I bought a used Honda 1500w, at an Auction when i first got my tank.It would be used just as a back up for the pumps and heaters only. I decided that the corals could do without lights if I was going to be in the dark as well, :biggrin: and then the other day i was at KMS tools and saw a $199 1500w peak 1000w rms generator on sale for $60. Works just fine for pumps and heater. And now the Honda can run my lights and TV when the power goes down or a small heater if its cold outside. Great insurance IMO.

Thats a good idea.
I would also put a fuel stabilizer in the tank as well, this helps to keep old fuel from gumming up the carbs

a square wave should run a single phase ac motor, they will run rougher than normal as its not a smooth wave but the square wave should make the motor turn, it might just be a little loud,

Heard that some generators can actually harm some of the aquarium equipment. Something about not providing the proper type of current. Dont know the exact details though, maybe someone else here can provide some better info on this.

Test Failed
 

I tested my old 300W battery back up, it would not power my pump. So I will see if I can find one of those battery backups at Canadian Tire. Any Suggestions or advice?

Any research I did suggested that a square wave UPS won't work for aquarium equipment. Even an approximation to a sine wave UPS is iffy. I found a true sine wave UPS, but they were $650 each. I wanted something that would kick in while not home, but figured I should have at least something, so I went to C-Tire to get one of those Eliminator back-ups. While there, I happened upon this...
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...eefer3/UPS.jpg
...the beauty of which is that it's automatic. This one will power a MaxiJet 1200 for 13 hours. There are bigger ones available. Up to 1500W, I think.

HTH,

That looks like what I need. Thanks

is that not square wave also? square wave will run most of our equipment, but has problems with magnetic drive pumps and electronics. probably a few other things.

Steve

I've scoped the output from inverters, differnent UPS's and even my cheap generator and other than the ones costing thousands all basically all are a modified sinewave of some sort (some look like stacked square blocks the make the sine waveform).

Either way do know I've run my Iwaki, Reeflo and heaters on some crappy looking outputs without problems.

It's modified sine wave.