battery back up system

[Onyx4476]

what is the best way to protect my fish when the power goes out? all the ups systems and ecotech battery back ups i have been investigating do not seem to do everything i need. i want to have my tanks on life support for at least 48 hours without issues. all together i am using about 2200 watts. I already have the ecotech battery back up for my return pump, but it only runs the pump at 20% or something. last week the cleaning lady tripped the breaker and i lost 3 fish in 7 hours. totally unacceptable.

 

[duanes]

Generator that kicks in automatically when power goes out.

 

[celebrist]

3 fish in 7 hours seems extreme for sure, what is your stocking level, tank size etc.

 

[Onyx4476]

its 450 gallon with a 50 gallon sump. i have 5 small rays, a small arowana, some danios, a large bichir, a small bichir, a giant gourami, and a couple silver dollars. the fish that died were a large severum, and one of the fancy guppies that lives in my sump. i have 2 other tanks as well, both 50 gallons. the other fish that died was a small discus in one of the 50 gallons. i was considering a generac natural gas generator that automatically kicks on, but they are super expensive.

 

[celebrist]

Suprising that a guppy would croak before the Ray's but really happy for you that they survived

 

[Onyx4476]

guppies come and go, it might not have been related

 

[pacu mom]

We used to scramble when the power went out, adding water to the tank to submerge the bioballs in the wet/dry filter behind the tank, and throwing a battery operated air pump into the tank. If the power was out for over a day, my husband would bring home a large generator. When we built our addition for the big tank, we installed a 20 KW Generac generator.




It truly is peace of mind to know that even if we are not home, the fish tank will keep running.

 

[Onyx4476]

why did you go so big? i am looking at the 6,000 watt generac. its around $2,200 at lowes. all my tanks and everything only draw about 2200 watts

 

[deeda]

If your cleaning lady tripped the breaker, a generator wouldn't help at all. You may want to look at the power draw on the circuits that the tanks are on.

We also had a whole house generator installed a number of years ago so that we could keep the tanks running as well as our well pump for water and the rest of the house. We went with a propane 14K generator based on house size and it automatically comes on when the power goes out.

We had bought a portable gasoline generator from Home Depot during one 4 day power outage in the winter and it was a pain to keep it filled with gas but it got the job done for the tanks and furnace, unfortunately no water.

 

[Onyx4476]

yea i have 2 issues. one is too many things on a 20 amp circuit. two is the power supply back up.