Back up power help please

[csababubbles]

I calculated my emergency power needs to power my vital equipment components to be around 800 watts. Power outages are rare as it is around here, and outages over 10 minutes are years in between. But i would still like to be able to get at least a couple of hours of back-up power.

For many reasons I cannot run a gas powered generator. I am very confused in how to set up a reliable automatic power back-up in case the power goes out with anything else. Can someone please help me?

 

[apollothesun]

i have a power inverter thats rated for 1600watts that i hook up to a marine 12v battery in case of short power outtages. i keep my marine battery on charge stanby to keep the juices going. then when power goes out i hook it up to my emergency power strip. it powers my hydor koralia 3 and 2 heaters for 3 hrs no problem;
to simplify things i hook up these units to a specified power strip in case of these emergencies. unplug from my main sytem and plug it into the inverter..dont know how long it would be for your setup but you can get a couple power inverters and batteries and hook them up

for longer outages i bought a 4500 watt gas generator. still in box, probably open this summer to test out. remember the wind storm 2 years ago? alot of reefers got out of the hobby because of it. if you invest in your tank, a generator is a must imo.

 

[Holygral]

I have a Korilla power head plugged into a APC computer back up power supply. When the power goes off the unit will automatically take over and run the Korilla for 5-6 hours, they run about $200 get the biggest one you can afford

 

[Coral Ranch]

I have a gardian generator it kicks in automatically to run my large systems.I'm not sure if you can get small models or not.By the way it runs on propane

 

[jezzeaepi]

If you cant run a generator, you have to either:
-Run a inverter in your car, leave your car running, and run cord to your tank
-Get your vital equipemnt down to less then 50 watts or so. All you should need is single power head(8-12 watts) to keep the flow moving in your tank while you wait for the power to come back on. Get soemthing like this: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicat...008&SRCCODE=PRICEGRABBER&CMP=OTC-PRICEGRABBER
50 watts for about 7 hours. Can get several if you want more time.


Theres really nothing that can repalce a generator unfortunetly =\ I got lucky and found a really small honda gerenator that will run 500W for emergencies power for my tank. I live in an aprtment too but I have a big deck and this thing is tiny.

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

Seems like 800W is an awful lot for just "vital" equipment. If you included heaters, you can wrap a tank in blankets and keep it pretty darn insulated... assuming you're home when the power goes off! But you do have a good grace period after power goes off before tank temps drop dangerously low. All you really need to do is keep flow and oxygenation.

I've got one of these hooked up to everything but my lights, which equals about 300W or so...

http://www.xantrex.com/web/id/204/p/1/pt/30/product.asp

It'll keep everything going for about 4 hours before it runs out of juice. If I unplug my heaters from it and just use it for oxygenation and flow, it'll run for 12-16 hours. They make a larger size also.

But for long outages, a generator is about the only way to go. I've got a little 1500W Honda Ecowhatever that is quiet as a mouse. Nice generators.