Quote:
Originally Posted by jagermaier
Oxygen is the biggest concern for power outage so I have my mp40's on a Vortech battery back up. Temp won't drop fast enough to worry about as the fish and corals will adjust.
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Depends on time of year. Where we live, power outages tend to happen in late fall and winter, and the house will cool more quickly. 5 or 6 hours is no big deal, but after 12 hours there could be harm to your livestock, especially your fish. So you will definitely want to operate your heater after 5 hours, IMO.
That's why I like a battery inverter, to operate pumps (intermittent and low setting) and heaters. And it has enough capacity for 12 hours and more, depending on what you have. I can add an RV battery (or car battery) to mine to more than quadruple its capacity if I need to. I had to go through this a couple years ago, when our power was out for more than 24 hours. Everything survived just fine, and fish and corals did not suffer in the slightest.
I actually use this equipment during the summer at our lake cabin, charged by our solar panels. Then I just bring it home in the fall, and use it as a power back-up for my reef tanks. So no extra cost for me.