# Battery back up



## K0oKiE (Jun 2, 2010)

My power went out briefly last night and it made me realize I have nothing on hand in case that happens again over a longer period of time. 

What do people use in this case? Would just a battery powered air pump be enough or do people have a battery powered back up for everything?


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## beN (Apr 21, 2010)

uninterrupted power supply..

i have them @ my work


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## Nicklfire (Apr 21, 2010)

There are some made by APC, they have surge and battery backup, they would power a airpump for probably a hour at least i'd think.

could pick them up for prob 40$ anywhere, costco cheapest i think

450W one i'd say


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## Jonney_boy (Apr 28, 2010)

When planning for power outages you need to consider how "much" backup you want to have on hand (and thus the budget required)..... There are basically a few "levels" of backup you can have. Roughly from cheapest to most expensive.

1) Battery powered Air Pump.. like $30 (including a package of AA's). Will keep oxygen in the water but will not keep the bacteria in the filters alive. If your power is out for more than 4-5 hours I would be concerned. And with no lights, it's hard to service the filters and transfer the media out to bags and into the tank (at least for us people with loose media in a canister filter). You are also not able to heat the tank with this method and would have to rely on hot water bottles and a blanket to keep the fish warm. Lots of work (and requires you to be home when the power is out).

2) UPS to power an air pump and possible a filter. $40-$200. Has the added advantage of keeping the filter media "alive" and is completely automatic. If you are at work and the power goes out, chances are that your fish are still alive when you get home. Computer UPS supplies are generally not powerful enough to keep the heater running tho.

3) Car battery (deep cycle if you can afford) + inverter setup. $40-80 for a decent inverter + cost of battery. You can run a small heater + all the filters for a good few hours. Bonus is that you can charge the batteries with the car if your really in a bind. At home we have multiple vehicles and a few spare batteries that are always charged. Each regular non deep cycle battery can keep a 100w heater + couple canisters running for about 1.5 hours. A deep cycle battery can run the same setup for about 3 hours. This setup requires you to be home.

4) Same setup as above but using a UPS circuit. ($300 + batteries) Basically a giant UPS supply using car batteries as a supply. Frogot the company that sells them,.. started with a J

5) Generator setup - $300 - $2000. Will keep "everything" running for along time. Depending on model, could be noisy to run at night. Requires you to be home when the power goes out.

6) Full on generator backup for the house. $... no idea..... $4000-10,000 i'm guessing. Entire house will switch onto generator power when the power goes out. Completely hands off and with a natural gas line piped to the generator. It will run forever.


Anyhow.. off the top of my head, this is what I could come up with. I guess which setup you go with depends on how much your fish is worth, their requirements, your budget and if your are home most of the time or not.


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## pisces (Apr 22, 2010)

I got the NOMA power Backup from Canadian Tire , it can run over 13 Hrs, and can support over 300 W, it work great , so if power out, my filter and powerhead is still running over 12 hours,because i died my ray last time, i learn it!
also i have battery powered air pumps too, but the battery air pump cant auto turn on!


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## hondas3000 (Apr 22, 2010)

I am looking into power generator myself lately, since its only about $400-$500 but it can save a few thousand of my fish so why not. The only bad thing is that we might not be home all the time when the power is out, but if we can make it back like 2-3 hours after the power is out I think the fish is still good. Anyone know a place to buy power generator?


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## mikeymike (Nov 23, 2010)

I use a Canadian Tire Motomaster car battery booster. Most have 120V AC plugs and the 800amp I have will power a air pump for over 24hrs easy.
And its so much cheaper than those APC computer battery back ups too.


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## big_bubba_B (Apr 25, 2010)

we have a diesel generator at our acreadge that can power a house it was 3500 at an auction . salt water i would think needs to be going but fresh water should be able to be on its own for a day or so and a big air sponge with an battery operated air pump should be efficiant. i would have alot of rechargeble batteries on hand


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