# Power Back-ups? Bubler back-up? what works



## illusions2281 (Jan 25, 2009)

I'm enjoying my new fish tank. And as i think about adding more fish I'm courious as to what would happen if the power went out. I see they make many differnt devices. Power back ups like for a computer. I see oxygen tablets. And back up bubblers.

What do you guys uses? What works? and whats the best? :fish:


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## fmueller (Jan 11, 2004)

_'The best' _would be a diesel generator that kicks in automatically when you loose power from the grid and takes over the job. I wish I had one myself, but so far I have shied away from the expense, and am simply hoping that I'll never loose power for more than a few hours. With a 240G, a 125G, a 75G, and a bunch of smaller tanks, that's becoming quite a gamble, but I can see no cheaper solution that works when you are not around. If you are home, there are a gazillion things you can do, like agitating the water manually, using hydrogen peroxide to boost oxygenation, or using battery powered airpumps. All of those are comparatively cheap, but as I said, if you are not home when disaster strikes, your fish will go belly up


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## KaiserSousay (Nov 2, 2008)

> using hydrogen peroxide to boost oxygenation


First time I`ve seen that...
What is the procedure??
A combination of deep cycle battery..power inverter..battery charger..power strip
Could be automated, but not for those without the proper skills/backround.


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## prov356 (Sep 20, 2006)

Computer battery backups won't last long unless you spend a lot of $$$. I used a small one when I had 
a 5 hour power outage, but just ran it for a few minutes every hour to turn the water over. The fish were 
fine and showed no signs of being affected.

And if you're really serious about it, look into standy generators. They run on natural gas and automatically 
kick in when power goes out, even briefly. And you can always sell the idea to the significant other by 
protecting circuits other than those in your fish room.


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## fmueller (Jan 11, 2004)

Those generators look awesome! Unfortunately there are no prices, but I think with the smallest one it said something like 'under $2000'. So I assume it would be $1999.99 :lol:

Regarding the hydrogen peroxide, the principle is simple:










For details see this article.

Greetings

Frank


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## kodyboy (Dec 9, 2007)

I like the battery powered back-up air pumps. I have two hurricane 5s and they work great! The battery backups do not last long, as was stated above. 
http://www.kensfish.com/batteryoperatedairpumps.html
hurricane 5 and air-pod work really well.


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## cindylou (Oct 22, 2008)

After our first power outage for 24 hrs. and trying to keep my tanks running with battery back ups we purchased a nat.gas powered generator..We just went through a 15 hr. power outage and I can tell you it was the best thing we ever bought..It ran the fish tanks, furnace, fridge, micro wave,some lights, computer and TV...And the best part it was 2:30 am and when the power went off it took only seconds and the generator was up and running.. :fish: :fish: :fish:


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## prov356 (Sep 20, 2006)

cindylou said:


> After our first power outage for 24 hrs. and trying to keep my tanks running with battery back ups we purchased a nat.gas powered generator..We just went through a 15 hr. power outage and I can tell you it was the best thing we ever bought..It ran the fish tanks, furnace, fridge, micro wave,some lights, computer and TV...And the best part it was 2:30 am and when the power went off it took only seconds and the generator was up and running.. :fish: :fish: :fish:


I'm getting one once the fish room is up. I'll bet you had everyone on the street wondering why your 
lights were on.  Was the natural gas bill hit pretty hard? Not that it'd matter when it comes to 
keeping your fish alive, I mean, keeping your family warm.


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## cindylou (Oct 22, 2008)

You were right the first time..(Keeping the fish alive) :lol: The guy across the street has a gasoline powered gen. that looks like a big pain in the you know where...And we did buy it specifically for the tanks.. :lol: I have gone all my life so far without it, but that night I will never forget trying to keep those tanks running..Fish keeping is toooo expensive to have it all be wiped out in a matter of hours. And imagine if it was days..I hear that all the time..Just did not want to take that chance. (It's a bonus having the furnace and fridge) :lol: I don't know what it did to my gas bill yet..BUT I bet it is not as much as replacing all my little buddies.. :fish: :fish: :fish:


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## JALOOS (Sep 6, 2008)

OK did a little experiment here last night with the computer UPS. I took out the internal battery and hooked up a large deep cycle marine battery in its place. Now the average UPS battery is around 7 to 14 amp hours meaning it will run 7 to 14 amps for an hour. This is by far not long enough to run much equipment or for a very long at all. With the addition of the deep cycle battery you can run higher loads for alot and I mean alot longer times. You will still be limited to the wattage that the UPS will supply for hooking up multiple things but you will be able to get much much longer run times from it. My battery wasn't fully charged so I dont have actual numbers as far as what can be run and for how long but it stands to reason that you should be able to run a moderate amount of stuff for a way longer time. Adding the larger capacity battery saves one the hassle and expense of making their own. I am also in the process of building my own 800 watt UPS and will let everyone know how that works out.


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## prov356 (Sep 20, 2006)

> I don't know what it did to my gas bill yet..BUT I bet it is not as much as replacing all my little buddies..


That's the way I look at it. It'll be cheaper than replacing fish. And, you're right about the gas 
generators. I wouldn't even want to deal with that.

I understand the natural gas generator needs to run for a few minutes every day. How loud is it when it 
does? Is it something the neighbors are going to complain about?

Thanks for the info. I'm glad I found someone with one of these.


