Holy Crackers

[cocoa_pleco]

I almost pissed myself at work.
First, i went in2 the kitchen, and the cook said the power was off, and we were running on generator.
I thought big deal, then i thought SH*T, what about my heaters and filters on my tanks?

I couldnt figure out what to do, and then i got a idea. I asked if i could go run a errand, and my boss said okay. ( i had 2 hours of work left)
At that time i could be alone and call for someone to check the tanks.
Turns out a truck hit a pole a few blocks down, and power was lost but not my place thank god.
I almost literally pissed myself i was so worried. All my sensitive gouramis would have died, and UGHH.
The filters would have went out too, then run dry if the power went on before i got home.

Ive seen people make back-up generators for tanks in case of power failure.
Howdya make em?

[Chrona]

You can buy a decent gas generator for your house (I don't mean your whole house btw, only select appliances, lights, etc) for a couple of hundred bucks. The problem is, almost all of them are manually operated, meaning they don't start automatically when power goes out. For that feature...expect to pay a lot more. Also, cheaper generators put out less power, so unless you only hooked them up to your tanks...you'd have to make sure nothing is drawing a heavy current in your house or it can easily overload it.

I was thinking about getting an APC battery backup for my tanks, but even the biggest residential ones only put out 100 watts for an hour, which is pointless.

[Gelo_USA]

I was gonna say an APC but I think to get a good enough to run ur aquarium for a long time would be tooo expensive most of the ones I knw are around 200$ and they only run for about 30 mins if HALF of its max capacity is used if u it runs on full capacity its like around 15 min only

I dnt knw how much power aquarium equipment would drawn but even if u get an hour it still not enough unless u knw ur out of power and u are able to get to ur house before one hour and u have a gas generator so u can turn it on LOL:hmm3grin2orange:

[cocoa_pleco]

I could buy 9000 hamsters to run everything, but too costly

[Chrona]

I was gonna say an APC but I think to get a good enough to run ur aquarium for a long time would be tooo expensive most of the ones I knw are around 200$ and they only run for about 30 mins if HALF of its max capacity is used if u it runs on full capacity its like around 15 min only

I dnt knw how much power aquarium equipment would drawn but even if u get an hour it still not enough unless u knw ur out of power and u are able to get to ur house before one hour and u have a gas generator so u can turn it on LOL:hmm3grin2orange:

Well, if you have a 55 gallon tank, thats a 200 watt heater, so that alone would run out a $150 battery backup in 30 minutes. And thats not including filtration, lighting, air pump etc, etc.

[Incredulous_Ed]

I could buy 9000 hamsters to run everything, but too costly
And the smell! phew!

[cocoa_pleco]

E[Only Registered Users Can See Links.] GLAD air fresheners would make a hefty buck off me there

[Incredulous_Ed]

Plug it in! Plug it in!

[Severus]

Youd need all types of airfresheners. Spray, candles, incense, the whole bit!

[Lady Hobbs]

I lost power at my house several months ago for 21 hours. Fish all lived but it was a hassle for sure. My blog has the whole morbid story.

[minabird]

Well, if you have a 55 gallon tank, thats a 200 watt heater, so that alone would run out a $150 battery backup in 30 minutes. And thats not including filtration, lighting, air pump etc, etc.

Depending on the temp difference between the tank and the room, the water temp shouldn't drop drastically as it cools to room temp. It should take several hours before the water temp reaches ambient room temp. So, the heater doesn't need to be on a backup unless it's a very small tank. I've had a 5 gal bucket of water filled with the coldest water out of my tap, about 55F, take 3-4 days to warm up to 68F.

Lights don't need to be on a back up. Fish can swim in the dark and survive. They should get enough light to see by thru the window, unless the tank's in a closet.

I think the biggest concern would be the filtration and keeping the water oxygenated long enough until power is restored. Not sure what the power draw on the filters are, but a series of APCs should work for a while, a few hours maybe???

[cocoa_pleco]

Its a pretty warm basement.
Maybe ill get a generator good enough to support 2 heaters for 5 hours

[*Sarah*]

Depending on the temp difference between the tank and the room, the water temp shouldn't drop drastically as it cools to room temp. It should take several hours before the water temp reaches ambient room temp. So, the heater doesn't need to be on a backup unless it's a very small tank. I've had a 5 gal bucket of water filled with the coldest water out of my tap, about 55F, take 3-4 days to warm up to 68F.

Lights don't need to be on a back up. Fish can swim in the dark and survive. They should get enough light to see by thru the window, unless the tank's in a closet.

I think the biggest concern would be the filtration and keeping the water oxygenated long enough until power is restored. Not sure what the power draw on the filters are, but a series of APCs should work for a while, a few hours maybe???

You could just blow into the tubing for a few hrs:hmm3grin2orange: