Headless_donkey Posted December 15, 2006 Share Posted December 15, 2006 We are entering the season of bad weather and power outages. In fact we have already had one outage at our house. Luckily it only lasted for about an hour. My question is: what is everyone using for back-up power for your tanks? I have looked at many different UPS units, but it is hard it figure out which one will work best. How many watts of back-up power do we need? Our biggest tank needs to run a Mag5 for circulation. I would like for it to be able to run for several hours. The other tanks have much smaller pumps and would require smaller units. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated. Thank you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GKarshens Posted December 15, 2006 Share Posted December 15, 2006 I am using a battery powered air-pump that senses when the power goes off and turns itself on. My neighborhood has underground lines though so we rarely lose power and usually only for a few minutes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lachrimae Posted December 17, 2006 Share Posted December 17, 2006 http://apc.com/tools/ups_selector/index.cfm A mag 5 (45 watts) is showing the following runtimes with a 1500va UPS - APC Smart-UPS SC 1500VA 120V - 2U Rackmount/Tower 135 min. APC Smart-UPS 1500VA USB & Serial 120V 324 min. Not sure why the same va UPS shows different runtimes though... I use a 750va on a mag7 which doesn't get a lot of runtime but it certainly gives me time to come home and do something about the problem (if I'm aware of it). I use Belkin which is normally less expensive: http://www.pricegrabber.com/search_getprod...sterid=5743578/ Good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Headless_donkey Posted December 18, 2006 Author Share Posted December 18, 2006 Thank you I did not realize belkin made UPS. I know that sometimes they have killer clearance sales. If I see one or another good deal on ups I will post and let everyone know. I wish I could use the battery operated pump, but it is in a seahorse tank and small bubbles are an absolute NO! They think the bubbles are food, eat them, the gas gets trapped, and well.... I'd just like to avoid that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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