Power outages & Air pumps & Filters

[goldengatediscus]

Last week, the power went out for about an hour. I was getting some battery operated air pumps ready, when the power came back on. I realised that I had many questions.
1. How soon after the power goes off do you start the battery operated air pump?
2. How long does the air pump run on 2 D-size batteries?
I am using the cheapie Azoo brand battery operated air pump purchased from Drs Foster Smith, and have a supply of D-batteries from Costco. Assume normal stocking levels on a bb 55gal and 20gal tanks. 20gal tanks hold breeding pairs. Also, what about babies? Are they more susceptable to low oxygen levels?

Also a question on Aquaclears. After the power came back on, I noticed that none of the Aquaclear 200s worked. The motor was running, but I had to pour water into the cannister to prime it before the water started flowing into the tank again. Is this normal for Aquaclears? If that's the case, then sponge filters are an essential backup. (I have 2 sponge filters in each 55gal, in addition to the aquaclear.)
Thanks,
Brigitte

[BlueTurquoise]

Hi Briggitte,

Unfortunately this is one problem with aquaclears, of the filter is emty (particularly the motor bit) it will need to be primed by adding water into it.

On that note, if the power goes out there should be no reason why the sump of the AC goes emty... the water should just stay above the level of the intake tube unless all the water leaked out or evaporated? ??? but after only one hour it should have been ok...

If power goes out I would put in a battery opperated unit in birtually straight away...

Chong

Brigitte, IMO I would not trust one of those "cheapie" air pumps to even try and keep a goldfish alive.
You have 3 basic choices......
1) Buy yourself a generator.....Big bucks
2) buy yourself an inverter.....you can use a car or RV battery to run the inverter, buy one big enough to run your heaters, that way you can at least run your heaters for awhile and then unplug them and run your filters and airpumps.
You can find these anywhere from WalMart to better ones at local truck stops and online catalogs
Bucks but no where as much as a generator
3) go to a local bait and tackle shop if you have one in your area, if not check some online web sites, have never checked but something like bass masters should be a good start.
These shops sell some very nice battery operated air pumps, these a allot larger than the cheap ones you see at pet stores, most of these run off of 6 volt batteries and will last allot longer and push allot more air than the ones you have now.......Great for putting air in your tank, but you will still be out your heaters if that is a concern of yours....
Price, most less than 20-25 bucks


HTH Randy

[Pat_in_NC]

Hey Brigitte,

We had our power out for 5 days this last December and the cheapie battery operated pumps kept all my sponge filters running. They are not as powerful as the regular ones but I found that using new alkaline D batteries the pumps ran well for at least 2 days (I changed all the batteries after about 2 days as a precaution). I bought the largest inverter I could find (600Watt) and used that to run the heaters in the tanks (it was about 45-50 deg. in my basement with no heat). The inverter worked great for about 4-5 hours at a time but was not convenient for longer times. First the leads got oxidized quickly (you have to attach it directly to the car battery for big inverters) and second I didn't feel safe leaving the car running overnight (carbon monoxide and someone could come and drive away with the car!). My neighbor had a big generator which he let me borrow a line from to run the tanks the last day. Unfortunately generators are not cheap (good ones run $500-$2000) and they can be very dangerous to use if you don't know what your doing (i.e. me!!).
My reccommendation is keep the battery pumps ready and maybe an indoor kerosene heater (to keep the tanks warm) for short term outage. For long term outage see if you can find a neighbor or two who would like to go in on a generator and make sure one of you knows about how to set it up safely. You definitely will be ahead of the game if you do this before there is an outage. All the indoor heaters and generators were gone from the stores here within an hour of the power outage!


Good job thinking ahead of time--Be Prepared!


Pat

Brigette, A 2500 watt generator is around $400. ( worthwhile investment if one has multiple tanks as you do ) Pass on the Briggs & Stratton engine and go for the Tecumseh. Never buy the Pulse Generator from Coleman ( They freeze up even with oil )

If you want everyone to know--that youv'e arrived--then go for the ultraquiet Honda 1500 watt..... about a Grand!

Most all power filters need to be reprimed after an outage as the siphoning starts when the power stops... about half of my AQ's do. Hell, The Marineland 400 needs priming when you do a water change over 4" necessitating cleaning the filter even if there was no intention to do so.. The Whisper --you have to kick start the impeller! I'll take the infrequent quirkiness of the Aquaclear everytime! Joe ;D

[Carol_Roberts]

Clean aqua clears can be off for 4 - 8 hours with minimal die off of bacteria. Are yours level? Mine don't lose their prime when the power goies off for a few hours.

[goldengatediscus]

Thank you all for your recommendations and experience. It seems that I should start saving my pennies for a generator or inverter! Until I get there, I'll rely on my kerosene heater and battery operated air pumps. Ryan, I'll look into the ones that run off 6volt batteries.

I can already see my husband rolling his eyes. We recently got a de-humidifier, (which is worth every penny), because it's too damp here in the Winter, with all the tanks. I am still amazed at the amount of water that is pulled out of the air. All my tanks have lids to minimize evaporation, and to keep in the heat.

Carol, I just checked my Aquaclears. One looks level, but the other is tilted a little towards the tank. However, both needed to be primed. Maybe I need to have the water level in the tank higher, but living in an earthquake prone area, I really don't like to have the water in the tank too full.

Keep the suggestions rolling!
Thanks,
Brigitte