Winter is coming and I live out in the boonies where we experience frequent power outages. Last year I fretted and stressed and had to jump into action every time the power went out, covering the tank and checking on things. This year I want to do things differently.
Power outages here usually last about 4 hours on average - though we’ve lost power for 4 days before. I want to get backup equipment for everything but the aquarium light. So back up for the sponge filter and, most importantly, back up for the heater.
It’s only a 10 gallon so I don’t need anything huge. I want to have the backup automatically come on if the power goes out. I’m looking for things that plug in and charge and then my equipment plugs into it. I also want something that’s pretty user-friendly as I’m not too mechanically inclined.
I’m really hoping this post gets some replies from people who know about this sort of thing and can make some recommendations.
I don’t know how much help this will be but you might start with this runtime calculator provided by APC:
You need to have a reasonable estimate of the power draw of all the aquarium stuff that will have to be powered. Unfortunately a pump and, even worse, a heater sound like devices that will consume quite a bit of power. You may need a fairly heavy-duty UPS to provide four hours of runtime, which can get somewhat expensive. The good news is that you don’t need high quality for this electromechanical equipment – you likely don’t need one that produces a pure sine wave output, for instance – the cheaper ones produce a stepped-wave approximation, which will NOT work with some computer PSUs (those using something called Power Factor Correction) but should be fine for a heater and water pump. The APC guide leads you to some pretty expensive large UPSs but you don’t need that kind of quality and don’t necessarily need to buy the APC brand. Hope that’s at least enough help to get you started.
The heater is 50 watts. I don’t really know what the other stuff means? The sponge filter only uses an air stone so it needs significantly less power than a hang on back filter which uses a pump.
I think I’ve decided to go with a generator. My plan is to put it on the (covered) back porch because there’s a doggy door that I could have open 1/2 an inch for cords.
Try this one. It’s going to last a lot longer than you need, but it doesn’t hurt to have more juice if needed. It will turn on automatically when the power goes out. It’s only got 2 outlets (I think), or you could do your light as well.
The heater is more important to me than the pump. I’ve been wanting to get a generator for a few years now. Every time the power goes off I look across the street at my neighbour who has a generator and power and am jealous.
A couple of years ago the power went off for four days. I had to move my mom, dad, dog and budgies to a hotel for 4 days which cost as much as just getting the bloody generator so I’m just going to bite the bullet and get one.
It sounds like you’ve already made your decision and if power outages are a regular occurance it sounds like a good investment. Remember to run it regularly or drain the fuel for the summer if that is a good power time of year. Some of the better generators will run themselves for a couple of hours every other week or so just to make sure they are always available but those tend to be more of the whole house sort.
As far as the aquarium directly it sounds like you’ve got a fairly simple set up we’ve been debating getting a power back up for our saltwater aquarium and its crazy how much power those things suck. We’ve just decided to risk it for another couple of years and save up for a whole house generator.
Even though it’s about salt in particular the guys at Bulk Reef Supply do some great knowledge videos on aquarium equipment here is one of theirs on power supplies just in case you decide to change your mind from the generator.
Interestingly, virtually all of the videos about aquarium backups are about reef tanks.
I’ve already purchased the Champion 7500W/9375W generator. I’m just waiting for the email to go pick it up at Canadian Tire.
When we had to go to the hotel for 4 days it cost $2000 because we needed two rooms. The generator and some accessories and tax cost $1600. I feel like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders. Every winter is stressful and now it won’t be!
Sounds like you’ve made up your mind, and if you have 4-day black-outs regularly, yeah, a generator may be merited. I was a power generator mechanic in the military, and a small gas generator is not a difficult thing to operate-- MAKE SURE THE AREA AROUND IT IS WELL-VENTILATED! If you need to connect a hose to the exhaust, or have a fan to ventilate the area, do these things.
I saw a set-up once where the generator was right under a window to the house’s living room.
