In a power outage situation?

Neptune 555 · Sep 12, 2016

So our power went out yesterday... We quickly set up our generator... I already learned the hard way that you must have a generator if you have a REEF!

My question is in a power outage situation.. What is the least I need to run to keep my fish / coral safe? Obviously I need to power other items in my house... so in order of priority what do I keep on?

Power heads for circulation were first on my list
Heater - pulled from my sump and put in my tank and kept that on...
Lights? I turned off the lights to save power. How long can my coral go with out lights and not die?
I turned off my sump / skimmer. (NOT IDEAL but for a few hours / days thought this would be OK)

How long do you have from when the power goes off... to turning on your generator? 2 hours / 6 hours / 12 hours?

Thanks!
Neptune

bif24701 · Sep 12, 2016

I have a MP60 for my display and MP10 In sump connected to two red top optima batteries. I estimate this will give me at least 2-3 days of power in battery back up mode. I don't see any need for more than that unless tank temperature is required to be maintained. I live in Florida so comfortable that the temperature is mild 90% of the year. Even if it's 90 outside the tank temperature won't ever reach that.

Kungpaoshizi · Sep 12, 2016

Get yourself an inverter that has a charger/transferswitch. It'll make it easier. Then ya just slap some batteries and you're good to go.
Unless you own your home, then you can do much more. I myself would hook up solar/wind stuff up to the inverter, but alas I don't own a home yet.

If you have a controller, make sure to figure it out to identify when it's running on the batteries, then you can turn things on/off to allow for longer runtimes.

Cment · Sep 12, 2016

You have a good order of importance. At the very least keep temp stable and the tank well oxygenated. Lights and other things are not really needed.

jasonb87 · Sep 12, 2016

I also have a few inverters on hand and can easily hook them up to my vehicles if needed and power the tank back up.

I have saved my tank like this before.

Brew12 · Sep 12, 2016

I can tell you the route I am going. I have an Apex controller however I will not be using it to control my power heads. I have 2 MP40ES's and they have a power draw that maxes at 40 watts. That gives me a max load of 2x40=80 Watts. Worst case, .8 watts is = 1 VA so my max load with both powerheads at max is 100 VA. An APC back up system from Staples (linked below) has a 700VA capacity meaning it will run both pumps on max for 7 hours.
In reality, I will never run my MP40's at anywhere near max flow so I expect this $80 device to be able to run both power heads for at least 12 hours and probably twice that long.

http://www.staples.com/APC-Back-UPS-reg-NS-700VA-8-Outlet-Power-Saving-UPS/product_171431

zemuss · Sep 12, 2016

So two deep cycle Optimas in parallel.. Not a bad setup but expensive unless you are using you are multi-purposing the batteries. Boat / Tank...

AlexG · Sep 12, 2016

Priorities are 1 oxygen, 2 temperature, 3 filtration, and 4 is lighting for power outages. Battery powered air pumps are a cheap easy solution that anyone can use in a emergency situation before a generator is running. Battery backup is also another option.

bif24701 · Sep 12, 2016

Kungpaoshizi said:
Get yourself an inverter that has a charger/transferswitch. It'll make it easier. Then ya just slap some batteries and you're good to go.
Unless you own your home, then you can do much more. I myself would hook up solar/wind stuff up to the inverter, but alas I don't own a home yet.

If you have a controller, make sure to figure it out to identify when it's running on the batteries, then you can turn things on/off to allow for longer runtimes.

Why need an inverter when pump run directly on 12VDC?

bif24701 · Sep 12, 2016

zemuss said:
So two deep cycle Optimas in parallel.. Not a bad setup but expensive unless you are using you are multi-purposing the batteries. Boat / Tank...

How expensive is losing all fish, corals, and inverts? Why not have an insurance policy incase GFI gets tripped or lose power for any reason. Doesn't seem that expensive to me considering what's at stake.

Brew12 · Sep 12, 2016

bif24701 said:
How expensive is losing all fish, corals, and inverts? Why not have an insurance policy incase GFI gets tripped or lose power for any reason. Doesn't seem that expensive to me considering what's at stake.

