Power - Keep your tank going when there is none!!

[Chloe]

Power out? This was a lifesaver for me. My power went out and I do have a backup, but at the time it would run my tank equipment for about 2 hours. Our power was going to be out for 6-8 hours. I went to Wal-Mart at 1:00 in the morning to see if they had anything. They had this. (http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.gsp?cat=3947&dept=3944&product_id=1818512&path=0%3A3944%3A3947%3A96391)

Just plug it up to your car battery and run 3 extension cords to your tank where you can plug your strips in. Runs for an hour, then you start your car for a few minutes and it runs for another hour and so on.

Now this may seem silly, hope you don't think so, but I thought it would be a good tip to share. Hope this helps. :mrgreen:

[jayotte2002]

how would that work if you got a motorcycle? J/K

[Apophis924]

Hey thanks C for the Tip. Living in Fla we have a few brown outs with all the Thunder Stroms and all. and with Hurricaine season in effect this is much better than a generator. I can keep my tanks up and watch a few dvd movies while waiting for the power to come back. LOL i could care less about food in the fridge going bad, Keep the tanks running and the TV on is number one. As far as beer in the fridge getting warm? Yeah right if it ever last that long. Once again thanks for the Tip.

[matrixnyc]

I would just keep an eye out on how much load you put on one of those inverters. They are designed to run some household items (Radio, Laptop, TV...) I am not sure you want to over load them with 3 extention cords and attach you tank to it :(

If you can limit the items you plug into it until the power comes back on, that way you lessen the risk of fire and blowing out the inverter.

[Apophis924]

I figure i would run the power head, and fuge pumps, just the low power things to keep water movment and temp control. lights i will not worry about if my corals survvied over night shipping with no lights they can handle a black out for a few hours to a day. As far as the fridge I'll but the brews in an ice chest and sit my happy a** on the proch till i get power back .

[Chloe]

It runs EVERYTHING on my tank: 4 PH's, Magnum 350 Canister Filter, Skimmer, Bio-Wheel, Thermometers. I don't run the ligts, but have.

Matrixnyc said: I would just keep an eye out on how much load you put on one of those inverters. They are designed to run some household items (Radio, Laptop, TV...) I am not sure you want to over load them with 3 extention cords and attach you tank to it

No problem here!!! The three outlets have a fuse that will blow before anything like that could happen. Even better, if overloaded, the unit will shut down....then you restart it. This happens before the fuses blow.

[Fishmonger]

Any idea how long it could run just a 300 W heater and 2 powerheads for ? I figure thats the essentials for me.

[Chloe]

I run 2 150 Watt Heaters, 4 Maxi Jet 1200 Power Heads, Magnum 350 Canister Filter, Emporer 400 Bio-Wheel and Prizm Skimmer. All runs for over an hour on my 700 Watt converter. Then I start my car and let it run for 5 minutes and it is ready to go for another hour +.

[reaper_jac]

pc back up batteries are great. They tend to cost a little more but. I ran a heater and a emp 440 for around 2 1/2 hours only cost me 40.00 buck's.
The down side it keep's going ---beep---beep---beep---beep---beeep---beep---beep---beep---beep---beep---beeep---beep---beep---beep---beep---beep---beeep---beep---beep---beep---beep---beep---beeep---beep---beep---beep---beep---beep---beeep---beep---beep---beep---beep---beep---beeep---beep---beep---beep---beep---beep---beeep---beep---beep---beep---beep---beep---beeep---beep---beep---beep---beep---beep---beeep---beep--- Then beeeeeeep and that's it folks it's realy a good idea as long as you keep it dry.

[kittymomma]

Thatpetplace.com carries a battery operated air pump. It is a fairly small unit but I guess you could use more than one. They run on 2 9v batteries. Cost is about $10