Jillianne

I am looking for advice on battery back-up units to keep my larger tanks running during power outages. Are they necessary for short term outages? If so, suggestions on where to find them and which componets are the most important to keep running, the air pumps? the filters? the heater (I know this depends on the time of year and location)?

Thanks
Jill

Loman

Jill,
I do not have a back up power source and have not experience a big problem. If you are really concerned with this I doubt that a battery system will work out. The motors in most of the equipment needs the AC type current that is in a wall and will not work on the DC current from a battery. I would look at a portable generator if I really thought this was problem

__________________
Loman

24 Gallon Salt Aquapod
20 Gallon Freshwater
Various QT tanks
2 x 75 Gallon Reefs in planning stage

Jay

That would be my thinking also.

As heartless as it sounds, if I had big bucks invested in a hobby, which I do, a specific understanding with my insurance carrier about covering the cost of a major problem is comforting.

Jay

Tommy Gun

I concur with Jay's sediment about having some decent insurance that will cover your tanks since they are awfully expensive, especially if you have to replace everything all at one time.

Prior to my home purchase, I had renter's insurance which covered basically anything I had written on a list (up to $25,000). I covered our wedding rings, computers and my fish tanks. Without boring you with the long story, I had a 10 gallon tank get knocked over while I was gone for 3 days. The insurance not only covered replacing the tank, it also covered the costs I incurred dealing with cleaning up the subflooring. My homeowner's policy now covers my tanks, including fish that die due to power outages, fire, and basically anything that I didnt directly cause. They are a good item to have to help me rest easier.

corbettfam7

They do have back up systems for your computers, the one that i know of is called APC. This will only last for a few hours, so mybe this will help you out.

Tommy Gun

I also looked into the AC/DC situation and I feel that they are one of the best hairbands to ever rock the air waves.... :-)

Just kidding, you can get a power inverter that will switch AC current to DC current and vice versa. They are expensive though. You can get this type of equipment to run a laptop off your car battery. Maybe you could just use your car to run the equipment if you really needed to (***Legal Disclaimer = not in the closed garage though!)

I just read an article on this topic but concernting SW tanks. The suggestions were to use a cordless drill and some paint stirrer attachments to keep the water moving. You can also get battery operated air pumps/stones. I will find the article again and see if it says anything about heaters.