Blackouts

[Serial-Cichlid]

Something that never crossed my mind until yesterday when I was talking to a friend.

Has anyone out there experienced a blackout for a long period of time...? How has it affected your fish and do you have backup generators or something to keep the filters, heaters and pumps running? Does anybody know how much backup generators cost as well?

I'm taking all of this into deep consideration before I buy any more tanks and fish.

Regards

Paul

[Ben]

I have had several problems with blackouts. I lost a tank full of hongi fry when they were still selling for $50 at 2cm.

I use battery backup conected to a power inverter which produces 240 volts for me to run some filtes, air, lights and a small tv during blackouts.

I will get some pictures up for you later today.

[Serial-Cichlid]

thanks Ben. How much did that set you back?

Cheers

Paul

[Ben]

I will sit down and do it all up for you and post it up this afternoon.

Cheers

[Matthew]

G'day Paul

I have suffered numerous blackouts up here in the mountains.

During the last fire season we were without power for 16 hours.

Hence I now own a generator.

But for everyone else out there that isn't quite that serious about their fish, I would suggest you consider the following options.

* Battery air pumps, usually sell for about $10 each, (see Age of Aquariums, he has some) and remember to keep the batteries nearby!

Completely Manual method: If everything goes to sh*t,

** Lower your tank water levels a little

** Keep lids on tanks as they often like to jump out

** Consider doing a partial water change with aged water that is ready to go.

** Get a bucket, put a small hole in it (or using airline tubing start a syphon) and dribble tankwater back into the tank. When it runs out refill the bucket and start over again.

* A Battery and Inverter system. I have this system as well, the Battery I bought is a deep cycle battery and cost me about $95 at Kmart, I also needed a charger for it and then the inverter, 300 watt, I got from Jaycar for $169.

HELP Can anyone provide me with info on building a DIY switchbox/UPS system, where I can use the battery/inverter system above, to automatically switch over to the battery/inverter system when the power fails??? : My current one is stuffed and I need to find another.

* Then of course a generaor. These are pretty cheap atm, I saw one advertised recently for $249 I think it was at Repco or Auto One, and it was an 850 Watt version.

Oh yes and don't forget your filters, the bacteria need oxygen as well, without it, they die.

This all means that when the power comes back on, the water will enter the filters with oxygen, and the water will leave the filter with no oxygen, the oxygen is used by the decaying bacteria.

How long this takes is like asking how long a piece of string is. Personally I start cleaning out my filters after 2 hours wothout power and after 3 - 4 hours I assume all of the bacteria is dead and clean every filter that has had no power supplied.

Final words

Plan for a power failure NOW, it will happen one day and if you don't have a plan, it is extremely distressing to watch your pets die. I know this from personal experience!!!

Best of luck

[Dragon_Lord_Tia]

i remember we had a huge black out and i was on canister filters back then and i would blow in the in-take part until all the water was out then remove the out let hose from the tank and put the inlet back in and new water would syphon down it the filter which saved my bacteria took along time but i did it and it worked.

but i have a generator i take up to my caravan site at burrendong so if i do i hook that up and it runs my filters while i put jars of hot water in the tanks a filters.

cheers

[PHL]

I know of some people in the US using older UPSs for this purpose; should last a few hours, considering the load is usually small (I'd assume you'll turn the lights off).

[tykita]

there is an airpump that does about 20 or 30 tanks which runs off power then converts to battery if the power cuts out. i don't know the name of it. it costs around $200. i don't even know how long the battery lasts. but if you want to know more gus who is on the committee has one and knows all about them he will tell you alot more than i can.

[nannat]

i got a portable car jump start battery pack for krissie.it has a lighter socket which gives 12 volt power as well as starting a car flat battery.the 12 volt will charge a mobile phone,power tools, and im gunna adapt to air pump or 12 volt boat bilge pump.i know it cost 60$ from super cheap auto.so im not scared of the dark. :D

[Gigitt]

We had a blackout and I pulled my MGE 1200 Elipse from my computer to run the filter. It ran my Aqua Via 650 canister and hagen 402 air pump for 5 hours... no heater... till SES lent us a generator.

[onlyme]

I have 2 separate airlines running around my tanks. The main one has the facility to quickly switch over ( the air output that is ) and connect to a 12 volt, 125lit/hour air pump that I bought from Ben. I have 2, 18 amp hour lead acid battery packs made for this purpose, not car batteries. It requires its own special charger. The charger was $40 and each battery is $69 each, all from Jaycar. This gives me sufficient air to run one or two substantial air driven filters in all my tanks for about 8 hours. This blackout thing can be a real problem especially when you have 20 tanks. THis setup works for me but you must be there to change it over. THe battery UPS air pump Gus has, I, and others have had much trouble with them. Its a shame the pump part of them is not much good becasue the concept is great. I almost bought a generator, I reckon this is also a viable option. What I set up works for me but I can see that almost everyone would have a different need.

Craig.

[catalyst]

I have an small computer UPS (cost $80 new) and have changed the small internal battery to a car sized sealed lead acid battery($70), that runs my canister filter for about 8 hours. I also change my air stone over to one of the battery operated pumps that run on 2x D cells which gives about 8 hours as well. I dont bother with the heaters or lights and I stop the fluidised bed filter also as I have been told they can keep the bacteria in them alive for about 12 hours with out a pump due to the high levels of O2 in them.

[PHL]

I stop the fluidised bed filter also as I have been told they can keep the bacteria in them alive for about 12 hours with out a pump due to the high levels of O2 in them.

I thought the problem with fluidised bed filters is the bacteria starts dying within half an hour, due to compaction when it's not running (different story whilst running obviously)?