UPS - Uninterupted Power Supply

Does anyone have any of these devices in their houses?
Does anyone have any advice on getting a small one to protect a tank?

Anyone?

Anyone?

They cost a lot of money, they could be used to power a small water pump or an air pump, the only thing is when the electric goes off they make such a noise as an electronic alarm comes on you would have to leave the house.
When I have a power cut I use hydrogen peroxide (normally used to bleach hair), basically is liquid oxygen a quart of this every 2 or 3 hours keeps the fish happy. In powder form sodium perborate use as an oxygen aid in goldfish bowls, more famous as one of the ingredients to make bombs!!!

It's more the heat loss I'm worried about.
How low does the temp have to get to be fatal?

Throw a blanket over your tank.

I remember it going off for 6 hours. Taught I would loose all my Discus.
Ended up getting a call from my mates girlfriend saying his fish were dying.
Had to do a 25% change with cold water, They were fine bar the bala. he lived but they hate cool water. flung him into another tank.

It's more the heat loss I'm worried about.
How low does the temp have to get to be fatal?

Throw a blanket over your tank.

The bigger the tank the less heat it loses. The blanket is a good idea the temperature will drop slower. I had the electric go off for 22 hours last time. If your temperature dopes to low you can heat some water (if you have gas. If you don't you can buy the likes of camping cooker, the small gas ones and heat the water up that way) up and put them into bottles and put them in the tank. Also its a good idea to take your filter media out and float it on top of the water. Biological filtration needs movement, this should help. Hope this helps.

Throw a blanket over your tank.

I remember it going off for 6 hours. Taught I would loose all my Discus.
Ended up getting a call from my mates girlfriend saying his fish were dying.
Had to do a 25% change with cold water, They were fine bar the bala. he lived but they hate cool water. flung him into another tank.

This does not make sense if you keep the room warm with butane, the temp hold, if you use a blanket it will reduce the speed of the temp drop, lets say it goes down to 18C, and the tap water is 10C, if you do a 25% change straight away it will drop to 16C?? What to the fish farms in Tampa do in January? Yesterday the high in Miami was 23C and 200KM north in Tampa it was 21C (day time high) in January in February it can get really cold, I do not know what all the fuss is about, I had a outdoor pond in Majorca and winter rosy barbs all year around outside, fish can take the cold as it is a gradually drop unless you give the a cold water change, they get very sleepy, and will not eat but it does not mean they are dieing, I do not have the exact min temperatures for freshwater fish, but do for saltwater, below 12C for most saltwater is lethal and below 14C is lethal for most butterflies, bear in mind they have evolved to live in a more stable environment than freshwater. In the freshwater fish farms in Tampa Florida, if you get a really cold snap which tends to happen every four years that kills the oranges, then they expect high fish losses, although the livebeares seem to take it better.

It would seem I have little to worry about then.
If I can pick up a battery pack UPS cheap on ebay then I might for the craic, some are really cheap but of course they are designed only to give a PC a few minutes to save your stuff and shut down.
A heater only comes on when its needed so it might last a good day.
Will the bacteria die if unoxygenated for a while?

A trickle filter will last 2 or 3 days, a under gravel or canister filter will last only 4 hours, hence just drain it and leave it humid, and of course do not feed the fish, till they back above 22C.

Throw a blanket over your tank.

I remember it going off for 6 hours. Taught I would loose all my Discus.
Ended up getting a call from my mates girlfriend saying his fish were dying.
Had to do a 25% change with cold water, They were fine bar the bala. he lived but they hate cool water. flung him into another tank.

This does not make sense if you keep the room warm with butane, the temp hold, if you use a blanket it will reduce the speed of the temp drop, lets say it goes down to 18C, and the tap water is 10C, if you do a 25% change straight away it will drop to 16C?? What to the fish farms in Tampa do in January? Yesterday the high in Miami was 23C and 200KM north in Tampa it was 21C (day time high) in January in February it can get really cold, I do not know what all the fuss is about, I had a outdoor pond in Majorca and winter rosy barbs all year around outside, fish can take the cold as it is a gradually drop unless you give the a cold water change, they get very sleepy, and will not eat but it does not mean they are dieing, I do not have the exact min temperatures for freshwater fish, but do for saltwater, below 12C for most saltwater is lethal and below 14C is lethal for most butterflies, bear in mind they have evolved to live in a more stable environment than freshwater. In the freshwater fish farms in Tampa Florida, if you get a really cold snap which tends to happen every four years that kills the oranges, then they expect high fish losses, although the livebeares seem to take it better.

You read the post wrong my friend.
I said I taught my Discus were going to die.These were in my house.
I did the w/c on my friends tank. The were dieing from lack of Oxygen.

I'm prepared for the eventuality, but haven't had to worry about it yet - even though the wind was strong enough to rip the satellite dish off the side of my house on Sunday morning.

I bought one of those battery operated air pumps that I can use to preserve my filter. It only cost about €20. I also have some empty water bottles on standby (500 ml) which I can fill with warm water a float in the tank to keep the temperature up. This should keep things going for how ever long the power is off.

