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Pet Forum / Aquaria / General / February 2006Power Failure
I guess we take continuous power for granted in the UK, and perhaps we shouldn't. My part of North London lost power from 10pm until 11pm last night. I've several tanks of fish and I wasn't unduly worried as the central heating worked ok (once I took it off the timer), and I had confidence it wasn't going to be off for hours. But despite my tanks not being over stocked I noticed the poor old Platys looked very unhappy after an hour without the filters going. The Silver sharks for some reason started trying to jump out of the tank once the filters started up again. I had to put a book on the tank lid ! I'm assuming they didn't like the water quality :-) But after a few minutes they seemed ok. Is there a commercially available Uninteruptable Power Supply (UPS) for the home aquarium ? I would imagine it wouldn't take much to keep the filters going for an hour or so.  SignatureEdward Cowling London UK > I guess we take continuous power for granted in the UK, and perhaps we > shouldn't. My part of North London lost power from 10pm until 11pm last [quoted text clipped - 14 lines] > the home aquarium ? I would imagine it wouldn't take much to keep the > filters going for an hour or so. I would guess any UPS would work, you can buy cheap second hand ones, which have been used in computer server rooms, I'm not sure where I last saw them though. §tudz >> I guess we take continuous power for granted in the UK, and perhaps >> we shouldn't. My part of North London lost power from 10pm until [quoted text clipped - 20 lines] > > §tudz Be careful if you invest in a 2nd-hand, ex-commercial UPS. The batteries on them are like any other rechargeables - they lose the capacity to store charge after a while and that's the reason they're no longer wanted by their owners. A well-used UPS claiming it has a full battery charge may, in fact, run out of power after just a few minutes. And they ain't cheap to replace either, e.g. £120+ for an APC Smart-UPS 1400 battery replacement against £300+ for a new UPS of a similar capacity. Ok, this model is a bit beefier than you would need, but you get my drift. Having said that, one of these, fully charged, would easily run a few tanks for several hours, so it may we be worth the investment if you tot-up the cost (and hassle) of replacing the contents of your tanks. Paul >>> I guess we take continuous power for granted in the UK, and perhaps >>> we shouldn't. My part of North London lost power from 10pm until [quoted text clipped - 36 lines] > > Paul the only problem with most computer type ups's they are not designed to run for hours just long enough to cleanly shut down the computer check below these are designed for home use running TV's http://www.apc.com/resource/include/techspec_index.cfm?base_sku=BI800I not sure if these are available to the UK >>>> I guess we take continuous power for granted in the UK, and perhaps >>>> we shouldn't. My part of North London lost power from 10pm until [quoted text clipped - 41 lines] > http://www.apc.com/resource/include/techspec_index.cfm?base_sku=BI800I > not sure if these are available to the UK [/geek mode on] A computer UPS is usually controlled by either software on the host computer or, in the case of models from the last few years, on-board software controlled via http or telnet. Unless a calibration of the UPS has been performed, then the default time is generally only a few minutes of uptime when on battery. The consequence of running a calibration is to find out exactly how long the UPS can support all its connected devices on battery whilst retaining a battery charge of approximately one third capacity. Once the calibration has been performed, it is then normal to reconfigure the software with the actual time the UPS can support its devices in the event of a power failure. A UPS controlled by external software will almost certainly stay on-line until its batteries are exhausted. [/geek mode off] Paul >>>>> I guess we take continuous power for granted in the UK, and perhaps >>>>> we shouldn't. My part of North London lost power from 10pm until [quoted text clipped - 60 lines] > > Paul they still wont last hours, the small ups's perform so many other functions a fish tank does not need a more simple inverter type is all you need > >>>> I guess we take continuous power for granted in the UK, and perhaps > >>>> we shouldn't. My part of North London lost power from 10pm until [quoted text clipped - 57 lines] > > [/geek mode off] I habe a couple of UPS for my computers and they are fairly dumb, they just send a signal to the PC to do a shutdown when they detect a power out and then run till the battery drains and given the load from a filter is going to be less than a PC (unless you're talking large tanks) then a dumb UPS should last for a bit, but probablnot good enough for any kind of major putage. Also (I'm not an electrician, so could be totally wrong), a lot of (sertainly cheaper) PC UPS generate a stepped square wave output, rather rhan the sinusoidal wave you would get from the mains, which may not be ideal for driving motors i.e. filters. What I tought about doing was getting one of those samll portable generators, then getting my PC to txt my mobile if it gets a signal from the UPS, allowing me to hot foot it home and fire up the generator. Mike. >e.g. £120+ for an APC Smart-UPS 1400 battery replacement against £300+ for a >new UPS of a similar capacity. Ok, this model is a bit beefier than you >would need, but you get my drift. Having said that, one of these, fully >charged, would easily run a few tanks for several hours, so it may we be >worth the investment if you tot-up the cost (and hassle) of replacing the >contents of your tanks. It does seem a bit daft to make sure I have spares of everything and then a power outage threatens my fish. I'll have a nice talk to our systems guy at work and see if he can gets discounts on these things :-) SignatureEdward