Battery backup insanity

Dkeller_nc · May 21, 2019

rknott said:
Not OK with a "needs intervention" solution, but I have see many battery powered air pump that will automatically turn on when electricity goes off and uses D batteries like the one "RKpeterson" mentioned above. https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/rescue-air-usb-battery-powered-dc-air-pump-cobalt-aquatics.html

Appears this is probably the winner if I can figure out a way to elegantly hide the air hose. Good to hear one will be enough. I wasn't sure. This is a lifetime solution unless I lose electricity for more time for me to get home. Something that hasn't happened in over 20+ years of living in my house.

Option 2 is mentioned above and seems to be an elegant solution and will also last will over 8 hours for my application. This is an obvious second choice and still in the running: https://m.fish-street.com/battery-coralbox-powercell-for-backup-jebao-pump-dc-pump Only bad news is, need to buy a new one every few years.

The air pump will work (the Penn-Plax I mentioned is also and "auto-on" solution). However, keep in mind that you'll either have to run a bare tube (a "bubbler"), or replace and airstone at least ever month, possibly sooner, depending on how much algae your system grows. That's primarily why I went with Ecotech's power back-up solution for my larger tanks, and for the smaller tanks I simply put the airpump in place when I'm going to be out of town for a few days and can't intervene in a power outage. I should note that I run an Apex and have short-term power backup on my home router, so I will get a notification if the power's out at my house.

Blue Spot Octopus · May 21, 2019

On my big tank I have a Tunze DC powerhead, sealed battery, tunze safety switch and a Battery Tender, when the elec. goes out it comes on, when the power comes back on the it charges the battery automatically. Probably 400 bucks. Small tank, a Cobalt Emergency Air like linked above. For my medium tank I have the Azoo Non Stop Air, this thing is big and heavy and nice. It ran for 24 hours full on, it also has an intermediate timer.

rknott · May 22, 2019

Dkeller_nc said:
The air pump will work (the Penn-Plax I mentioned is also and "auto-on" solution). However, keep in mind that you'll either have to run a bare tube (a "bubbler"), or replace and airstone at least ever month, possibly sooner, depending on how much algae your system grows. That's primarily why I went with Ecotech's power back-up solution for my larger tanks, and for the smaller tanks I simply put the airpump in place when I'm going to be out of town for a few days and can't intervene in a power outage. I should note that I run an Apex and have short-term power backup on my home router, so I will get a notification if the power's out at my house.

Yet another good tip, I probably would have fallen into the trap of ending up with a blocked air stone dug up from my collection of freshwater stuff.

Dkeller_nc · May 23, 2019

You'll have to test it out, but I'm going to guess that just an open, rigid tube connected to the air pump would be enough to keep things in the tank alive for at least a few hours during a power outage.

rkpetersen · May 23, 2019

Jet915 said:
Here is a pic, powerhead is like a 660 gph which is sufficient for a 100 gallon tank I would think.

Im in southern California and this all came about last summer when it was really hot (like 115 degrees) and it tripped my circuit and my tank lost power. Luckily i was home.e at the time or it would have been a disaster. In order to reduce the risk of this happening again, i had an electrician install a dedicated 20 amp circuit, I bought the APS battery, a wifi webcam and a portable generator. Not a cheap solution but definitely gives me some peace of mind.