Power Outage Contingency Plan

[jawfishjunky]

I had a Marine tank in the 80`s Ran great for about 6 years. Then we went on Vacation. Came back and there was a circuit break due to a power outage. Lost most of the tank (the Snowflake hung in there!).

Is there a power contingency plan these days? Some kind of back-up battery that kicks in if the power goes out?

Does the Live Rock help a bit because it continues filtering for a while after power goes out? How long can it continue to do this?

thanks

[Charlie]

I have seen battery powered air pumps available from some of the internet aquarium supply places.

A small generator would be very handy for extended outages.

There is also some kind of a converter designed for computers that converts battery current to AC which some aquarists have discussed on the boards.

[ferretttt]

I am using a UPS made for a computer. It gives me about 6 hours of filter and even longer if I just use a pump. A Marine Deep Cycle battery and an inverter would last even longer, but I like the UPS cause it will switch over automatically. You can get inverters that have a sensor for the power drop (it is what most RVs have)