I’ve never had an outage last longer than 4 hours, which is long enough to cause minor problems in my tanks, but there’s always the danger that an outage could last longer. I live in a place in Indianapolis called Speedway, that is on a separate grid from the rest of the city, because it’s on the same grid as the Indy 500 racetrack, which is why the back-up system for the grid is very good, and outages don’t last long.
But for anyone with aquariums you don’t want powered down for long periods of time, without anticipating outages longer than half a day, this is great, and not terribly expensive.
I’m going to have it out on the back porch. It’s covered but open on two sides. It will be near the back door and there is a doggy door that I can have open 1/2 an inch for cords. Is this ok? I was thinking I might stick a rag into the crack so fumes don’t get in.
I would get a box fan and set it up in front of the doggy door to blow fumes away. I’d also make sure there was a carbon monoxide detector just inside the area where the generator is.
Since it’s just a once in a while thing, it’ll probably be fine, but if the generator is going to, more or less, always be right there, you may want to look into extending the exhaust away from the door. Some cheap steel pipes, like you can get at Home Depot for your furnace/water heater, will probably work fine.
There is one in the hall, just down from the door so hopefully we’re ok in that regard. It’s a duel fuel generator so I can use either gas or propane. Do you have a recommendation on which is better?
Or like clothes dryer exhaust pipe? I have some extra of that. How far away from the door should it be?
Just wanted to add that I think in your circumstances a generator was the right choice. I was actually thinking of suggesting it but was not sure what your budget was. The reason being that you need potentially long-term power but don’t require instantaneous cutover. You’ve got enough power there to also plug in your refrigerator if necessary during an extended outage, lamps, etc.
Well I got to put the generator to use yesterday. We had our first storm of the season and the power went out. I hadn’t actually set it up yet and it was still in the box out in the gazebo. So out I went into the wind and rain. I could hear the “groooooooannnnn…WHUMP!!” of trees crashing down in the forest and kept checking to make sure the wind wasn’t changing direction towards me.
I got it assembled and the wires connected (quite proud of myself) and started slowly rolling it towards the back porch. I did get a neighbour to help me get it up the stairs - it’s 207lbs. I had to go to the store to get a gas can, gas and oil. On the way there were road closures and fire trucks and road crews working to cut up fallen trees. But eventually I made it to the store and back.
Got the oil and gas in and read and reread and triple read the instructions and I got the beast running! I think I may have gone a bit overboard with the generator I got. It’s monstrously large and shockingly loud.
The power was off all day and night and came on early this morning. We had 5 lights on, two heaters and all the fish tank stuff running.
You might want to consider a UPS (uninterruptable power supply) for the aquarium in addition to the generator. That way if the power goes out when you are not at home to start the generator, or if you want to turn off the noise when you go to bed at night, the aquarium will still have power. You really don’t need a generator just for the aquarium overnight.
I do need the heat for the budgies though. Fortunately both birds and fish are in the same room so I just have to keep the one room warm. Especially for Fat Uncle Blue (he’s old and really feels the cold).
I did put a bunch of blankets on the aquarium and turned the generator off for 2 hours so I could sleep. I didn’t feel comfortable sleeping with it on and not monitoring it.
Is it OK to got to sleep and just let it run for the night?
It’s gasoline powered? In the military, we let the diesel ones run, but if there was a gas generator on, someone was always awake. However, the gas ones were way more prone to bugs than the diesel ones, and this was always on FTX or something, not real war time, where someone might really need to sleep. It was also a long time ago, and the gas ones might be less prone to bugs now. They were smaller, though-- the bigger they were, the less prone to failure they seemed.
I am not an electrician, and realize that you’ve made a fair investment already, but running extension cords through a doggy door strikes me as a sub-optimal solution. I’m assuming based on your mention of stuffing rags there to create a seal means that you don’t currently have a dog or other pet using the door.
Most jurisdictions frown on the use of extension cords and it may have serious insurance implications should a fire ever occur. For my peace of mind I would consult an electrician to see what it would cost to run proper wiring from an outlet on the porch to an outlet in the room with the aquarium, plus maybe another in the kitchen.