Power backup

[suicune]

so when the thunderstorm came today, my house was out of power for 40 mins. I was worried sick about my fishes. I suddenly realize the importance of a backup power supply. We have a sizable generator at home that run on fuel. As storm season coming in. I hope to find a compact power supply that can run on lets say batteries. I have a planted tank with an eheim 2215. I'm sure it's not that power hungry to just run the filter for hours during blackout. Anyone has a suggestion of a good brand or a good device?

[eklikewhoa]

You could get a large enough power inverter with a car battery.

There are write ups to make a auto switching one on here as well as online.

[suicune]

We have 2 kids at home.. that's why I'm trying to look for something compact enough to hide in the aquarium stand. not sure if an inverter and a car battery would work

[eklikewhoa]

There's not much else that would be worth the money or space that would last long enough.

natural gas generator.

[suicune]

What about those Duracell PowerPack... I read about them earlier, but I'm not sure it'll power 15W cannister? Thank you for sharing knowledge.

[eklikewhoa]

power packs work but their run time is limited.

That is basically a power inverter and battery.... but with less capabilities.

[suicune]

alright thanks. Hmm I'll try a compact enough set of them to hide in the stand then. Do you have any suggestion of a good brand of inverter + battery?

[eklikewhoa]

inverter I would just get the most powerful you can afford from harbor freight, much cheaper there.

As for batteries, I'm partial to Optima batteries, the are a true sealed battery and will not release gasses, there are also cells for race cars that would work and are a lot smaller in size.

[suicune]

okay so I did a bit of math... Hurricane season in Houston are usually summer-fall. In case of power outage, I only need to have my filter running. Which means it's 15 Watt for the canister. It seems that most inverter would be strong enough to run this. Now If I want to run the filter for about 24 hours. 15W / 12V x 24 Hrs = 30 AH the smallest Optima deep cycle battery has 38 AH capacity. Then I'll be good to go with even that smallest battery. Am I right?

[mistahoo]

I would assume so. Math is correct and the AH that will be used is less than the capacity

[troy tucker]

As storm season is here. A backup for your tank can be something to think about. But it doesn't have to brake the bank either. You can use a bait bubbler and a sponge filter. It will keep the tank clean and fish happy. It can run for long time on a D battery and pennys on the dollar. The bubbler is about six bucks and a sponge filter is about ten bucks. It's not automatic turn on but it will work for days on a couple D battery's.
just a thought...

[BrAin]

I like Troys idea. If we were to get a storm power could be out for days or even weeks. Those bait bubblers only cost about 8 bucks and you could rig them up with a sponge and a piece of pvc for a couple dollars more. Buy a couple packs of batteries and you've got a way to keep the fish alive for weeks and not break the bank.
They even make some more powerful bait savers that run on a 12v battery. It almost looks like a large heater with a screen and a impeller in the bottom. Add a sponge filter and a lawn mower battery and it would be pretty awesome as a backup. I have one but never though to use it for this.

http://www.academy.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Product_10151_10051_12073_-1?Ntt=bait+saver&Ntk=All