How to deal with power outages

[JoseA]

The Thunder storm season is early here in Florida. My first year a came home from work to find all my fish dead. Now i have some battery operated air pumps but this only work when I'm home. Are they any automatic systems that will come on when the power goes out?

 

[rlman41299]

Well if you have vortech pumps, you can add backup batteries on them. I made my own battery backup for my 2 mp40's and they last me 120hrs. My problem is the water temp but since I live in California, low temp for the tank is not a problem for me since my average inside temp at home is 75*

 

[vedros74]

I purchased some battery powered air pumps from my LFS that plugs into an outlet and when it senses the power is out it kicks on not ideal for a display tank but I hid mine by running black airline down the overflow and burying the line and air stone in the sand. I did this before I put water in my tank so I was able to silicone the line to the bottom before adding sand so it wouldn't float up

 

[maroun.c]

Purchased couple of DIY battery backups which work on Tunze or Vortech, i get around 4 days ebackup based on pumps strength.
we have a backup generator for the whole block as we get lots of power outages but will also add a separate backup generator and a dedicated UPS for the system.

 

[Harold Green]

Simplest, ups and 12 volt pump.

 

[brandon429]

My little pen plax battery powered air pump is so handy. When it has a 120 signal its off. When power goes out and signal cuts it comes on and it was used two hours the other day such good backup circulation for the smaller setups.

 

[hybridazn]

I have a 6500 watt generator on the ready in case of an emergency.

 

[vic67]

Whole house generator would be best but expensive. They test themselves once a month and kick on in like ten seconds when the power goes out.

 

[Harold Green]

Has anyone taken a small computer ups and added addition batteries to get a longer run time to backup pumps?

 

[Downbeach]

For emergency purposes, I kept a 12v Super Fish Saver, along with a few 12v immersion heaters. Ultimately I looked into getting a whole house emergency generator, but found the cost prohibitive @ ~ $20K. I did however invest in a portable 7500W generator, a transfer switch, and a shed that I customized for it, for under $2K. Although I tested these units to make sure they would work, fortunately, I've never had to use them.