DIY battery backup for Nero pumps (feedbacks/advices needed from experts)

[Reefahholic]

Wouldnt it be nice to be able to though?

Indeed! The power outage might be 12 hours or it could be 14 days. You just never know. It’s best to over-plan than to be caught with your pants down. Trust me, I’ve been caught a few times in the past which is why I have a generator and quality batteries with Power Inverters. Having more than one battery is the way to go. I’m fixing to convert my generator over to propane as well which give me more options. When gas is not obtainable I can easily switch over to propane with two 40# tanks and run for 2 weeks.

 

[Reefahholic]

This guy has Full BattleBorn setup in series! He prays for power outages. Lol

I run AGM batteries, but if you can afford it and wanna step up to the highest level...lithium iron phosphate/ LiFePO4 is king. They are very expensive. It’s like Mag drive pumps vs Royal Exclusive Red Dragon pumps.

 

[Ratherbeflyen]

You never answered my questions or posted pics. Which corals survived this 4 day blackout with 30-40 degree temps since you failed to run heaters. What fish survived it?

Who said I was running 500W heaters? Even if I was my setup can easily handle it.

I think you’re giving the bad advice telling people to run DINK batteries with 1 gyre pump and NO HEATERS.

Having BOTH quality batteries and a back up generator will get them through the outage (and extended outages) when the gas is completely gone in 24-48 hrs in most cases.

I never said my tank survived a week of freezing temperatures on only 1 gyre pump. I also never said you don't need heaters.

What I said was cheap lead acid batteries will provide some water circulation for 4 days. All of this other long term grid down freezing temperature survivalist stuff was fabricated in your head.

As I've mentioned several times, the point of a battery backup is to provide circulation and gas exchange ONLY!!! I'm not always home or awake when the power goes out and the battery backup automatically kicks in the gyre providing water flow and gas exchange. That keeps my tank going on the single gyre until I can make better fixes. Last week was no exception. I was not right there every time the power went out. When I got to my tank, the gyre was working every time. That provided life support to the tank until I put my return pump and both 300 watt heaters on my portable generator. My tanks have been though power grid failures, a power strip burn out, and both the main 15A breaker as well as the GFCI outlets have tripped. The first time my tank lost power, I had no backup system and it took months for the tank to recover. Every since I've implemented an automatic battery backup, I've never lost a single coral or fish to a power loss. Even when the temperature was not ideal in the house. It is far, far more important to keep the water moving and oxygenated than it is to keep the temperature perfect.

My current automatic backup is a pair of $20, 7AH lead acid batteries and a $12 relay that has worked flawlessly since implementation. Running DC pumps directly off of DC batteries eliminates the waste of inverting and/or converting power between AC and DC. Running 1 gryre pump on 14AH of cheap batteries lasts me ~ 100 hours of run time. I could run both gyres, or the return pump on the same batteries, but for less than half the time. I don't because it is NOT NECESSARY. The tank will survive on a $60 to $100 backup just fine. So why would anyone use a ~$1000 lithium battery and inverter backup that you're advising and implying is a good use of money?

battery backups don’t last long enough. Waste of money.

Get a Power inverter and run off your car battery or get a real battery- LiFePO4 Lithium with 100AH

Your original post saying that a battery backup doesn't last long enough and a waste of money is terrible advice. For about the same price of single coral you can have a battery backup that may save your entire tank. It is really cheap insurance to have one and absolutely not a waste of money.

I started a poll;

What do you use for a backup to protect your tank when the power fails?

After the mass power outage in Texas it has brought new attention to what we use if the power fails. For my 220, I use a battery backup on a gyre wavemaker and keep a small generator on hand if the power outage lasts a long time. What do you use?

www.reef2reef.com

Currently, 000 reefers responded they use a large lithium battery. So apparently your opinion is far from the majority.

The last thing a new reefer needs is to read your post that a small battery backup is a waste of money. Anyone who doesn't have an automatic standby generator should really have automatic backup of some kind. The key word being automatic. Not go pull the battery from your car, or dig the inverters out of the closet, or drag the generator out of the shed. Anything that automatically puts oxygen into your water may be worth as much money as you have ever spent on everyting in your tank. You're taking a risk if you don't have one.

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[Saltyreef]

This guy has Full BattleBorn setup in series! He prays for power outages. Lol

I run AGM batteries, but if you can afford it and wanna step up to the highest level...lithium iron phosphate/ LiFePO4 is king. They are very expensive. It’s like Mag drive pumps vs Royal Exclusive Red Dragon pumps.

That looks like an awesome project. Where do I find this schematic?!

 

[Reefahholic]

That looks like an awesome project. Where do I find this schematic?!

This guy is off grid and on Solar Power System. He’s using the BattleBorn expensive batteries (I think they sponsored him), but you can easily do the same with AGM batteries. You can see his old batteries in previous videos. These off grid guys really know their stuff.

 

[Reefahholic]

I never said my tank survived a week of freezing temperatures on only 1 gyre pump. I also never said you don't need heaters.

My pair of 7 amp hour lead acid battery backup will run one gyre pump for ~4 days.
I guess you missed my signature says I live in Houston and my tank had no loss during the power outages last week.

The battery backup is only supposed to provide oxygenation in case of a power failure. Resistance heaters we use take so much power running them on a battery is a lost cause.

The point of a battery backup is not to run your entire tank for a week. It's to keep the water moving to provide gas exchange to the tanks live stock. That will get you through the night.

