UPS (uninteruptable power supply) advice

[Aaron]

I've been contemplating adding some sort of power outage protection to my 90 gallon tank, so I've been looking at UPS's. It's not that my power goes out much, I just have so much invested in my tank at this point I'm looking for some insurance. I'm pretty sure providing light for 1-2 days doesn't matter so I think it's water movement and temperature that are important.

Option #1:
I would likely hook up my heaters and return pump to it, which means about 250W of power. Since my return pump would be connected, I think I want a sine wave UPS. If my calculations are correct, this one is gonna last me about 5minutes (which is awful); I was hoping to get a couple hours of protection.

http://www.amazon.com/CyberPower-CP...&qid=1366950087&sr=1-1&keywords=ups+sine+wave

Almost convinced that this option isn't viable with UPS and would require a generator.

Option #2:
As an alternative, I'm considering getting the vortech battery backups, but this doesn't really solve the temperature maintenance problem. Since my tank is 90Gallon heat may not be the biggest issue, perhaps it's water movement. Not sure if running one of my two MP40's would provide enough water movement to make my tank last for 1-2 days?

http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/catalog/product/view/id/1319/

Anyone have experience or opinions on this?

 

[jahmic]

I wouldn't bother running heaters on an UPS...you're going to drain the battery too quickly. Hopefully you don't have an extended outage that lasts a day or 2, but if you do...and you're around to take care of it...you can easily wrap the tank in blankets or sleeping bags to keep the livestock safe. Flow is definitely going to be more important as it maintains oxygenation in the tank, and with enough insulation you should be able to keep the tank temps relatively stable if you can keep the temp in the house above 65 or so. I had my furnace go out over the winter last year, and kept the house temp at 68 with space heaters...sleeping bags kept the tank no lower than 74 with the furnace being out for a day. You can also get some cheap battery powered air pumps and put them in the sump to help keep any life down there alive if you're going to rely on vortech battery backups in the display tank.

 

[Cherub]

had a power outage last night for a few hours.. freaked me out! so yeah i suppose I will look into one of these too. Just for the powerheads and return pump

 

[jda123]

When we lived in Missouri in the sticks, we lost power a lot. The tank will stay warm for hours and hours if you just put acrylic/glass over the tops and cover the sum to keep evaporation down. You need pumps to run. For me, UPS for pumps was fine until I could get home and get the third power source going. I had a generator for anything over 3-4 hours of outage - we would sometimes lose power for a week or more when the ice storms came.

I had my reef get down to 70-72 and stuff was OK after a week or two recovery time.

Generator is a must if you fear long term outages where you need to run heaters and lights and stuff. Winter is over (well... nevermind), so gennys might get cheap on CL soon.

 

[that0neguy1126]

I use a commercial UPS that we use at work. Its 3000W if I remember right, but theres no way to run heaters on it. I get about 45minutes worth with them on.