Is it better to be pre pre prepared?

[FastandCurious]

Goooooood morning,
(To those of you who got The Office reference ;Hilarious) Ok this might be a weird question but I've been looking for a backup power battery or small generator in case I loose power in my apartment for any reason. We've been having a lot of windy winter storms and I've seen a lot of ppl lose power near the coast in my area and also I think it's just good to have one in case of emergencies. I heard stories of some who have lost power for a day in their tank and lost all their fish. Thats so sad. So do any of you guys keep or know of a small genny or battery i could just keep charged on hand that would give me some peace of mind if things went to hell in a handbasket by chance one day and I lost power? I have a 70gal cube mixed reef. Thanks!

 

[Tiki Reef Joshua]

The small Westinghouse generator is a good bet. Be careful about CO. I don’t know anything about battery backups. I use a generator. Lots of variables to consider. Will you be home when outage happens etc.... a battery power that could auto kick on for flow is probably a good hedge until you could get home to power your generator.
After having a generator at my home it’s like a weight lifted off my shoulders as far as the tank is concerned.

 

[JumboShrimp]

(Love your thread title.) What size tank?... the smaller the tank, the greater the number of options.

 

[PigDaddyF15E]

First. Some Risk analysis. How often do you loose power? How long? If the answer is not too often and not very long...then I think most tanks can do ok for "some time".

Second. will your apartment allow you to run a gas generator? even if the power is out...they may have some rule against running a generator...especially if you live above the ground floor.

Do you lose power often and for longer periods? Do you want to spend lots of dollars on a generator only to have it be a pain in the butt because you need to run it and maintain it even when it's not in use? Will you devote the time to keep it well maintained?

Well...I'm no expert but there are a few options:

1. Get a gas generator and all you'll need is fuel to keep it going and an extension cord. I live in FL so you'll find people who panic buy them then don't open and sell them for cheap afterward. Requires maintenance though...so even when you don't need it...you'll have to run it on occasion. Oil changes? things like that....

2. Get a large UPS/battery backup. I have a couple on my computers to keep things running long enough for an orderly shutdown. You won't be running your entire tank on a battery backup...but you can get large battery backup and use it to run your "essential" stuff like a heater and pump for quite some time. Nearly zero maintenance...maybe replace the batteries in a few years.

 

[Timfish]

To start off with a cautionary note: Beware of most UPS for computers and electronic equipment, most are designed to put out their stated rating for just a short period of time irregardless of the actual load when power is out. Being in an apartment building there may be issues with storing and/or running a gasoline generator I imagine you will need to check with the managment. If there isn't any issue I would look at the models availabel at your local home improvement center in your price range and see which ones have a high customer rating. A very inexpensive option I've been happy with is Penn Plax' B11 battery operated air pump around $15. They plug into an outlet and automaticly start up when power is lost and whenever I've tested them they've run several days on just 2 "D" cell batteries. several of them should keep everything in your sump and DT alive. They're also handy when moving stuff in buckets.

 

[NeonRabbit221B]

@PigDaddyF15E worded this well. Risk assessment is a fun tool. I have a vortech battery backup for my big tank, nothing on my nano and some battery powered air pumps for my FW tanks. Since moving to this area I have lost power twice in 4 years (once was because I literally didn't pay the bill). I could own a generator but it would likely sit idle. I am more worried about a breaker/gfci tripping so I made some DIY mesh wifi power disconnect notification devices.

I still think the backup battery was overkill but I was drunk and on a spending spree. I would also consider what you have in your tank... Life is life but a $1000 acro colony is objectively worth more than a pair of clowns and a nameless leather colony.

 

[ca1ore]

Better to have and not need than to need and not have.

 

[JumboShrimp]

As you know, you want to break the surface of the water to keep up oxygenation during a power outage. That can be done with something as simple as an air stone. These Cobalts come with an extra power stick for when the main unit runs out, but even better, it has a USB connection; you can buy as many of those compact phone/laptop battery cells as you want. They can be charged and ready for whenever you need them. (I have about 6 of these Cobalts. They can be set for 10-sec. air bursts to extend running time, if you choose. They can also be set to go on automatically during an outage that occurs when you are not home. Again, much depends on the size of the tank and fish-stocking levels.) Best Wishes!

 

[NeonRabbit221B]

As you know, you want to break the surface of the water to keep up oxygenation during a power outage. That can be done with something as simple as an air stone. These Cobalts come with an extra power stick for when the main unit runs out, but even better, it has a USB connection; you can buy as many of those compact phone/laptop battery cells as you want. They can be charged and ready for whenever you need them. (I have about 6 of these Cobalts. They can be set for 10-sec. air bursts to extend running time, if you choose. They can also be set to go on automatically during an outage that occurs when you are not home. Again, much depends on the size of the tank and fish-stocking levels.) Best Wishes!

This. Love the powerbank idea!!

 

[JumboShrimp]

I forgot to mention, during a very long power outage, with enough power banks, you can hopefully get to a buddy’s generator, recharge them, and bring them home to keep things rolling.

 

[JumboShrimp]

Also... LOL... next trip to the LFS, just bring a 5-gallon bucket with a lid and the air stone tubing poking out. No need to worry how long it takes to get your fish home in a bag— I’ve even stopped at a restaurant on the way home. For long (Out of State?) fish hauls in the car, the Cobalt can run powered by your car’s phone-power USB connection.

 

[NeonRabbit221B]

Also... LOL... next trip to the LFS, just bring a 5-gallon bucket with a lid and the air stone tubing poking out. No need to worry how long it takes to get your fish home in a bag— I’ve even stopped at a restaurant on the way home. For long (Out of State?) fish hauls in the car, the Cobalt can run powered by your car’s phone-power USB connection.