Nothing wrong with it at all. I bet those could run your pumps for 2 weeks if you needed them to. Very reliable back up system. Personally, I just don't have a good place to hide something like that near my tank so I prefer a smaller more cosmetic option.

Brew12 · Sep 12, 2016

Neptune 555 said:
So our power went out yesterday... We quickly set up our generator... I already learned the hard way that you must have a generator if you have a REEF!

My question is in a power outage situation.. What is the least I need to run to keep my fish / coral safe? Obviously I need to power other items in my house... so in order of priority what do I keep on?

Power heads for circulation were first on my list
Heater - pulled from my sump and put in my tank and kept that on...
Lights? I turned off the lights to save power. How long can my coral go with out lights and not die?
I turned off my sump / skimmer. (NOT IDEAL but for a few hours / days thought this would be OK)

How long do you have from when the power goes off... to turning on your generator? 2 hours / 6 hours / 12 hours?

Thanks!
Neptune

What size generator do you have? I'm guessing if you don't power up your lights that you could easily keep all your other pumps running.

bif24701 · Sep 12, 2016

Brew12 said:
Nothing wrong with it at all. I bet those could run your pumps for 2 weeks if you needed them to. Very reliable back up system. Personally, I just don't have a good place to hide something like that near my tank so I prefer a smaller more cosmetic option.

~3 days at 50% calculated.

Brew12 · Sep 12, 2016

bif24701 said:
~3 days at 50% calculated.

I stand corrected. Was thinking the Red top were deep cycle batteries. Just did some back of the napkin math and I would say you are correct. Still, it's a very robust system.

bif24701 · Sep 12, 2016

Brew12 said:
I can tell you the route I am going. I have an Apex controller however I will not be using it to control my power heads. I have 2 MP40ES's and they have a power draw that maxes at 40 watts. That gives me a max load of 2x40=80 Watts. Worst case, .8 watts is = 1 VA so my max load with both powerheads at max is 100 VA. An APC back up system from Staples (linked below) has a 700VA capacity meaning it will run both pumps on max for 7 hours.
In reality, I will never run my MP40's at anywhere near max flow so I expect this $80 device to be able to run both power heads for at least 12 hours and probably twice that long.

http://www.staples.com/APC-Back-UPS-reg-NS-700VA-8-Outlet-Power-Saving-UPS/product_171431

That will waste energy. Converting DC power to AC then back to DC wastes energy. That is why the Ecotech back ups run on 12vdc. The controller automatically switches to the 12vdc at power lose and battery back up mode. The MPs use far less energy in back up mode and will extend the run time.

If I where you I would not do the UPS, you won't get the maximum run times. Instead use 12v batteries. Like I have, just my 2cents

Brew12 · Sep 12, 2016

bif24701 said:
That will waste energy. Converting DC power to AC then back to DC wastes energy. That is why the Ecotech back ups run on 12vdc. The controller automatically switches to the 12vdc at power lose and battery back up mode. The MPs use far less energy in back up mode and will extend the run time.

If I where you I would not do the UPS, you won't get the maximum run times. Instead use 12v batteries. Like I have, just my 2cents

You are absolutely correct however I have a generator I can quickly put on the entire house and only need around a 4 hr window unless I am out of town. This winter we plan on installing an automatic generator so at that point I will only need the battery in the event of a circuit trip or a generator failure.

bif24701 · Sep 12, 2016

Brew12 said:
You are absolutely correct however I have a generator I can quickly put on the entire house and only need around a 4 hr window unless I am out of town. This winter we plan on installing an automatic generator so at that point I will only need the battery in the event of a circuit trip or a generator failure.

Nice!

zemuss · Sep 13, 2016

I was only observing that those batteries are very expensive and hoped you have a boat to enjoy them when the tank didn't need them..

Not questioning your cost man. To each its own. I am actually thinking of getting that small generator from Harbor freight the next time its on sale. Will power tank nicely if a hurricane hits.