With winter storms absolutely crippling many parts of the country and leaving hobbyists scrambling to save their tanks, do yourself a favor and invest in a generator before it's too late! They are a necessity in this hobby and I can't stress it enough. Some of us have a single coral or fish that cost more! Why not have something in place to protect your little piece of the ocean?
Please consider this an eye opener
- Thread starter mapleredta
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Hi there, you are absolutely right. I think we all underestimate the importance of a generator. If you can't get one for now, get atleast a ups system. Its not as trustworthy as a generator and can only last for so long, however it is better than nothing. In the event of a power outage, my ups stays on for 8-10hrs but I only run one poerhead on it. That way I'm usually home before ot runs out or the power comes back on. I can't keep count of how many times it's saved my tank. With a generator however, you have that piece of mind that your little piece of ocean will be safe from power outages. Thanks for the eye opening.
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2012-2014 I used a Nissan Leaf as a backup. I hooked up an inverter to the 12v battery and let the 110v batteries keep it charged. Now I have 3 100ah deep cycle renogy batteries I use for camping/low voltage yard lighting and a solar panel. I also have a small generator but that reminds me I have not started it in probably 4 months. Unfortunately I don't have anything to automate kicking in. Maybe I should invest in a battery backup for my MP40s.
Ran a powerhead off of a battery during the '09 floods but that was for a little 29g. A generator is on the list as this new tank starts coming together over the next year. Power outages and heater malfunctions are probably the biggest killers in this hobby if I had to guess.
For 10 years of having multiple tanks(mostly freshwater) I didn't have any solution to a power outage. I remember during "Snowpocalypse" I hooked a bike pump to my airline manifold and manually pumped in air every 15 mins for 8 hours. I boiled water bottles and threw them in the sump to maintain heat.
Two weeks ago I found a guy on craigslist that buys pallets of returns from home depot. I picked up this $1299 generator brand new in box for $750. Runs like a charm. Eventually I will convert it to natural gas so I won't have to store gasoline or worry about running out.
Two weeks ago I found a guy on craigslist that buys pallets of returns from home depot. I picked up this $1299 generator brand new in box for $750. Runs like a charm. Eventually I will convert it to natural gas so I won't have to store gasoline or worry about running out.
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One of these will last a few days on two D batteries. One for a nano tank, more for a bigger tank. I've done 4 on a 75g during a hurricane in Louisiana. Heating the water can be another problem but if you're cheap like me a camp stove to heat up some tank water will work in a pinch.
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"Eventually I will convert it to natural gas"
Eventually I would like one of the new hydrogen battery cells that just came out. The idea of using solar to split water and store the hydrogen to power my house and fill the tank of a hydrogen car with a byproduct of oxygen is very intriguing
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Eventually I would like one of the new hydrogen battery cells that just came out. The idea of using solar to split water and store the hydrogen to power my house and fill the tank of a hydrogen car with a byproduct of oxygen is very intriguing
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Haven’t heard of them
You ever seen someone take the blade off on edger, attach a belt from the edger to an alternater and charge a battery via jumper cables Lol? Lol..I don't know how it works..but I've seen it!
Some shadetree ingenuity right there, I like it.
These are fantastic for power outages and you don't have to worry about the run on batteries that always comes with a power outage.
You can leave the plugged in so they stay powered and they'll automatically turn on if they ever lose power.
www.bulkreefsupply.com
You can leave the plugged in so they stay powered and they'll automatically turn on if they ever lose power.
Rescue Air USB Battery Powered DC Air Pump
Up to 72 Hours of Reliable Air Flow During Emergencies or Power Outages The Rescue Air USB Battery Powered Air Pump is perfect for any emergency. With the onboard battery and included a battery bank, the pump can be powered for up to 72 hours. It can run continuously or with a 10-second on/off...
www.bulkreefsupply.com
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@NanCrab Getting a bit off topic and into future tech but here is the recent product announcement for hydrogen batteries to compete with Tesla's Powerwall. Honda already sells hydrogen cars in CA. I was peering into the future of possibilities but it seems we already have the technology to build what I was talking about. This unit is designed to power your house but I can imagine being able to siphon off some of that hydrogen to top off a vehicle. Another pro is it sidesteps the need for battery disposal/recycling.
newatlas.com
"You connect it to your solar inverter (it has to be a hybrid one) and the mains water (through a purification unit), and sit back as it uses excess energy to electrolyze the water, releasing oxygen and storing the hydrogen"
Maybe we can hook the exhaust up to our skimmers.
World-first home hydrogen battery stores 3x the energy of a Powerwall 2
To get off the grid with home solar, you need to be able to generate energy when the Sun's out, and store it for when it's not. Normally, people do this with lithium battery systems – Tesla's Powerwall 2 is an example. But Australian company Lavo has built a rather spunky (if chunky) cabinet that…
newatlas.com
Maybe we can hook the exhaust up to our skimmers.
Read the article, thanks. Sounds like the technology still need a lot of tweaking but it will come
I suggested that to my wife and she balked. Then we lost power due to rain storms/falling trees for several days then her eyes opened up. She cannot live without power so come spring we will be installing one. Any suggestions? I would pay a premium for a quiet one as I live in the city and my neighbors are very close.
Where did you get it? I’ve never heard of that but ours is gasoline only. Also wouldn’t hurt to have a second one
Depending on your type of generator they make trifuel conversion kits that are relatively cheap. They allow you to run a standard generator(or inverter) on gasoline, propane, and natural gas. Some can be found for as little as $129 to all the way up to $399. I have a natural gas line from an old gas dryer in my garage that I will run a flex hose off of to the generator outside. Costco has firman trifuel generators as well.
Thanks for the info! My husband probably knows all of this but I’m clueless about some of this stuff.