I do the same thing. It gives them time to acclimate to my tank as well if the LFS is willing to give me about a gallon of water.

 

[DWill]

You can build a battery backup for less than a third of the cost of the Ecotech or Icecap batteries you can do that using a much larger capacity battery. For about what it would cost you to buy either of those two you can build a lithium based battery backup. That would give more capacity and run a smaller lighter package.

I built a backup that will run two MP10’s at 40% for 2.5 days without recharge. I bought a solar panel that will recharge the battery in a day and provide enough power to run bot pumps at about 10% while it’s recharging. That of course cost more than buying the Ecotech but I have unlimited power, as long as I have sun during the day.

Another solution, though slightly more expensive, is buy solar powered generator with a inverter. There are several of these on the market that are very good. It’s essentially a solar powered UPS. But like a UPS the runtime using the inverter is not very long. They can also be recharged on both 12V and 120V. 12V re harmed them fairly quickly so you could use your car as a source to recharge it if you needed to.

 

[FastandCurious]

(Love your thread title.) What size tank?... the smaller the tank, the greater the number of options.

I have a 70 gal waterbox cube with a mixed reef and fish.

 

[Rubberfrog]

@PigDaddyF15E worded this well. Risk assessment is a fun tool. I have a vortech battery backup for my big tank, nothing on my nano and some battery powered air pumps for my FW tanks. Since moving to this area I have lost power twice in 4 years (once was because I literally didn't pay the bill). I could own a generator but it would likely sit idle. I am more worried about a breaker/gfci tripping so I made some DIY mesh wifi power disconnect notification devices.

I still think the backup battery was overkill but I was drunk and on a spending spree. I would also consider what you have in your tank... Life is life but a $1000 acro colony is objectively worth more than a pair of clowns and a nameless leather colony.

I like your style

 

[SuncrestReef]

For those of you following this thread, if you have an Apex and a UPS backup battery, you can configure the Apex to selectively turn off high-powered devices like heaters, lights, and pumps to preserve the battery life for powerheads or air stones during a power failure. Read my tutorial on Apex Power Monitoring for instructions on how to set this up:

Neptune Apex Programming Tutorials, Part 4: Power Monitoring

Part 4 of our series on programming your Neptune Apex: Power Monitoring

www.reef2reef.com

 

[FastandCurious]

As you know, you want to break the surface of the water to keep up oxygenation during a power outage. That can be done with something as simple as an air stone. These Cobalts come with an extra power stick for when the main unit runs out, but even better, it has a USB connection; you can buy as many of those compact phone/laptop battery cells as you want. They can be charged and ready for whenever you need them. (I have about 6 of these Cobalts. They can be set for 10-sec. air bursts to extend running time, if you choose. They can also be set to go on automatically during an outage that occurs when you are not home. Again, much depends on the size of the tank and fish-stocking levels.) Best Wishes!

Thanks i have an air stone in the tank already that I leave on during day and shut off at night but it needs to be plugged in. I like the idea of one with a USB port tho, I might have a small air stone pump that I used for my QT tank somewhere that was battery charged but what about flow? I thought they couldn't survive without the water cycling? A know a few hours should be fine but if I'm not home or it goes out for more that 1 day I'd be scared. Now that being said, I've only lost power once in the past 2 yrs but that was bc we had a tornado roll thru lol. I think a genny might be too much work for me to keep maintained I was looking for something similar to a car battery that I can plug in and keep for emergencies.

 

[KStatefan]

I think every setup should have a back up power plan. At least weekly there is a emergency thread here when someone has a power outage.

Automatic system for at least short term. Generator in the garage does no good if nobody is home.

Long term system

 

[FastandCurious]

First. Some Risk analysis. How often do you loose power? How long? If the answer is not too often and not very long...then I think most tanks can do ok for "some time".

Second. will your apartment allow you to run a gas generator? even if the power is out...they may have some rule against running a generator...especially if you live above the ground floor.

Do you lose power often and for longer periods? Do you want to spend lots of dollars on a generator only to have it be a pain in the butt because you need to run it and maintain it even when it's not in use? Will you devote the time to keep it well maintained?

Well...I'm no expert but there are a few options:

1. Get a gas generator and all you'll need is fuel to keep it going and an extension cord. I live in FL so you'll find people who panic buy them then don't open and sell them for cheap afterward. Requires maintenance though...so even when you don't need it...you'll have to run it on occasion. Oil changes? things like that....

2. Get a large UPS/battery backup. I have a couple on my computers to keep things running long enough for an orderly shutdown. You won't be running your entire tank on a battery backup...but you can get large battery backup and use it to run your "essential" stuff like a heater and pump for quite some time. Nearly zero maintenance...maybe replace the batteries in a few years.

Thanks I will be looking into option 2 I think. I just looked up what a UPS was lol and it looks like it might be a possibility if I can find the right one with enough power.

 

[FishTruck]

Battery powered air pumps will do most of what a UPS battery backup can do (keep your tank alive for a day or two). Water circulation and aeration are critical and don't take much power. This should keep you alive for 48 hours. I would start with this.

Adding a UPS has the advantage of no ugly air stones in your tank... but really - can't power lights, heaters, or big pumps for very long.

If you are hoping to keep your reef alive for say a two week blackout in sub zero temperatures - you need power for lights, heaters, big pumps. You would need a gas generator for this level of protection. I personally run a whole house automatic standby after experiencing an 8 day blackout once.