Battery Backup: UPS or Inverter and optima battery

[AllSignsPointToFish]

Hi,

this spring I was away on a dream vacation... untill I got a mail from my neighbours telling me that the power was out in my house and that my tank didn't look good at all. I told them to put the ground circuit (RCD?) back on and then I got a mail from my Apex telling me that it was back online.
During the 20 hours without power I lost all my fish and corals. It was my most complete crash ever. Even the Aiptasia were dead!

Now I've restarted everything and do not want to make the same mistake over again. But I need some advice on how to set things up the right way and I need some purchasing advice as well.

What I want to achieve is that if I have a power outage I want an email at once. I'd like one cirkulation pump (Tunze 6105) and the returnpump (Tunze 1073.50) to run and I'd like to be able to monitor the temp, pH, ORP via my Apex for a few hours.

What I have today is the Apex with 2 x EB6 (EU).

How should I set this up? And what battery backup (UPS?) should I buy? I live in Sweden so it's 240v here. If you could point me directly at a good option to buy I would be very happy. I feel like an idiot when it comes to electricity issues so please just tell what to get.

Best regards

Hans

Sorry it took so long to respond. I didn't get home until late last night.

From what I can determine, the Tunze 6105 consumes a maximum of 35W. The 1073.050 consumes a maximum of 43W. If I add in 10W for the Apex, I get a total load of around 88W. If you're looking at a UPS, this unit will run a 100W load for around 90 minutes:
http://www.cyberpower-eu.com/products/ups_systems/intelligent/cp1500eavrlcd.htm

Now, I'm not saying this is the best unit on the market, but it will accept 240VAC to meet your needs. If you don't run the 1073.050 pump at full speed, your actual run time will be longer. The unit will be capable of supplying backup power to both pumps and the Apex.

To guarantee you get an email during the power outage, your router/modem will also need to be backed up with UPS. The unit above is the one I have (except for 120VAC version), so I have some actual experience with it.

For longer run times, you will need to consider other options. Also, I noticed that you didn't mention a heater. Being in Sweden, isn't temperature maintenance more of a concern there than here in Florida?

One last question...do you know how long of an outage you are wanting to ride through? The only options you have for 20 hours of power outage are a generator or a bunch of deep cycle batteries with an inverter. The batteries and inverter option can be connected manually if you get notification of the power outage and can respond within an hour or so (assuming you have everything on UPS to start with). Do you have any idea how long the power was actually out?

Hope this helps!

 

[Hansss]

Sorry it took so long to respond. I didn't get home until late last night.

From what I can determine, the Tunze 6105 consumes a maximum of 35W. The 1073.050 consumes a maximum of 43W. If I add in 10W for the Apex, I get a total load of around 88W. If you're looking at a UPS, this unit will run a 100W load for around 90 minutes:
http://www.cyberpower-eu.com/products/ups_systems/intelligent/cp1500eavrlcd.htm

Now, I'm not saying this is the best unit on the market, but it will accept 240VAC to meet your needs. If you don't run the 1073.050 pump at full speed, your actual run time will be longer. The unit will be capable of supplying backup power to both pumps and the Apex.

To guarantee you get an email during the power outage, your router/modem will also need to be backed up with UPS. The unit above is the one I have (except for 120VAC version), so I have some actual experience with it.

For longer run times, you will need to consider other options. Also, I noticed that you didn't mention a heater. Being in Sweden, isn't temperature maintenance more of a concern there than here in Florida?

One last question...do you know how long of an outage you are wanting to ride through? The only options you have for 20 hours of power outage are a generator or a bunch of deep cycle batteries with an inverter. The batteries and inverter option can be connected manually if you get notification of the power outage and can respond within an hour or so (assuming you have everything on UPS to start with). Do you have any idea how long the power was actually out?

Hope this helps!

GREAT help! Thanks a lot!

I live in an urban area so longer power outages are very unlikely. When my tank crashed it was only our house that was without power, because of the ground circuit. That's why my number 1 priority is to get the mail. Then I could get a neigbour or a friend there to get it back online again.

Normally my tank would have no problems going 4 hours, or maybe even 8 hours without power. I don't have a heavy load of fish in the tank. Actually the first 4-8 hours are not my concern... it's what happens after this.

My second priority would be to get the Tunze 6105 running. With this running I think my tank could go 24 hours without any big issues. I have an Acrylic tank in a well isolated house so it would take a while before the temperature would get critical. The problem is that with only the Tunze 6105 running the Apex probes would only get readings from the sump area and I wouldn't be able to see temp, pH, ORP or anything from the main tank. To get this I need the cirkulation from the 1073.050 as well. But I think that the 1073.050 wouldn't be enough cirkulation on it own. That's why I need both running.

 

[AllSignsPointToFish]

GREAT help! Thanks a lot!

I live in an urban area so longer power outages are very unlikely. When my tank crashed it was only our house that was without power, because of the ground circuit. That's why my number 1 priority is to get the mail. Then I could get a neigbour or a friend there to get it back online again.

Normally my tank would have no problems going 4 hours, or maybe even 8 hours without power. I don't have a heavy load of fish in the tank. Actually the first 4-8 hours are not my concern... it's what happens after this.

My second priority would be to get the Tunze 6105 running. With this running I think my tank could go 24 hours without any big issues. I have an Acrylic tank in a well isolated house so it would take a while before the temperature would get critical. The problem is that with only the Tunze 6105 running the Apex probes would only get readings from the sump area and I wouldn't be able to see temp, pH, ORP or anything from the main tank. To get this I need the cirkulation from the 1073.050 as well. But I think that the 1073.050 wouldn't be enough cirkulation on it own. That's why I need both running.

The 1073.050 would probably be enough circulation at full speed, and your Apex probes in the sump would be measuring actual tank temperature and pH with the pump running. In some ways, I'd say the 1073 is more important. With an Apex, you could possibly even run an air pump only when the power goes out to provide additional oxygenation. The air pump would consume a LOT less power than the 6105, so run time would be extended in that instance.

 

[Agamerce]

In a twist of fate I lost power last night from 9:30 to just after 1am. Although I was home it proved two things to me. 1 the importance to weather the entire outage with peace of mind is irreplaceable. 2 having an automatic transfer switch that can power on and off is so important especially with a generator even if you only backup critical circuits in your location is also REALLY nice.

Everyone is alive today because of a little planning and sacrifice.

 

[AllSignsPointToFish]

In a twist of fate I lost power last night from 9:30 to just after 1am. Although I was home it proved two things to me. 1 the importance to weather the entire outage with peace of mind is irreplaceable. 2 having an automatic transfer switch that can power on and off is so important especially with a generator even if you only backup critical circuits in your location is also REALLY nice.

Everyone is alive today because of a little planning and sacrifice.

Totally awesome! Hope this thread helped!