Backup power during outages?

I'm fairly new to fish keeping and as such I've recently experienced my first power outage.

Does anyone have any recommendations for auxiliary power during load shedding that won't break the bank? I'm leaning more towards battery power instead of a generator because my tank is in my bedroom.

 

Ups is nice for bedroom not sure about price. Also look for battery powered air pumps. Than you can have filtration sorted. Blankets for heat retention

 

@Tiano - maybe do an introduction thread and give us some idea what fish / kit you are running. Hard to say with the info I see posted on TASA.

Later Ferdie

 

My apologies. I'm currently running a 100l planted tank at 24°C with a 150W heater, 25W T8 and a sponge filter with a 2.5W air pump. Although I'm looking to add a 6W Aqua One Moray 320 and upgrade the 25W T8 to a 45W LED. So in total I'll be sitting at roughly 205W. Ideally I'd like to have the capability to run off grid for at least a day.

 

Very good, so lights are not important when we have no power - if you are running planted .. a few days without will still be OK.

Heater is the bugger .. - in a power outage insulate the tank as @Innocent159 mentioned, 150Watt is not to bad, even with that - you are talking about a "big" UPS. Nice thing is you clever about it you can lower the temp to say 20 and only let it kick in at that. Airpump - kinda depends on the fish you have main filter - and this might be a bit more controversial - I worry if they have not run for a day plus ... but that might be because I am ok with starting with cleaning the filter again before power goes back on if it has been off for very long.


So lets go with just the heater and the airpump - I suspect an 2x200Ah deep cycle battery can work with an inverter that can do a load like your heater, pump ( pure sine wave ) ... this is not your typical PC UPS ... so that is around 6-10k

But here is the thing, depending on your fish and how well you can insulate the tank - that slow temp drop without the heater will not kill them, they might not like it but even if it drops to say 18 degrees slowly over many hours (i.e. do not do a WC when you have no power) they will probably be OK if you slowly bring the heat back when you do have power.

But some of this advice - is worth nothing if we do not know what fish you have.

Later Ferdie

PS - all of this means nothing if your tank is not stocked sensibly to start with ... but that is kinda obvious.

 

PS ... never point a gas or other heat source directly at your tank(s) - if you want to, can heat the room to stop things from dropping below X then make sure that it is very very indirect ...

Later Ferdie

 

Thanks for the advice. I'm about to go on holiday for 3 weeks so I haven't stocked it heavily yet. When everything is stocked as I'd like there'll be 2 dwarf gouramis, ±18 rasboras, 5 panda corys and 5 clown killifish if I can find them and possibly a few cherry shrimp.

 

Not 100% about the compatibility - but those should survive .... not the world's biggest lover of gouramis - mine always turned violent on other fish. Have a safe holiday and rather consider making the changes when you are back.

Later Ferdie

 

Cherry shrimp will become lunch usually. Many battery operated air pumps are available on the market, if you have sponge filters you can keep a tank running during outages

 

I had this situation recently. I put some rocks in a pot and boiled them on the gas stove, then put the rocks in the tanks. It helped keep the temp from dropping but became tedious work. Eventually I went to bed. In the morning the tank was 21 degrees but the fish looked happy. Power eventually went back on and all was fine. Does anyone know where to get 12V DC heaters?

 

Had to read that sentence a few times ... my eyes kept reading socks

 

Throw my socks in a tank and the fish will jump out!

 

@f-fish - I've been reading the thread. We've been without power since yesterday and it's set to last another couple of days. I've been running the generator twice a day to heat up the tanks and change everything that needs charging. How will this constant fluctuation affect my fish? Mainly Sterbai Corys in a 100 liter and some Sterbai fry in a 15 liter grow out. Tx in advance.

 

is this in a separate room ? or just a stand alone tank?

Sterbai Corys can be hardy but the big thing to watch is the min temp ... maybe try and float the fry tank in the bigger tank, more water mass stay warmer longer.

Trust you have a thick blanket or two on the tank already .. .

24 to 28°C is the book temp for your cories .. that sais I have a pair that is perfectly fin in 4ft clear with no heater .. so tank around 20 degrees .. but that was a slow cool down period.

I would insulate the tank as best you can and rather not heat to the max all the time. Hope that makes sense.

Later Ferdie

 

Alas! Even with all the care I took, I lost an Otto and all of my son's mollys. Sterbai and their fry survived.

 

Sometimes only the fit should survive !!!