How to prepare?

[fishboy87]

What's the best way to prepare for a power outage....my idea was to to get a convertor that was being sold at this
Music store not to far from me .... Connect with a car battery and get power that way...all I would need to keep running is my filter heater and oxygen...

 

[Convict2161]

What's the best way to prepare for a power outage....my idea was to to get a convertor that was being sold at this
Music store not to far from me .... Connect with a car battery and get power that way...all I would need to keep running is my filter heater and oxygen...

Battery back up surge protector.

http://www.apc.com/resource/include/techspec_index.cfm?base_sku=be325-lm

http://www.google.com/m/products/ca...a=X&ei=cEO_Tr-8Henv0gG30rXlBA&ved=0CC4Q8wIwAQ

 

[jlk]

I have a power inverter that i use to air up my truck tires-plugs into the car lighter & gives you an outlet. But, i have never tried it with an extension cord & i dont know if it would work. I know alot of people use battery-powered options for different things on their tanks. Best thing, bar none, is a generator! We have a little gas powered one that can run everything on the tanks & some household stuff as well. Best investment ever!!

 

[jsoong]

Depends on how big your tank is if this is doable.

A single car battery may have 120 minutes of reserve capacity at 25 amp. <That is a good battery ... cheapo ones are less ...> This is 50 Amp-Hr at 12 V, or 600 Watts-Hr.

If your inverter is 100% efficient (and none is!), you would power a 100W heater ~ 6 hrs. By the time you throw in the filter, which may be 30-50W in a small tank, and power loss with the transformer, you have maybe 2-3 hrs. This is typical of a 10 or 20 gal setup. If your tank is larger, then your time is shortened ....

For big tanks, people either use a generator, or a bank of multiple batteries.

BTW - if you are getting an inverter, make sure you get one with adequate wattage (like 300W+).... even a 100W heater draws more than most inverters meant for computers.

 

[fishboy87]

Ok so Ima look into buying a generator but I want one that will be able to support the three items I was talking about earlier.... Heater, fluval 405, and oxygen... How much watts would I need?? Sorry not good at these kind of things ...

 

[jsoong]

The fluval 405 is 25 W.

Heater? I don't know, you have to tell me .... The watts is usually marked on the side of the heater .... Typical heaters come in tiny (25 W) to big (500 - 1000W)

Oxygen? You mean an air pump??

Generators generally goes 1000W & up. <There are tiny 500W ones too, but I am not sure how those cheapo ones will last ...> unless you have a monster tank, 1000W should be good for the tank and maybe a small fridge. My in-laws have a 5000W one that can power the entire house & everything in it ... but then, they are in the country with power-outs that lasts days...

 

[jlk]

Our gen is a small one compared to others (3500watts) but they have much smaller gas-powered ones as well that would probably only run 100-200bucks (got ours on sale for @250).

 

[jetajockey]

You don't have to run both a filter and an air pump, they both provide plenty of oxygen.

You can use a power inverter hooked up to the car, just remember to run the car for a while every couple of hours. We did this after hurricane Ivan when we were out of power for nearly 3 weeks.

Assuming this isn't an extended power outage you'll be fine with something like a battery powered air pump and a heater. You could wrap the tank in blankets if possible, that would conserve alot of the heat also, or just keep the room that it's in extra toasty for a while. A drop to room temp isn't the end of the world for most fish, unless the room temp is really cold.

 

[jcolon]

You don't have to run both a filter and an air pump, they both provide plenty of oxygen.

Assuming this isn't an extended power outage you'll be fine with something like a battery powered air pump and a heater. You could wrap the tank in blankets if possible, that would conserve alot of the heat also, or just keep the room that it's in extra toasty for a while. A drop to room temp isn't the end of the world for most fish, unless the room temp is really cold.

Have to agree with jetajockey. For short-term power outages, a battery powered air-pump and stone should provide enough agitation for oxygen exchange. Blankets should help conserve tank temp until power is restored .. again short term. Longer term (a week or two) means a generator and it that case, the essentials would be a heater during winter and an air-stone.
If for some reason you can only plug one piece of aquarium equipment and push comes to shove and you have PWC water, then I'd go with a heater during winter(still keep the battery airstone). Blankets will conserve heat, but eventually the tank will reach room temp and in winter that means dead fish.

 

[fishboy87]

Yea by generators can be kept in a house ..... That's what I'm hearing....

 

[fishboy87]

Yea by generators can be kept in a house ..... That's what I'm hearing....

I meant to type that generators can't be kept in a house and I'm in an apartment

 

[jsoong]

Yea by generators can be kept in a house ..... That's what I'm hearing....

No, you never run a gas generator inside ... the CO will kill you!!!!

if you want an in house solution, you should stick with batteries. <And for a few hours, battery is just fine. You really only need a generator when you have days of power outages.>

 

[fishboy87]

This is what I got ...... It's a battery back air pump to give them oxygen..it uses two D batteries....what do you guys think???

 

[jsoong]

As long as the house don't get too cold (wrap the tank with blankets during the power out so the tank lose less heat), just having an airpump to agitate the water is enough for the fish for several hours.

You should keep the filter media wet to preserve your bio-media while the filter is not running. <And for canisters, open it so the filter don't get anaerobic & produce toxins.>

 

[fishboy87]

Ok I understand...