Generators?

[Candi]

All the talk of blackouts in NYC and parts of NJ has me thinking, and scared! The best I have on hand are those battery powered air pumps and a stack of D batteries which thankfully since I'm a stay at home mom chances are I'd be able to toss in. Granted I don't know how fast they suck up batteries or how long a blackout could last.

I'd like to look into a generator, the least expensive option that would keep my 3 tanks going (at least a powerhead in each if nothing else)... any recommendations?

Thanks

 

[Carlo]

Any of the cheap generators you would find at Lowes or Home Depot would work fine for that.

Carlo

 

[Hawkeye]

Any suggestions on the wattage? I'm in the same boat as candi and concerned.

 

[AnDom1]

Hi Candi.. Although I have a small Craftsman generator, it is not for use on my 135gal.Reef. We are reserving that for use with Fridge,etc. Instead, I have the tank's maim return pump (and my computer and home theater) hooked up to individual APC Battery Backup units. The reason is that over the past 18+ years the electricity has not gone off at my home for more than several minutes at a time even in the worst of storms. This while many homes around me have lost power for longer periods. As a result, I decided to go with battery backups geared to each electrical component based on its needs.

For example, the unit hooked up to my reef pump is rated to provide a little more than 2 hours of running time based on two factors...first that I ONLY have the main pump hooked up and secondly, on the power usage (in watts/amps) of the pump as provided by the manufacturer. APC (American Power Conversion) provides a chart on their website as to the estimated running time of their various models based on the wattage usage of the components that you want hooked up to them.

The key for me is that I don't need to run my pump and other components for many hours on end and secondly, that I only have ONE item (Main Pump) hooked up to the backup unit. If I were to also hook up the heater for example, that would reduce the amount of
time both the pump and heater could run. The more things you have hooked up the less time they will run.

So, first determine how bad the brownouts in your area have been. If they last a long time, ie. hours on end, then you may need a generator. If on the other hand, you have periods of short duration even if they are frequent, a battery backup will do. You just need to determine which devices you want to run (main pump, heater, lights etc.), add up the wattages, go to the APC website and select the backup model that will run the devices for the amount of time you want. Remember, the more devices you want to run, the bigger the backup unit you'll need and that there is a point (run lots of devices for a long time) when a generator would be better.

Hope this helps.

Dom

 

[Carlo]

AnDom1's advice is right on the money IMHO. I'd only make one adjustment. To me how often brownouts have happened in the past while important isn't the "be all" criteria. What I'd also factor in is the cost to replace corals and fish if lost. The more cost to replace the better ROI the "generator" will be.

Also worth mentioning, depending on your setup you may not need to run a return pump. You could get by with a couple of low wattage powerheads. If you have a gas stove you can always heat up some salt water and use this method to keep temps up in the tank. Obviously use your head with this and don't pore boiling water into the tank.

You may also be able to get by using a 12 volt DC to AC adapter you plug into your car. You can get 300 and 400 watt versions of these for under a hundred bucks and they work well.

One thing to keep in mind with simple generators is that they do you no good unless you are home to start them and plug things into them. There are more costly versions that will autostart.

Another approach is to pickup a few deep cycle batteries, charger and dc to ac converter and you can build your own robust power supply which can run you full system for a couple of days. Do a search for this if interested and be careful of fumes when charging. You can set this up with a vent or in the garage.

 

[Candi]

Thank you so much for the great replies, looks like I have some research to do. In truth all I really want running on each system (3 tanks, biggest being my new 70g) would probably be a powerhead, while I love my fish/corals I don't actually have anything worth all that much in real $ and I figure most of what I do have survived the 12+ hour trip from MI in Dec with no air or heat (don't ask, was rushed and although I plugged things into the power converter in the back of the minivan I forgot to switch it on DOH! :-X ) I'd just like something to hedge the bet a bit in case of a longer blackout.

We've only lived here since Dec... knock on wood so far we've never had the power go out for more then a min or two.