Electricity outage = new backup plan

M

Modo

[The storms that blew through Saturday morning knocked over a tree in our neighborhood. This tree landed on a pole and snapped it off along with all the electrical wires attached!!

I was on my way to Sherman when all this happened when the wife called. I had been trying to figure out a game plan for when something like this happened, but hadn't implemented it yet. :glare:

So, I sent my wife off looking for battery operated air pumps. Luckily PetsMart opens at 7:00a and they had three (around $12.00 a piece). She was a champ and placed them throughout the 90g tank. I got home around 1:00p and everything looked good still.

The electricity came back on around 8:00p. That was 14 hours without power! Thank goodness it was cool Saturday, so the H2O temp never got above 79F, which is very cool for my tank. Everything looked great! I left the lights on for a few hours and actually fed around 10:00p and everyone ate like nothing had happened. All corals are fine as well and polyps where actually extended the whole time without lighting.

So, my new game plan for power outages:

The battery operated pumps only come on when the electricity is off. They plug into the wall to monitor the power. When the power shuts off, they kick on.

I am now going to utilize 2 of these pumps for my automatic safety in case I'm not at home if this happens again. It really did suprise me how much water these pumps move. The 3rd will be backup and I can drop it in if the electricity is off a little longer. But, for normal instances when I'm at work these should do the job.

Here is what I'm going to do. The two pumps are placed on top of my canopy. Then I've run the airline tubing to the rear of the tank through the open back of my canopy. At the water level I've attached the stiff airline tubing that you use in gravel filters. These I've run down in each corner to just above the sand. I used a little epoxy putty to hold them in place behind the rock work.

Now when the power goes off, I have at least some O2 and circulation to buy me some time. If the power was off for more than 24 hrs I would have hooked up a car battery and inverter to run my main pump. But, it never came to that thank goodness. These pumps do a great job and move a great deal of water. Now i just have to check them periodically to make sure the "D" cell batteries aren't dead.

For anyone looking for a cheap alternative for small outages I highly recommend these pumps and setting something similiar up for you tanks. They have been tested and approved for 14 hrs by me personally. :p I think they could have maintained a decent enviroment for a lot longer.

Let me know if you have any questions!

-Kurt]
 
[Kurt, What is the brand name of the ones that your wife purchased for you. I have been thinking about something like that since I started this hobby. I live out in the middle of nowhere and power goes off alot if only for a few minutes. This is the main reason I do not have a sump of fuge yet, I'm scared.
I think a couple of these pumps might be the answer.
thanx]
 
newtofish wrote:


[I would also like to know which pumps you got. After the last power outage I learned that my tank could have gone up to two days with no circulation. Knowing that does make me feel much more at ease now. At least I don't have to panic.

I'm also out in the country with a lot of little power failures and when we have a big outtage we are always the last ones to get our power back on.

NewtoFish, where is Gunter,TX. ?

Cindy]
 
[I don't remember the name brand off the top of my head. I'll check when I get home and post up.

I was honostly amazed at how effective these things are. I purchased a couple of the tubes for gravel filters to mess around with as well. These things move water. One was a little too closed to the sand and an unsuspecting Nassarius snail got too close and got sucked up inside the tube!

I'll do a search here in a minute and see if I can find them online as well.]
 
[That was easy!

These where actually cheaper at the store. But, these are them. The box is not on this webpage, but you should be able to find it.

Oh, and it's called "Silent Air", but that couldn't be farther from the truth. These things sound like a freight train!

Battery Powered Air Pump]



Edited By Modo on 1093891169
 
[Oh yeah!!

Be sure to pick up some additional airline tubing. These things come with about 4".

I also would not attach the airstone if you are going to leave it in your tank like I laid out above. Coraline will encrust it over time and may block it enough not to do much. Plus, I was doing to reading on airlifts and it seems larger bubbles are what you want to move water.

If you are having an O2 problem during an outage you may add the airstones then.

Just my recommendation. Let me know what you guys think.]
 
[i bought 2 automatic air pump for emergency, one from ebay and other from Dr Foster & Smith catalog. One is Azoo brand and other ebay seller is aquaticKR. They are higher , around 50 but more powerful and quiet, depend on your tanks.

Another choice. :cool grin:]
 
[Thanks for the recommendation - I picked up the last two of the Silent Airs from the Petsmart at Coit and Campbell intersection.
I was wondering how you were handling the issue of coralline and other growth on the air stone so found the above comments very instructive.
What would be great is to find one of the backup battery deals where plugging it in trickle-charged a rechargeable battery.]
 
[Thanks for the recommendation - I picked up the last two of the Silent Airs from the Petsmart at Coit and Campbell intersection.
I was wondering how you were handling the issue of coralline and other growth on the air stone so found the above comments very instructive.
What would be great is to find one of the backup battery deals where plugging it in trickle-charged a rechargeable battery.]
 
[If you'll take this one step further, you'll have even better results - especially in tanks that are stocked relatively heavily.

Take some tubing (clear or PVC) that is about 1" in diameter and about 15" tall (assuming that fits your tank, and affix an elbow at the top. At the base of the tube, cut it at a 45 degree angle. The base will not be in your substrate. Run your rigid airtubing down through the elbow (drill a small 3/16" hole) and down the tubing, about 1" above the opening. What you've just made is an air-lift, which will draw water from the base of the tank and rise with the bubbles out the top of the pipe.

If you can't quite visualize this, it is very similar to an Under Gravel Filter setup, except the base of each tube is not attached or submerged. YOu might use suction cups to hold this to the back wall perhaps.

And a computer battery back up can run those little pumps for a very long time. Another device is called a "power inverter" (I saw one at Costco two days ago). It converts the power from a car battery to 110v items. They can only handle a small load, but again airpumps use little power.]
 
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