Reef precautions?

TomD

Non-member
I read another thread about being prepared for power outages and realized, I am not!

I am new to reefing with a 3 month old tank and have not considered this yet.

What do people use for backup power/air and stuff like that? I am really interested.

Thanks
 
i just ahve a battery back-up i bought at comp usa for $30 to run a powerhead to keep flow going and once that runs out i use my dads car battery, which never fails :p i dont worry about temperature my house is never cold
Duds
 
a battery backup for $30? Would it be able to power heater and PH if I had 2?
 
It is hard to get a battery backup to run a heater because they take so much juice. It is better to have blankets or pieces of foam insulation or both to wrap the tank in and let the temp drop as little as possible. Lower temps rarely cause death and the critters can actually get a little more useful oxygen in colder water. Lack of O2 is the quick killer, so putting a battery powered air pump on or having a power-head high enough that it sucks a little bit of air during a power failure and putting that on the backup is a good idea.

Focus on the display, but keep in mind that things are happening to the water in the sump and fuge etc and that water will all come dumping into the display when the power comes back on. During a long outage I turn off the return pumps so I can heat and re-aerate the sump before mixing it with the display water again.
 
This was my short term backup for power loss before the home generator. Includes a XPower 400 Plus converter. New $205 for the booster and $40 for the inverter on Ebay $245. Includes the charger to keep it charged as well.

Will sell for $80 at the meeting if your interested

It will run a mag1200 for hours and hours. I had a 300W heater connected to mine. Never tested how long it would run on it since I dragged out the generator before it ever pooped out.

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th backup i got was on sale one day, it use to be $79 but i got a really good deal off it
Duds
 
battery packs

Battery packs are short term fixes. I have three of them on the 220 gallon tank.
They turn on when the power goes off. They were about $13.99 each.

I'm soon to be wired into the school's emergency generator. That will give me better peace of mind.


I read another thread about being prepared for power outages and realized, I am not!

I am new to reefing with a 3 month old tank and have not considered this yet.

What do people use for backup power/air and stuff like that? I am really interested.

Thanks
 
My answer would be based on what sized sytem you are running and what you have for equipment.

I run my return and the skimmer on my setup with batt. backup. What is required to run these pieces of equipment on any given size tank would obviously vary, I use two large deep cycle batteries for my system, this will run that equipment for a LONG time. A big system will lose heat more slowly as well, if running a small tank a heater might not be a bad idea in case the power goes out when you are not around to provide insulation, when you arrived home to take care of things you could insulate the tank, and unplug the heater for prolonged battery life.

-Dave
 
I have a generator I used to use to run the essentials in my house (heat, hot water, well pump) .
Now I use most of the available power to save the tanks, any extra goes to keep the humans comfortable.....
 
D&G that is a good point. I only have a 30 until I upgrade so I have to keep that in mind.

Sometimes I am gone from 7am until 11pm with school and work so I need to come up with a plan before I come home to a tragedy.
 
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