Power outage

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Kmtermini

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Oct 10, 2012
Messages
17
Hi everyone. I need a battery operated heater and aerator....any suggestions? We were affected by sandy in long island and i lost a few fish. Dont want to have it happen again...
 
I don't know if you'll find battery operated heaters ... may draw too much for typical batteries to do any good. You can get a simple battery operated air pump ... for Irene I bought two at a pets supplies, though LFS should carry them. If your tanks are large enough 20gal + and stocked reasonably enough, there's enough natural gas exchange to keep your fish alive. Stirring the surface with a stick, spoon etc will better promote gas exchange.

When I lost power I just boiled some treated water and mixed it with removed tank water to cool it down before I poured it back into my shrimp tank. Not the most ideal way, it works better for smaller tanks where you remove smaller amounts of water. I'd hate to imagine doing this to keep 125gal tanks warm.
 
If you know how many watts your current filter and aerator are, you can figure out how long a battery/inverter combination (e.g. this) would give you power.

e.g. 50 watts on a fully charged 18Ah 12V battery with 120V inverter would give you 18/(50/12) = a little over 4 hours of power.

The problem with heating is that it generally draws 100w or even 300w which would require a very big battery if you want to get some hours out of it. I think you would be better served buying a small generator.
 
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