What do you do for power back up?
 

I recently had to face the reality of a power failure. It only lasted 2 hours but it got me thinking about various scenarios...

I know the rate of oxygen depletion will be dependent on the bio-load but does anyone have any experience about how long one could go without power??

Also what does everyone else do? Or am I worried about nothing??

I am studying my options short of buying a generator. I am thinking something that can last for a few hours just to keep miniumum flow and this gas exchange in the tank. It also should not cost an arm and a leg!!

So far I have come up with:

a) A UPS designed for a computers. For $100 it looks like it is about 8 hours of back up on a koralia 3 or 4 powerhead. (Testing it right now!)

b) Penn Plax B-11 air pump, about $25 in Canada.

http://www.aquariumguys.com/silentairpump.html

I appreciatre everyone's feedback.

Thank you!

I also have the Penn Plax air pump as a backup. Power here is pretty reliable, I've experienced only one outage that lasted more than a few hours, so have been a bit lazy about planning a proper back up plan. During the outage I took the battery out of my car and hooked an inverter up to it. This allowed me to run a powerhead and my skimmer quite easily. I now have two VorTech pumps but no battery back up for them. Been planning to diy one with a deep cycle battery, but haven't gotten around to it.....

Truck idling and a really long extension cord. 400W plug in bed of truck.

There are still people out from that storm, I am a powerlineman and we have been doing insane hours trying to get them back up.. really makes me glad i live in a bigger town and have never had excesive power outages.

and i do nothing though i think i should pick up a generator when i have some spare coin.

You could always pick up one of these:

http://www.canadiantire.ca/AST/brows....jsp?locale=en

It seems to have mixed reviews but there is certainly enough power to keep the essentials running.

I have a inverter and a long extension cord. That will run my powerheads and heaters for nearly as long as i need.

Honda generator!

I use an inverter on my truck as well. Seemed to work well, kept the tank going for 5hrs as well as the coffee pot!

I have a Noma UPS from Canadian Tire and it will power my Tunze 6025 and my K4 for about 7 hours or more without trouble.

nothing automatic but have but have a UPS and little generator available.

Plan is to add a small power head to the display (for surface agitation for aeration and circulation) and a heater that I normally use when mixing salt. I wouldn't be running my main basement return pump, Ca reactor, skimmer, heaters in my sump, lights etc.