Battery backup

[Reef Pilot]

Originally Posted by Simons

Power heads...that's the most important in the power outage, gas exchange is fundamentally the top priority. Tanks can live without dosing, skimming or a 'fuge' for a long time but only hours without good flow.

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I can run for 2 days with no power on my battery backups to the point where, in the winter falling tank temperatures might be the second greatest issue. That is another discussion since heaters draw so much power it wouldn't be feasible on battery backup, it would be generator time for something with that kind of load.

Yup, totally agree. With our big outage here in the lower mainland just over a month ago, I got caught without my battery/inverter backups available, and lost 4 fish due to O2 deprivation. Have made it through several power outages (and longer ones) in the past, and just kept a couple powerheads going in each tank, and never a problem. They take very little power. Even had enough battery power to turn on the heater periodically to keep the water from cooling too much. Did not need a generator (although had one of those available too, for the freezer).

[Duckhams]

I've used an APC from Tiger Direct, a unit like this http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applicatio...4631&CatId=234 will give you about 40 minutes running a 900GPH return pump, APEX, couple Jebao's and a heater. Better than nothing, but the bigger you go, the longer it will last running your essential systems.