- Location
- Long Island, NY
What do you guys do to protect your reefs from power failure? How do I know what is the best UPS to get for my tank? Any suggestions?
How do I prepare for a power outage?
- Thread starter shmibly
- Start date
- Location
- Staten Island ny
Apc makes nice backup batteries , i like the newer ones with the time clock on it so you know how much juice is left !!
- Location
- FREEPORT,LONG ISLAND
Pray first!!! Then i would freeze a bunch of water bottles in case you cant afford or run a generator
the battery air pumps work great to hold you for 1-3 days
all my mp40's have battery back ups and they cost only $100-150
the battery air pumps work great to hold you for 1-3 days
all my mp40's have battery back ups and they cost only $100-150
- Location
- Baiting Hollow Long Island NY
I have a generator but for years I used my SCUBA tanks with an airstone.
- Location
- Wheatley Heights, NY (long island)
Whole house generator!
Generator is the only way to go to make sure all your devices are powered during an outage.
Your consumer battery back up unit only good for air pumps and low wattage devices even then that's only for a few hours. If your heater comes on, that thing will be drained in no time.
Your consumer battery back up unit only good for air pumps and low wattage devices even then that's only for a few hours. If your heater comes on, that thing will be drained in no time.
- Location
- FREEPORT,LONG ISLAND
i would love to see the adaptor you added to your tank
- Location
- Staten Island ny
You can also get that annoying neighbor we all have and strap a mask over his face with just a small enough hole for a mcdonalds straw around the mouth area , and stand him in front your tank and punch him in the stomach every ten minutes so he can pump air into your tank!!
powderblue
Reefer
- Location
- New Jersey
I brought an apc ups Br1500g to hook up to one of my mp40 pumps. This can run it for 187 minutes. Then I got a back up battery for that ups. Now it can run that pump for 870 mins.
If that is not enough, I have a generator for the house with 6000 watts, should be enough for the house and the tank. But then I need to get gas for the generator....
Good luck.
If that is not enough, I have a generator for the house with 6000 watts, should be enough for the house and the tank. But then I need to get gas for the generator....
Good luck.
This is probably the MOST important Sticky on MR.
It can always be found on the top of the General Discussion Forum
http://www.manhattanreefs.com/forum/general-discussion/42407-emergency-measures-use-now.html
It can always be found on the top of the General Discussion Forum
http://www.manhattanreefs.com/forum/general-discussion/42407-emergency-measures-use-now.html
- Location
- Bronx, NY
Im so glad I don't have to worry about power outages in NYC. where I live I can't even remember the last time the power went out. even during that hurricane the lights didn't even flicker. I have generator just in case for the tank so I guess just buy on of those little ones on wheels and you just put gas in it and it can produce a couple thousand watts of electricity.
- Location
- Baiting Hollow Long Island NY
I also use my SCUBA tank for my airbrush so I had to buy a regulator for the tank that dropped the preasure to almost nothing.
Your not old enough to remember that twice the power went out in NYC and stayed out for a couple of days. I am there too
- Location
- Bronx, NY
I remember that big one we had a long time ago but after that I don't know of any other times it went out :lol:
- Location
- Kings Park, NY
Reef Fixations
vendor
- Location
- South Hackensack, NJ
Unless you have noise constraints or ventilation issues, there is really no reason that most of us can't have a generator. You can find CHEAP gas/oil mix 2-stroke generators for $99-199 for 800-1200watts.
What you'll need:
Generator
2-stroke Oil mix (to mix with your gas)
gas can (5 gallons approx)
Funnel
Engine oil (generators usually have a low oil safety sensor to shut down the generator if it has used up it's oil so it doesn't get damaged. You can have a full tank of gas and a good spark plug and not get the engine to start if it is low on oil so be sure to have the correct weight of oil on hand.)
You can usually find them online, auto related big box stores like PepBoys and places like Harbor Freight. These aren't high quality pieces of equipment but I've put mine thru much more rigourous field uses that they were never intended for and I got a year out of each but I'd have it them running for `12 hours a day, 6-7 hours a day for 6-9 months out of a year so I would absolutely reccommend them to any hobbiest that needs a few hours-weeks of assistance to keep their system healthy.
You can run them easily for 8+ hours on 1-2 gallons of gas at around 50% demand.
You can run all of your power heads and usually a return pump as well unless it is a monster of a pump but typically all the powerheads you can throw at it and a Mag 36 isn't an issue.
