Coronus]

1 Eco Tech battery back per tank. I also figured out how to replace the battery in the eco-tech battery back up for 30 bucks instead of buying a brand new one for 160. Also have a 12,500 W generator with a 50 amp outlet to plug it in

 

[Chuck Tyler]

Three Tesla powerwalls with enough solar to keep going indefinitely. Also (because I am paranoid) Computer UPS power units for heaters, pumps, gyers and some lights.

 

[PanchoG]

No battery back ups here, I have to still to plan for this not lasting power outages in my area nor hurricanes or tornados.

 

[Dryanimtt]

No battery back up. I have a generator though

 

[scottsweet]

I have 2 Ecotech batteries for my recirculation pump (in parallel). I also have a UPS on my electronics (Alkatronic, Dosetronic, Reefbot, Apex) because we get momentary power glitches and these devices hate that. I also have a gas generator ready to go if needed.

 

[mauisue]

Yes everything is run through battery backup, however, my fish store tech just programmed my Apex so that the Apex will detect wall power loss and Shut down all the appliances with the exception of a reef wave so I draw less power.

 

[DeniseAndy]

Only battery backup I have is a air pump run off batteries. I do have a generator though.

 

[lefkonj]

I have two computer style UPS's, one for each energy bar. They are only there to cover the power loss until the generator kicks in. I don't want equipment going off/on/off/on ever. The battery only needs to run for 13 seconds until generator kicks in but could run for 45 minutes if required (tested that).