Dont forget to get a little insurance!!

[Cibo]

With Con Ed putting out the great service they do in the summer ie brown and black out just a reminder to the new b's this could save your tank

http://www.fosterandsmithaquatics.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=3692

I have one that plugs into the wall and if power is stoped it will start.
there are othere things that you can do UPS's deep cycle bats and inverts but this is the cheepest you can get away with othere feel free to chim in with things you use to prevent crash in a black out!!!:bablefish

 

[Keith P]

Does the one you linked to plug into the wall also?

Does it run when the power is on too?

I was told that an air stone will clog with calcium if it is in a reef tank for a long period of time and not running.

 

[Bob 1000]

Socting oxydator,, sorry to jack the thread but an O2 reactor is the ultimate insurance,,lol..

 

[johnny roastbeef]

Heres a little more insurance for only $129

http://www.harborfreight.com/800-rated-watts-900-max-watts-portable-generator-66619.html

 

[pauliwalnuts]

Heres a little more insurance for only $129

http://www.harborfreight.com/800-rated-watts-900-max-watts-portable-generator-66619.html

And that's the best sort of insurance you can buy. Now, if we could only find someone to hang around the tank waiting for a power outage. So, they can crank it to start. Get a 8 hour UPS (they're only $500 bucks and well worth it). Like this it will run on back up until you get home. Then turn on the generator.For the tank and fridge, or else your wife will kill you. LOL :tongueani

 

[TRIGGERMAN]

great to have a generator ..not great to have gas powered machines pumping fumes into your living room lol I always have a battery air pump handy I have purchased several. They are also great to transfer fish let's say if you buy from a person and not a store and you have it in a bucket..lil stress coat, flip the switch =happy fish.

 

[Keith P]

Agreed. Generators are not apartment friendly...

 

[Cibo]

Heres a little more insurance for only $129

http://www.harborfreight.com/800-rated-watts-900-max-watts-portable-generator-66619.html

800 watts 900 max what can that power how do you figure the size you need for you tank do you just add up whats the watts are in the tank.

Is that a real number ex. with a 800watt I should be able to run 2 400 mh?

how much does a A/C or a refergrator use on avarage.

 

[KathyC]

800 watts 900 max what can that power how do you figure the size you need for you tank do you just add up whats the watts are in the tank.

Is that a real number ex. with a 800watt I should be able to run 2 400 mh?

how much does a A/C or a refergrator use on avarage.

Unless you have a full sized generator - you are not trying to run lighting if your power goes out only for a few hours or a day or two.

The most important thing to keep functional when there is a power outage is your circulation (flow) as it provides oxygen to your fish and water movement for your corals...and some fans to keep the heat down.

Lighting, skimmer, return pump (you can isolate your sumpfrom your DT and keep a powerhead in each section pointed toward the surface for flow/oxygen), reactors are all secondary after flow & oxygenation.

 

[Cibo]

was not thinking of running light just wanted to get an idea on what can run on it and used lights to pin point the wattage

 

[johnny roastbeef]

You arent going to run lights, but in an emergency, you are better with them off anyway. That tiny generator will run some pumps, an air pump, powerheads and even some heaters or a fan. Its easy to add up your powerload, really all you care about is keeping some water moving, and oxygenated. A tiny little genny like this will do that for you in a SHTF situation. Consider this to be a disposable generator, you wont get years and years of service out of it, but it will save your investment if needed. If you keep your eyes out, Harbor Freight puts this one on sale every few months for $99, and Ive seen it as low as $89 with coupons in the back of magazines.

 

[THEDLO]

i believe its the amps that decide how long itll run.

 

[Keith P]

This is all assuming you are home when the power goes out. If no one is home, all bets are off.

 

[JimmyR1rider]

My honest opinion on this is if you own your own home- take 3-4 grand out of of tax returns- split it between a couple of years so it doesnt hurt so bad and buy a standby system. You can get a 7KW unit for $2700 or so. This way you dont have to be home to save anything(including your cold beer and food in the fridge), just make sure it always has fuel to run for the first 24 hours in case it takes you a long time to get home. Youd be able to come home to a lit house and have a nice cool bowl of cereal or a cool drink, go in the fridge and pull out some chicken cutlets and grill up a nice dinner while everyone else is not opening their fridge to try to keep the cold in and hoping their 2 or 300 bucks worht of groceries dont spoil. After 5 or so outages throughout time it pays for itself. I know people on here are going to say why spend all that money when you can get a portable 7000 watt gen. for 800 or so? Well a lot of us have more into our systems than the stand by unit costs so I look at it as spend it once to protect the investment for years.

That to me is the ultimate insurance

I have to say though although LIPA isnt the greatest, when everyones power went out for days with that really bad storm last time, my lights didnt so much as flicker although we do have our share and I was lucky for where I was we didnt get hit too hard, the gird I'm on stayed, but other long island towns did.

Not to mention youd have A/C and be comfortable

 

[UnknownWaters]

Here is my .02
http://www.jcwhitney.com/ultra-compact-powerverter-dc-to-ac-inverters/p2001678.jcwx