If it's a power outage in the summer & u need a chiller, or a power outage in the winter and need heaters than you may have to go to a larger 2500-3500 watt generator unless you have a nano.
PLEASE NOTE: ONLY run essentials. Electronics like Controllers should not be used when power supply is coming from cheap generators (cheap=anything under $10K +/-) because the power supply is NOT steady and can FRY electronic components. I've used mine without issue to charge cell phones while the cell phone is TURNED OFF and even to watch TV but that was a gamble. Typicaly only High End or Natural Gas Whole House generators have throttles to supply a steady supply of power without surging too high or dropping too low.
Total watts DIVIDED by 110Volts = Total Amps
example 1100 watts/110 volts = 10 Amps
Total Amps MULTIPLIED by 110volts= Total Watts
example: 10 Amps X 110 Volts = 1100 watts
So total up your total consumption (watts/amps) and do the math to decifer if the generator you are considering will offer you the amount of power that you will need.
PLEASE NOTE: The number that a generator advertises as the "watts" it sill produce is usually it's "Surge" power. What that means to us that that we need to subtract usually around 20% from that number so we aren't overloading the generator.
example: 1100 watt (surge) generator - 20% =880 watts continuous power
a surge happens when an appliance is plugged in/turned on and to get it started the power surges high and then lowers and levels out. It takes the greatest amount of power to get something started but much less to keep it going.
What you'll need:
Generator
2-stroke Oil mix (to mix with your gas)
gas can (5 gallons approx)
Funnel
Engine oil (generators usually have a low oil safety sensor to shut down the generator if it has used up it's oil so it doesn't get damaged. You can have a full tank of gas and a good spark plug and not get the engine to start if it is low on oil so be sure to have the correct weight of oil on hand.)
You can usually find them online, auto related big box stores like PepBoys and places like Harbor Freight. These aren't high quality pieces of equipment but I've put mine thru much more rigourous field uses that they were never intended for and I got a year out of each but I'd have it them running for `12 hours a day, 6-7 hours a day for 6-9 months out of a year so I would absolutely reccommend them to any hobbiest that needs a few hours-weeks of assistance to keep their system healthy.
You can run them easily for 8+ hours on 1-2 gallons of gas at around 50% demand.
You can run all of your power heads and usually a return pump as well unless it is a monster of a pump but typically all the powerheads you can throw at it and a Mag 36 isn't an issue.
If it's a power outage in the summer & u need a chiller, or a power outage in the winter and need heaters than you may have to go to a larger 2500-3500 watt generator unless you have a nano.
PLEASE NOTE: ONLY run essentials. Electronics like Controllers should not be used when power supply is coming from cheap generators (cheap=anything under $10K +/-) because the power supply is NOT steady and can FRY electronic components. I've used mine without issue to charge cell phones while the cell phone is TURNED OFF and even to watch TV but that was a gamble. Typicaly only High End or Natural Gas Whole House generators have throttles to supply a steady supply of power without surging too high or dropping too low.
Total watts DIVIDED by 110Volts = Total Amps
example 1100 watts/110 volts = 10 Amps
Total Amps MULTIPLIED by 110volts= Total Watts
example: 10 Amps X 110 Volts = 1100 watts
So total up your total consumption (watts/amps) and do the math to decifer if the generator you are considering will offer you the amount of power that you will need.
PLEASE NOTE: The number that a generator advertises as the "watts" it sill produce is usually it's "Surge" power. What that means to us that that we need to subtract usually around 20% from that number so we aren't overloading the generator.
example: 1100 watt (surge) generator - 20% =880 watts continuous power
a surge happens when an appliance is plugged in/turned on and to get it started the power surges high and then lowers and levels out. It takes the greatest amount of power to get something started but much less to keep it going.
Last edited:
- Location
- Long Island, NY
Lol I appreciate the physics lesson, but all I really wanna know is what are some good ups to use, unless you don't recommend those?
Reef Fixations
vendor
- Location
- South Hackensack, NJ
Not really. They're better for short brownouts but the blackouts in the tristate region have been getting progressivly worse lately. So once you r out of a charge, the amount of money that u spent on a battery backup, u could have bought a generator.
Reef Fixations
vendor
- Location
- South Hackensack, NJ
A battery back up is worth its weight tho if u aren't around to start up your generator. In that instance it will buy u time until u get home to switch over. Unless you have a generator with automatic switchover to power your entire house automatically when blackouts happen.
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