Mr. Saltwater Tank TV Friday Am Quick Tip #96: There Is A Battery Backup Waiting Outside
Everyone procrastinates and doesn’t believe that an extended power outage will ever happen to them. At some point, you’ll likely lose power and here’s a tip on how to keep your tank alive when you aren’t prepared.
Browse the Store! Questions?
Good tip Mark, I recently installed surge protection on my tanks as well.
I had just told a friend to do this when the power went out a week or so ago. Just a note, make sure your car is RUNNING! If you don’t, you can drain your battery, and if you drain it too much it may not start or you may damage it and need to replace it.
Good tip! Make sure that the inverter has the capacity to handle the load you plug into it. You need to use a heavy duty extension cord to minimize the voltage drop. $100 at home depot gets you a nice Black & Decker multi use battery / inverter/ car jumper/ radio/ air in-flater all in one.
Here in Louisiana and just recently Hurricane Issac, I used three battery operated bait bubble boxes on my 120, 1 in the sump, 2 on a 40g breeder during the power outage. They last up to 33hrs and use 2 D batteries. I always have batteries on hand for a quick change out. The boxes are inexpensive and I also use them when transporting live stock
I havent needed it yet for my Tk but harbor freight has a 700 watt inverter that I hook to my truck battery and run a 800 watt sound system off of while participating in a parade or two at mardi gras works great so deffinatly going to run all your stuff
ciao molto bravo i tuoi video sono molto interessanti volevo chiederti se possibile comprare tutti i tuoi volumi in lingua italiana visto ke sono di torino italia grazie
What i did was almost the same but picked up the cheapest marine battery at sears and use the inverter ooff of that….the reason fot the marine battery is becausr you can wipe out all the power and charge it again but the car battery wont be able to do that …think of a boat summer you use it but winter its in storage
Can you use a UPS (rechargable battery) used for a computer?
I have an APS back up(for computers) that kicks on as soon as power drops off but its only good for about 3 hours with the load I’m running on it (canister filter and 2 circ pumps/1 in DT and 1 in Ref). I’m in Alaska so we have plenty of power failures to make it a worthy investment. I also have a 3500 watt generator if needed (fortunatly not needed yet).
veeral…you could use a UPS. This tip was for what to do if you have no battery backup and are caught unprepared.
HI MARK, There are also portable solar panels that fold up and can fit into any back pack for hiking camping etc. my brother uses a GPS to hunt with and when he needs to recharge his GPS these solar panels work well. You can find them at Cabela’s.com You can also connect more than one of these solar panels together to generate more power. The solar panels are also great for any emergency disaster kit.
Mark, im not new to saltwater 20yrs or more new to corals and lighting i have tried to sign up on your home pg with no success im not to good with computer either but i know you know whats going on in saltwater ive seen your friday morning clips and all else i could pull up please dont lock me out i neeed your help well my corals do. fish no propblem or right fish for coral, just lighting and personality thought i new it but i dont!!!! im mainly sps little bit of lps i know lighting is wrong i have 6 bulb t-5 canopy could really use your experience!!!
TKS.
charley
Charley…thanks for the note, and do you have a question that you’d like help with?
Hi Mark,
yes i do have a question what would be best mix of t-5 bulbs for my tank? I have 6 bulb canopy my corals range from zoas to trumpet several diffrent mushrooms and yes exinia i keep cut back 75 gal tank,also brand? right know im using ATI coral plus(1) and (2)aquablue special(1)odysea actinic well waiting on order from BRS for 3 more actinic bulbs be here friday i lost 2 bulbs within a week of each other my warheads and greeen hairys are not happy
Great trick, and i do have a power inverter, the only downside is that my truck costs 10$/hour to run 🙂 a bit expensive but when all else fails.
Im starting a salt water tank for the first time and i’m not sure what to do. I do know that it’s fish only. I’m i going to need live rock?
Have not used my comp for a while (IPad) when I try on comp it saids cannot load plug-in. Do u know how to fix this.
malcolm…make sure you have the latest flash player player loaded on your computer
Its the simple things that you never think of. I have a inverter but i probably would not have thought to use it in the event of power failure. Thanks guys.
Malcolm, iPads and other iOS devices do not support Flash. Never have, never will. So if something is Flash-only, you need to use a computer, either Mac or PC.
hi mark i just treated my tank with quick care how long should i wait before i add new fish after treatment is done
Hi mark plees I Ned help may feesh as seek whait spot