Cowling London UK >I guess we take continuous power for granted in the UK, and perhaps we >shouldn't. My part of North London lost power from 10pm until 11pm last [quoted text clipped - 14 lines] > the home aquarium ? I would imagine it wouldn't take much to keep the > filters going for an hour or so. Hello Edward, This bit of North London was fine, but we often get power cuts....I blame it on all the road digging due to the sewer repairs all over London....Clancy Docwra!! I have had no problems with a couple of hours or so....and I confess to a tendency to overstock. Not sure if the temperature would drop much in an hour, but I suppose it is a risk. It is OK if you are at home as you could always do a partial water change ...problem when you don't know about it! Drives me mad...everything seems dependant on timers and clocks, even the cooker! Hope the fish are OK now Julie >It is OK if you are at home as you could always do a partial water change >...problem when you don't know about it! >Drives me mad...everything seems dependant on timers and clocks, even the >cooker! I just had a "must get spares" session on ebay making sure I had at least one spare powerhead, lighting tube, heater, etc for each tank. Then the lights go out :-) I had a large tub of water ageing for a change, so I gave them a 20% change tonight. >Hope the fish are OK now Yes, some are years old, and I swear they can look glum if they don't like the water. Mind you trying to escape the tank is a bit of a giveaway :-) SignatureEdward Cowling London UK >Is there a commercially available Uninteruptable Power Supply (UPS) for >the home aquarium ? I would imagine it wouldn't take much to keep the >filters going for an hour or so. Forget PC UPS. They only work for a few minutes while the PC shuts down. It's the water aeration that may be a problem. What about a battery air pump? They were quite common but I haven't needed one for about 30 years. SignatureSteve Wolstenholme Neural Planner Software EasyNN-plus. The easy way to build neural networks. http://www.easynn.com >It's the water aeration that may be a problem. What about a battery >air pump? They were quite common but I haven't needed one for about 30 >years. I tend to agree that it's circulation of the water that's needed, rather than running the filters. I was thinking of either battery powered air stones, or maybe those battery powered gravel cleaners.... perhaps rig one or two up to a XXXL size battery. I'm sure they would circulate the water enough to keep the dissolved gases about right. SignatureEdward Cowling London UK >I guess we take continuous power for granted in the UK, and perhaps we >shouldn't. My part of North London lost power from 10pm until 11pm last >night. Not where I live. A month of uninterrupted power takes notice (I'm in the country). > I've several tanks of fish and I wasn't unduly worried as the central > heating worked ok (once I took it off the timer), and I had confidence it [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > assuming they didn't like the water quality :-) But after a few minutes > they seemed ok. Either they were deafened and startled by the noise of the filters, or there was some anaerobic action going on, fouling the water (sulphide gases). It can be quite toxic to fish, but with good circulation, dissipates quickly. > Is there a commercially available Uninteruptable Power Supply (UPS) for > the home aquarium ? I would imagine it wouldn't take much to keep the > filters going for an hour or so. Two issues. The waveform from these UPSs are generally sloppy (trapezoidal as opposed to the sinusoidal waveform from the town's transformers). This makes little difference to a computer, as the AC is converted into a half dozen different DC voltages, but the magnetic impellers commonly used in HOB and canister filters are very simple devices, which don't care for messy AC waveforms. The result is that they will generally run warm or hot and need to be watched. The other problem is longevity. UPSs are sometimes designed to only give you enough time to save your work, but aquarium filters don't take a lot of power either (ie: 10-20 watts). Check the ratings carefully. During a power failure, you first have 2 issues (re-oxygenation and your bacteria culture dying). Depending on your fish-load and filter type, neither will happen immediately, and may not occur at all (sponge filters suffer a lot less than canister filters). The next problem is heating (depending on your locale, it might even be cooling, but not in the UK ;~). One solution which addresses the bacteria, the water circulation (re-oxygenation) and the UPS waveform, is to connect a DC battery (marine, motorcycle, car) directly to a DC powerhead (also known as a bilge pump, available at marinas) which is plumbed in-line with your canister filter (or could be plumbed to a sponge filter, or replace an AC powerhead). Because you no longer have the DC to AC conversion, or the low voltage cut off, you will actually get a much longer operating time in this set-up. The drawback is you have to connect this battery to the pump (messy lead acid battery), though you could make a little circuit to have it permanently connected with an AC relay which is held open by house AC (closes on a power failure), and keep the whole thing on a little battery charger all set to go on. Bilge pumps are not expensive (cheaper than a UPS), but some plumbing might be needed to adapt them to your application (sponge filters are easy, online canisters will vary). cheers Signaturewww.NetMax.tk Hi.. > But despite my tanks not being over stocked I noticed the > poor old Platys looked very unhappy after an hour without > the filters going. Don't worry! If your tanks aren't over stocked and your filter isn't still filled with mud you won't get any trouble. I've several tanks and temporary (summer) ponds without any technical filter system that work well. Signaturecu Marco, low load fish keeper.. :-) |
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