What do I do when power goes out?

[LittleDevil]

Hello All,

I woke up thismoring and there was no power. So how long can the fish survive? or anything in the tank survive??
Is ther anything that I can buy to hook up so when the power goes out that it switches over to battery power??
I hooked up a power inverter thismorning and ran my filters but no heater, inverter wasnt strong enough....
Thanks,MAtt

[NaCl-H2O]

You can use a UPS the same type they use for computer back up. But you should get a good one. Many cheep ones make a poor excuse for a sign wave and will not drive pumps. And when you use it use just a pump or two for cirrculation and oxygenation like this it will run them for quite awile things like lights and skimmers will use up its charge very quickly. Also elivate it put on a brick or something and alow the cord to droop down below the UPS so if water gets on the cord it will run down to the droop and drip on the floor instead of run into the back of an electrical device(zizzle bang).

[nucleuscracker]

I've had that happen a couple times. I would definately get one of those back ups for computers. If I remember someone posted having their tank on one for quite awhile.

One thing you want to make sure you do if you do not get a back up supply, is to unplug everything so that when the power comes back on you don't risk shorting ur ph's etc.......

[allykahn]

Depending on the size of your tank, you can add AmQuel or something to that effect to break down the ammonia. It may throw off your test readings, but it will help until the power is restored.

[LittleDevil]

Thanks for the info, anyone know where I can buy these backup units at? and are they really expensive??
Thanks
Matt

[nucleuscracker]

usually you can get them at a computer store like CompUSA. As far as costs goes I want to say about $100 - depends on the size back up you get...