Get through the night without heaters? You must be talking about summer months ONLY.

I also never said you don't need heaters.

Currently, 000 reefers responded they use a large lithium battery. So apparently your opinion is far from the majority.

100AH Lithium iron phosphate batteries will win by a long shot against 7AH lead acid battery setup during a long power outage. Only preparing for short-term blackouts is not smart.

It doesn’t have to be a LiFePO4. AGM batteries work well too. Just so you know...Not all Lithium iron phosphate batteries cost 1K. Although people here drop 1K on reef equipment like it’s nothing. I’m sure some reefers will easily drop that or more on a good 100AH Lithium iron phosphate battery setup if they really want that quality reliable backup power. IMO it’s great to have them or AGM’s along side a generator. There’s not always gas “available” for a generator.

Not sure why you think heaters aren’t important. It’s clear from your own words that you didn’t run heaters and you think their a “lost cause” with your setup because it can’t support them. Apparently you’re setup only prepares you for short-term outages in the Summer months that require only one pump with no heat.

If you didn’t run heaters during the Texas power outage you definitely had multiple losses if your power was out for more than 24-48 hours.

It’s strange that now you suddenly own a generator and heat is important now? That wasn’t mentioned before. At first you acted like you sailed through the Texas winter storm on those 7AH lead acid batteries, and basically said...follow my setup which was not good advice.

Now you’re saying it was only for a short time and that you used a generator and added heaters. Go figure.

 

[Ratherbeflyen]

Wow, posts at 2:19am and 3:53am. I don't have that kind of time.

 

[Saltyreef]

Wow, posts at 2:19am and 3:53am. I don't have that kind of time.

I was there! Where were you?! Lol

 

[Saltyreef]

This guy is off grid and on Solar Power System. He’s using the BattleBorn expensive batteries (I think they sponsored him), but you can easily do the same with AGM batteries. You can see his old batteries in previous videos. These off grid guys really know their stuff.

This is on my christmas list for this next year....if world war 3 isnt going on yet

 

[Reefahholic]

I was there! Where were you?! Lol

I work nights. 7p-7a

 

[Reefahholic]

This is on my christmas list for this next year....if world war 3 isnt going on yet

Just having a 24V AGM setup running on a solar panel would be nice during hurricane season.

 

[Reefahholic]

This would be nice when gas is ravaged by crazy citizens during a natural disaster.

 

[laverda]

One gyre pump? Lol. We just had a lot of reefers in Texas loose their whole tanks due to their battery backups dying within a few hours and several of them were dead on start up. A Power Inverter with 100AH LiFePO4 battery will SMOKE your 7AH lead acid battery by a long run. 4 days with one gyre pump would not have been enough in Texas last week. Your tank would have died. You would have needed several heaters which really draw the watts.

Even the 100AH LiFePO4 battery will be useless like the batteries in the examples you listed if not charged and replaced as needed! Most people have no need for one that large and expensive.

 

[Reefahholic]

Even the 100AH LiFePO4 battery will be useless like the batteries in the examples you listed if not charged and replaced as needed! Most people have no need for one that large and expensive.

You probably haven’t checked the replacement time on a Lithum iron phosphate battery have you.? They’re not even close to lead acid. You might wanna watch this video about lead acid batteries vs LiFePO4.

 

[laverda]

Even the 100AH LiFePO4 battery will be useless like the batteries in the examples you listed if not charged and replaced as needed! Most people have no need for one that large and expensive.

You probably haven’t checked the replacement time on a Lithum iron phosphate battery have you.? They’re not even close to lead acid. You might wanna watch this video about lead acid batteries vs LiFePO4.

Lead acid don't last that long either. All batteries need to be replaced every few years, plain and simple. If people are not checking them they end up with a bunch of useless battery backups like the examples you posted.

 

[Reefahholic]

Lead acid don't last that long either. All batteries need to be replaced every few years, plain and simple. If people are not checking them they end up with a bunch of useless battery backups like the examples you posted.

All batteries don’t last that long? Did you even watch that video??

Lithium Iron Phosphate can last 20 years.

 

[Ratherbeflyen]

Lithium batteries are the greatest thing since sliced bread and the Ginsu knife. Can you show us all the automatic lithium battery backup system you use?

I can show you the system I use and recommend.

 

[Reefahholic]

Lithium batteries are the greatest thing since sliced bread and the Ginsu knife. Can you show us all the automatic lithium battery backup system you use?

I can show you the system I use and recommend.

Ohh yes...super impressive lead acid setup with Chinese relay. Totally dependable for about 1 yr.

I will definitely go build that immediately.

 

[Ratherbeflyen]

Then show us the way it should be done.

Of course you wont, because not even you take your terrible advice.

 

[Reefahholic]

Then show us the way it should be done.

Of course you wont, because not even you take your terrible advice.

The only horrible advice comes from you. Lead Acid batteries are old technology and it’s going out the door for battery back up systems. They simply don’t last long enough which is why most off-grid guys and Solar guru’s have all converted over. Even the RV wold is converting over. I proved that Lead Acid can’t back their claims above with Excel data mapped by an engineer, yet you still wanna ignore it. You just can’t get over the fact that LiFePO4 will outperform your setup. I understand your very proud of what you built, but you have to come back to reality at some point. I don’t want to blow your mind with what I’m fixing to build so I’ll leave it to your imagination. Be sure it will DEFINITELY will NOT be Lead Acid batteries on my system.