backup power supplies

[reefburnaby]

Christy,

IMHO depending on the types of corals you have, your tank can stay alive for short power outages (say less than 4 hours). I have a 500VA UPS and it is hooked up to one of my main pumps. This particular pump pumps water through my refugium, CC skimmer, calcium reactor and provides minor circultation in my tank. So, this is a really important pump that needs to keep running, but it only draws about 15VA (its a maxijet 900 driving a close loop system). So, 500VA / 15VA....that's about 33 hours. So, that pump will run for 33 hours on a single UPS charge. The heating problem is not a really a big concern since we have a gas fireplace in the same room.

IMHO the UPS is used for extended power outages (i.e. longer than 4 hours), an inverter with a car is probably not a good option. Maybe a small Honda generator would be more appropriate.

- Victor.