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Backup Power
- Thread starter extrm79
- Start date
Brownout or balckout? What equipment do you wish to maintain, for how long? In order to size backup power requirements you would need to provide max power consumption for each device that would be "online" during the outage. The calculation could be completed to arrive on how much capacity you would be need to play it safe.
If you provide this information we could attempt to provide baisc guidelines.
Bill
If you provide this information we could attempt to provide baisc guidelines.
Bill
wouldn't you really want to maximize the flow rate while using the least amount of power? So Id imagine a tank could survive a few hours without lights or a skimmer, but would be dead without any powerheads pushing the water. So if they were 3 tunze 6060s, at 11watts each, then you'd need something to power them for 24 hrs.
Of course I have no idea if that is what you intend. You could just as well include the return pump/skimmer/lights- but the more equipment, the more expensive...
Of course I have no idea if that is what you intend. You could just as well include the return pump/skimmer/lights- but the more equipment, the more expensive...
Hi..Phil makes a very good point...I live in Iselin and have a 135 reef with MH Lighting, a Main Return pump, several in-tank powerheads/stream pumps, a heater and a recirculating pump on my skimmer. The history of power outages in my house over many
years has been that although they occur a few times a year, they are of short duration (no more than a few minutes).
As a result, I only hooked up the Main return pump to an APC battery backup unit so that playing it safe, the Main pump will run for a few hours. If I were to add the lights, and other equipment, I'd get well under 1 hour's backup time. As Phil noted, the corals and other animals can do without lights, etc for a while but the circle of filtration and water movement provided by the Main at the very least, is very important to maintain.
The more equipment you want to backup and/or the longer you want to run them, the bigger the backup unit will have to be. Check the American Power Converion (APC) website for a comparison their products' capabilities. But first you must know what equipment you want to run, their power usage in terms of watts and how long you want them to run.
Dom
years has been that although they occur a few times a year, they are of short duration (no more than a few minutes).
As a result, I only hooked up the Main return pump to an APC battery backup unit so that playing it safe, the Main pump will run for a few hours. If I were to add the lights, and other equipment, I'd get well under 1 hour's backup time. As Phil noted, the corals and other animals can do without lights, etc for a while but the circle of filtration and water movement provided by the Main at the very least, is very important to maintain.
The more equipment you want to backup and/or the longer you want to run them, the bigger the backup unit will have to be. Check the American Power Converion (APC) website for a comparison their products' capabilities. But first you must know what equipment you want to run, their power usage in terms of watts and how long you want them to run.
Dom