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## prov356 (Sep 20, 2006)

JALOOS said:


> OK did a little experiment here last night with the computer UPS. I took out the internal battery and hooked up a large deep cycle marine battery in its place. Now the average UPS battery is around 7 to 14 amp hours meaning it will run 7 to 14 amps for an hour. This is by far not long enough to run much equipment or for a very long at all. With the addition of the deep cycle battery you can run higher loads for alot and I mean alot longer times. You will still be limited to the wattage that the UPS will supply for hooking up multiple things but you will be able to get much much longer run times from it. My battery wasn't fully charged so I dont have actual numbers as far as what can be run and for how long but it stands to reason that you should be able to run a moderate amount of stuff for a way longer time. Adding the larger capacity battery saves one the hassle and expense of making their own. I am also in the process of building my own 800 watt UPS and will let everyone know how that works out.


I would think that would be very risky. They do make these units in a large variety of sizes with much 
larger batteries that will run equipment for many hours.


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## JALOOS (Sep 6, 2008)

prov356 said:


> I would think that would be very risky. They do make these units in a large variety of sizes with much
> larger batteries that will run equipment for many hours.


No risk involved you are replacing a 12 volt sealed lead acid battery with a lead acid battery. It will keep it charged and maintain the charge and when needed flip over to battery power. It is a matter of unhooking the replaceable battery in the UPS and connecting the deep cycle. Only reason the comp UPS are so wimpy as far as power goes is to keep them small.

And yes i agree they do make larger capacity UPS but the only major change is the battery they enclose in it. But at what cost. This is a way to use an older UPS that is not being used anymore or can be bought up cheap and converting it to a larger capacity unit for less money to be sure.

As I said b4 if the UPS is rated say for 300 watts you will still be limited to the 300 watts for sure but you will run for alot alot longer than you would be able to for an unmoded supply.

The 800 watt I am making will have 2 deep cycle batteries, a 800 watt 1500 watt surge inverter, a battery charger/maintainer and a 3 pole dual throw relay for switching. It is in a sence the same as a comp UPS but built beefier. This will be for the 150 gallon tank to maintain all the pumps in the event of a power failure.

The modded comp UPS is for those that dont have the ability or desire to build one themselves. Its as easy as changing a battery to mod one. No hassles no worrie no risk.


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## cindylou (Oct 22, 2008)

Natural Gas Generators are set to exercise once a week for 10 or 12 minutes..They are a little loud especially when everyones power is out..The gasoline ones are too..We might have made a mistake on where we installed ours as far as the neighbors go..The summer I think would only be a problem when people have there windows open..( My AC will be running) :lol: If we get complaints I thought we could move it or build something around it..Well I hope we don't have a problem with anyone..If we do we will figure something out..If you can get one they are worth it... :thumb:


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## prov356 (Sep 20, 2006)

If it only runs 10-12 minutes once per week, it shouldn't be a big deal. My neighbors make a lot of noise 
themselves with all of the yard toys, so they have no room to complain.

Thanks


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## cindylou (Oct 22, 2008)

You are right...I'm thinking about during a power outage when they will have to listen to it. You know how quiet it is when nothing is on..Especially in Mentor. Where I think people were born to complain.. :lol: Where are you in NE Ohio? Country or City?


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## prov356 (Sep 20, 2006)

Suburbia. There's a little distance between lots, but not much. It'd be about 50 feet or so from my 
neighbor's nearest window. I can't imagine anyone complaining about a generator during an extended 
power outage. Seems that'd be pretty petty. I'll just invite them over to stay warm. That'll do it.


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## Steve St.Laurent (Oct 2, 2008)

JALOOS said:


> This is a way to use an older UPS that is not being used anymore or can be bought up cheap and converting it to a larger capacity unit for less money to be sure.


I'm doing exactly this as we speak. I purchased a Tripp Lite 1400VA UPS off eBay for $56 shipped (no batteries) - it can handle a load of 940 watts. It usually has 3 9ah batteries in it for 27ah total and can run 980 watts for 10 minutes. I purchased a 110ah SLA battery off the net for $202 shipped and will run the cables outside the case to the larger battery. I'm running 2-200 watt heaters, a 265 watt light fixture (JBJ) + night lighting, an Eheim Pro II, a 580 gph pump in my sump and a 36W UV sterilizer. Everything added up assuming the heaters are full on comes out to ~780 watts (rounding up). If the heaters were running the entire time and I ran the lights and all I could run the entire system for 49 minutes - that's the worst case scenario. However, I won't have the lights, or the UV sterilizer on the UPS. That and the heaters don't run anywhere near 100% of the time. If the heaters were on 50% of the time it would run for 2 hours, 20 minutes. If the heaters ran 10% of the time which I think is a more realistic number it will be able to run the system for 5 hours 48 minutes.

For a cost of $260 I think that's a pretty good cost vs benefit. Usually I'm around to fire up our gas powered generator but sometimes it runs out of gas while we're sleeping or I could be gone at a client when the power goes out, etc. This will tide me over until I can get the generator going if it's a long power outage. The vast majority of our outages (we live in the sticks) are under 3 hours anyways so for most of them I won't have to worry about the tank at all.


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## JALOOS (Sep 6, 2008)

Steve St.Laurent said:


> JALOOS said:
> 
> 
> > This is a way to use an older UPS that is not being used anymore or can be bought up cheap and converting it to a larger capacity unit for less money to be sure.
> ...


Main reason I am doing it is I have an overflow box and a sump that wont hold all the water in the event of an outage. For my use I will just keep the basics meaning the sump on the ups so I can quite worrying about flooding. The fact that I can keep the bio alive is a huge bonus as well.


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