The podcast was about what to do in a power outage but it all seemed to be geared towards what to do if you are home. Is there a way to hook up the power inverter/deep cycle battery such that it kicks only if the power goes out otherwise just sits off and stays charged? I am thinking that I could set that up to one PH in the tank (maybe an airstone too) to at least keep the fish (starting with a FOWLR) oxygenated. Thoughts?
Thanks!

That is how UPS works. But, like Rob said, you would need a pretty big one to power your whole aquarium for any length of time. The UPS units people usually have on a home or office computer cost around $100 and are mostly designed to allow you to save what you are working on and shut down your computer. Obviously, a bubbler would use less energy than a computer so you would have a longer run time. When I worked in a lab we had big UPS's that would allow us to complete tests we were running and lasted several hours. But they cost thousands of dollars.

yes, for automated options you need a computer UPS, but as stated, you cant run much on them for very long.

if you get into the details and do some testing you will find what you can do.. testing small pumps and see how long they will run on a UPS.

the next option which i meant to discuss but must have forgotten is if you drop the money into a good generator, you can have it wired into your house, on an switch/cercuit that will automatically kick in if the power goes out. needless to say this is going to cost a few $$, but its a way.

I didnt get to listen to the whole podcast, and the electric company will be out at my home tomorrow so i will have several outages while they are working on my home, will a battery operated air pump be sufficient for my coral tank? Its only a 12 gallon, im worried about it, i didnt find this out till today that they were coming.. and Im at school right now. Thanks katherine

Welcome to TR hockeypuck!

Katherine- I guess it depends on how long the power would be out for- if its only a few hours then you should be fine.

yes, since its a small tank, and the outages will be intermittent that should be just fine.

I have my 26 gal plugged into a UPS, but it only powers the return pump for about 20min or so.

I'm thinking of trying the marine battery and inverter, but I want to experiment with some relays. My thought is, if I hook a power cord up to a relay to keep the relay energized while I have power....when I loose power it'll deenergize and that would activate the battery for powering some extra pumps, thus resulting is automation. It's a thought I'm willing to play around with....but I probably won't until after SWU (so it'll be a few weeks).

Sorry I forgot to say.....Hockypuck, WELCOME to TR!

great idea scott, keep us updated.
thanks

I'll keep everyone posted. Maybe I'll swing by radio shack and look at relays this Friday...just to see what is available.

I am a strong believer in the battery opperated air pumps. I have kept my 75 gallon running for a couple of days after a hurricane with just using those and a little bit of hand action in the tank. Don't forget to make sure you put one in your sump and or refugium as well. You don't want to kick all that water back into the system after it sits stagnant for too long.

thats a great point..
letting a fuge or something sit stagnant for a few days is a really bad thing.. smells pretty nasty too.. ;)

NM354, Welcome to Talkingreef, hope you enjoy it here.

Hi NM354,

:welcome: to TR. Thanks for passing on this tip.

awesome advise. i have battery pumps ready to go, but it has always slipped my mind to tell others. i learned my lesson being in earthquake central.

check out pawn shops for used UPS battery back-ups... I got mine on the cheap (less than $20 IIRC) and only one pump on one shouldn't be that bad...

Now it is a limited supply, but will atleast give me time to get to the garage and gather the other stuff that I need.