Power out

[ronj]

i left my home this morning for a few hours and returned to a home w/ no power .....the power company was in my back yard... they hired a company to cut limbs around power lines and they knocked a power line down... the power had been out for a couple hours....i ran inside and checked all of my tanks....everything was still alive...they said it would be an hour before the power was back on..i cranked up my generator and started running powerheads....i was wondering where i could find battery powered powerheads or water pumps... i didn't have enough electric cords to go to each room.. i will get a few more, but normally when we have a storm and the power goes out, my girlfriend gets mad that i use the generator for my tanks and the refrigerator only....i need to find a way to keep some circulation in the tanks without using most of the power on my tanks....anyone know where to get battery backup stuff???

 

[spongebob lover]

I'm sorry to hear that dood .
that really sucks :doubt: , i hope someone can help you pretty soon otherwise you can always use your arms to make some movement in the tank ...... no seriously i hope someone can tell you more.

 

[Slickdonkey]

You can get air pumps that run on batteries and turn on automatically in the event of a power outage. I've seen these at Marine Depot and other places. For a few hours that should be sufficient.

Sounds like you should buy your girlfriend her own generator for xmas.

 

[ronj]

it wouldn't matter... she would find a reason to compain about my tanks..lol she doesn't like them...i think one would be ok with her, but i have 5 tanks ..

 

[Slickdonkey]

Well I don't think you can order new girlfriends at Marine Depot but they have damn near everything else.

 

[ronj]

that would be cool though...maybe they could do like 1/2 off for reeffrontier members...lol

 

[burning2nd]

rofl RONJ you better delete this hole convo, b4 she gets to it......


Im in the same boat as you, she donesnt like the tank, the guns,

WHat do they really like????


ne way power outage, i just got my gerarator back from a friend its a 1500 max 1200 runing ..... what kind of genarator do you have?

mine wont even power the frig.... this is a tank only genarator..... it took a while to explain to them that all the stuff in the fridge can be replaced...... one good power outage and im out of months worth of work.....



what kind of genarator do you have? whats the wattage out put?

at 1200 watts i should have enought to power the power heads the return pump, the heater the, and maybe half of the lights, i havent tried it yet....... but i will soon hopefully b4 it needs to be

 

[ronj]

it's a Honda 2500...now just guessing, i would say 2500wt... i don't know anything about it.. it was just the smallest one my dad had laying around....he has several that will power most of my house and one that it literally takes between 3-4 people to lift a few inches off the ground.

 

[burning2nd]

HONDA POWER!

IM willing to bet, that your genarater is plenty big, mine is super small, its like a baby genarator. Its big enough to run like a power drill or barly a old makeeda saw.

im sure it will power at least a few power heads. maybe not my lights or heater, but i can maintain the temp in the air with the propaine vent free (in bassment) worst case.

i hopefuly never have to find out. Ive lived here for almost 15 years and can only remember maybe 1 or 2 nights we went to bed with out power. and they were one after another.

HONDA POWER!

 

[Krish]

Ron...Get a vortech powerhead! They have backup batteries I think!

 

[Krish]

Here's what keeps my tank and whole townhouse running during power outtages. I just bought it earlier this year. Had a few problems getting it all running properly, but works like a charm now and has an automatic transfer switch so I don't have to touch anything.

 

[ronj]

i am going to have a new generator wired up to my new house so that it is automatic and it will run pretty much the entire house and all my tanks

 

[Electrokate]

A guy I know said his tank was out for 8 days and he kept his reef alive with the battery powered air pumps. They are quite powerful and I like them a lot, not too noisy either. Also good if you have a large fish or bucket of stuff to transport.
Far as partners who don't like your hobbies, it never gets better. Something to consider in the long run. I know plenty of happy couples who share a love of their pets and also know a bunch of unhappy ones where one person has a problem with them. Haven't seen anything in between. The problem only gets worse.
I can't see how it is possibly reasonable to limit another person's hobby, unless it is smoking crack or something like that. Course I am the one with 38 tanks and my boyfriend has a habit of saying how things are "ours" but that he doesn't "have as much stuff" as I do. Funny how that works.
I think I would love to have only 3 tanks, actually. That would be nice. One would be discus/plants.
Kate
Kate

 

[Krish]

i am going to have a new generator wired up to my new house so that it is automatic and it will run pretty much the entire house and all my tanks

That's the only way to go here where power outtages are common. My generator is a 12 kw and runs off of Propane. I've had it for a few months now and the only other thing that uses propane in my place is the dryer...Everything else is electric and so far I haven't even used 1/10 of the gas in my tank and the generator has over 6 hours of use on it as well as the housekeeper dries atleast 4 loads of clothes, towels etc twice a week! Very economical

 

[ronj]

i will check into some battery powered backups

 

[ronj]

also, Spongeboblover, i didn't even recognize you w/ your new avatar!!!!

 

[burning2nd]

krish that genarator, is nasty! holy hell boy, thats like a 30,000$ peace right there..

do the people next store get power as well? or do then come over and ask "can i barrow some power man?"

 

[Reefbound]

As I was reading this I looked over at my desktop cpu and it hit me... My desktop is on a APC XS 1000 battery backup(mainly because of power spikes), Why couldnt somthing like this run a single small powerhead just for movement. According to the APC program this will keep my complete desk top running for 35 minutes,if you put a single Mj 900 on there it would probably last an hour or more...

 

[Electrokate]

Supposedly the big problem in an outage is lack of oxygen. The powerhead is good for flow but more critical would be fitting a venturi on it. A good air pump can put out a lot more with 4 watts than that would. Still, every time we have an outage our 30 minute rated battery backups don't even give us the time to shut the computers down hard. So I don't think you want to rely on that when the air pump will last so much longer. Also is smaller and less likely to be demolished if you spill some water near your tank. I know some people do use battery backups successfully but they use very expensive ones. The other thing is they don't last forever, unlike the air pumps. An unused air pump will still work in 10 years if the batteries don't corrode wheras that UPS will be in the landfill after a few years, leaching toxins for the next millenia. For me it's generator or battery pump, no in between. I could be wrong though, maybe all 4 of the UPS backups we have tried so far just happened to be junkers...
Kate

 

[Reefbound]

maybe all 4 of the UPS backups we have tried so far just happened to be junkers...
Kate

Well this one I have has been serving me for a two years without failure... I guess I have a good one.