What to do if we lose are lights due to the Hurricane

[Jaynie1028]

If this hurricane hits us on Sat and we lose our lights for a long period of time is there anything we can buy to keep the tanks going? How long can a 29 gallon bio cube and a 12 gallon aquapod go without electric? What should we be doing to prepare for this storm?

 

[Chiefmcfuz]

BUy a battery powered air stone and hook your return pump to a UPS. The biggest UPS you can afford. The sell them in most electronics stores.

 

[Jaynie1028]

what is a UPS?

 

[ZANYMASTER]

They sell them at Staples for computers,it's a battery back up.APC is the brand.

 

[Chiefmcfuz]

UPS is a battery backup commonly used by computers.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage...##1##b&list=y&usc=All+Categories&nrp=15&iht=n

 

[Jaynie1028]

I have a apc. But it only holds like 18 mins. Thats not going to help that much in a storm

 

[Chiefmcfuz]

Buy a new one that you can just hook your return pump to for an extended period of time. If you run a low wattage return pump only it should last for much longer than 18 mins. Especially if you have a large UPS. Also search here there are plenty of threads about battery backups and blackouts and power outages.

 

[georgelc86]

Beleive me or not but I bought 4 of these puppies for my office and tested them out. They ran a dell dimmension that was about 2 years old, P4 2.5 Ghz computers and a 16" flat panel for about a half hour on a full charge. Picking up one tomorrow morning just in case.

 

[qy7400]

Best bet is the battery powered air pump, keep extra batteries on hand and you should do fine for a day. From there I'd say a large boat battery with inverter for a single PH.

 

[Chiefmcfuz]

http://www.manhattanreefs.com/forum/reefs-beginners/13026-heat-problems-read-please.html

http://www.manhattanreefs.com/forum...2407-heatwave-emergency-measures-use-now.html

http://www.manhattanreefs.com/forum/general-discussion/7530-back-up-power-thread.html


http://www.manhattanreefs.com/forum/general-discussion/14605-no-power-post-here-others.html

http://www.manhattanreefs.com/forum/reef-articles/14563-what-do-you-do-when-lights-go-out.html

The above 5 threads are just from a search using the word blackout.

Try it there are 5 pages of threads.

 

[onegreenray]

if you are looking to run a pump skip the invertor and just go to walmart and pick a bilge pump. they run on dc current from a boat battery. i picked this up years ago when we had the blackout. i think i was like 10 bucks and moves about 400-500 gph. hence these pumps are made for saltwater use in boats so shouldn't be a problem in your tank. i ran mine in a 5 gallon bucket to check for oil residue, there wasn't any.

but penn plex makes a battery operated air pump you plug into the wall that only comes on when the power goes out. have had them in my tanks for years. works great when you are at work and the power goes out. o2 is the first thing used up when the power goes out. the live sand bed sucks the o2 out of the water quick and will kill the fish fast. so make sure you at least have the air pump. the corals can go days without light. how do you think they are collected and shipped?

http://www.aquariumguys.com/silentairpump.html
something simliar to this. you can also drill a hole in the spot to insert a air line hose to inject air in the tank like a regular powerhead.
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=10086724

 

[onegreenray]

jaynie i think i have seen those air pumps out at aquahut in coram.

 

[Jaynie1028]

IM not sure what the Bilge pump is and how it would work in the fish tank? what do you hook it up to? Does it run on batteries? Or do you charge it? Thanks everyone for all of your help. I just went to petco and bought 6 battery air pumps. Now Im heading out to get some batteries. I am very interested in the bilge pump though. Thanks again

 

[MikeyZO]

Just an FYI - I have an APC model BX1500LCD. At full charge with my MAG5 return pump, one korilia nano for extra circulation, and the small pump that supplies my Aquafuge2 HOB fuge, I have 85 min of backup time. Unplugging the korilia had no effect, unplugging the fuge pump gave me 4 extra minutes.

With just the nano korilia and the fuge pump plugged in and unplugging the MAG5... I got 817 minutes!!! LMAO!! I wonder how my 36bow would do running only on a aquafuge 2 small HOB and a korilia nano??