I only have a 65l tank so it should be pretty managable in this situation.

UPS are expensive, but you can pick them up on eBay for reasonable money. They are designed for computers and will only keep things going during a blip or give enough time to shut the computer down properly. Therefore, they don't last too long as a back up and may be useless after an hour or so.

Throw a blanket over your tank.

I remember it going off for 6 hours. Taught I would loose all my Discus.
Ended up getting a call from my mates girlfriend saying his fish were dying.
Had to do a 25% change with cold water, They were fine bar the bala. he lived but they hate cool water. flung him into another tank.

This does not make sense if you keep the room warm with butane, the temp hold, if you use a blanket it will reduce the speed of the temp drop, lets say it goes down to 18C, and the tap water is 10C, if you do a 25% change straight away it will drop to 16C?? What to the fish farms in Tampa do in January? Yesterday the high in Miami was 23C and 200KM north in Tampa it was 21C (day time high) in January in February it can get really cold, I do not know what all the fuss is about, I had a outdoor pond in Majorca and winter rosy barbs all year around outside, fish can take the cold as it is a gradually drop unless you give the a cold water change, they get very sleepy, and will not eat but it does not mean they are dieing, I do not have the exact min temperatures for freshwater fish, but do for saltwater, below 12C for most saltwater is lethal and below 14C is lethal for most butterflies, bear in mind they have evolved to live in a more stable environment than freshwater. In the freshwater fish farms in Tampa Florida, if you get a really cold snap which tends to happen every four years that kills the oranges, then they expect high fish losses, although the livebeares seem to take it better.

You read the post wrong my friend.
I said I taught my Discus were going to die.These were in my house.
I did the w/c on my friends tank. The were dieing from lack of Oxygen.

Sorry I read it wrong :cry: by doing a water change it will immediately increase in O2 content, but did you use cold water or did you make it up at the right temp before putting it in?
Regardless by quartering hydrogen peroxide in every couple of hours would do the trick, this is perfectly safe, I have poured on a cut on my skin many a time, it bubbles for a few seconds but it is safe. Investing in a battery aquarium pump seems a good idea, A UPS would be unbearably from a noise point of view unless you snipped the wire that goes to the speaker.

Great stuff people!

ksimpson, I'm in Balbriggan, I think I found your sat dish in my back garden!

Mine is probably on its way to Thailand.......feckin hurricanes!

Battery operated pumps, any suggestions?

i use them everyday in work. you can get small ones that are'nt that expensive. they surge protect also. never thought of using one for my tank..

i use them everyday in work. you can get small ones that are'nt that expensive. they surge protect also. never thought of using one for my tank..

Yeah what I'm thinking is just to get a few hours heating till I'd get home from work you know?

I think I'll get one, they start at about €20 on ebay.
If nothing else I'll put it on my computer!!!

The battery air pump I have is manufactured by BOYU and comes complete with a short silicone hose and an air stone. It requires to D type batteries. It can be used as a back up or for transporting fish.

If there's a long power cut, I can open up my filter and drop in the air stone to maintain the bacteria. It's said that it takes up to two hours without oxygen before bacteria start to die off to a serious level.

I got mine in FishFX for around €20. I've seen them in other shops too.

I got all my discus killed last Christmas. I was at my in-laws for a couple of days and we had a power failure. The ESB didn't get off their backs for 12 hours to fix the problem. Don't we just love state monopolies? And for their good work they are getting another increase for their 'service' this year, never mind their millions in profit last year. Oil prices have come down and the dollar is heading downhill as well. Great to have a regulator....Don't start me.
End of rant.
Hydrogen Peroxide is safe within limits. Not to recommend if you have a planted tank. Some people use it to kill black hair algae. It kills them alright when you squeeze the stuff directly onto the algae. However, it also damages if not kills the plants the algae grow on. It doesn't treat the underlying problem. But that's a different story.

I stiil have one of those air pumps that were used to keep baitfish alive. They are battery operated. No idea if they are still available since it is now illegal to use live baits.

In my 600 l tank I made my own back and sidewall out of 2'' styrofoam. It's glued to the inside of the tank. Looks cool and insulates. By the way that was after last year's Christmas slaughter.
I also put another inch of styrofoam around the back and side of the tank and slapped on some reflective tin foil. Not a bad idea since it will save you on electricity costs in the first place (please refer back to my rant).

Holger

if anyone is looking for a battery pump, why not try a caravan shop :idea: they have 12 volt pumps for sale used for pumping the water and you could even fix it up to an external filter :idea: if you so wished, as for heating, what about a 12volt electric element like truckies have for brewing up youd have to put it within its own container, in case it burnt the fish, possibly incorporate it with the pump i cant figure out how to get pics on here, or i could draw a diagram

Something worth thinking about is a DC to AC inverter.
Basically plug it into your cars cigarette lighter and you have AC power so if you got one of these then you could either have a 12volt battery costantly charged in case of power failure or just take the battery out of your car - or your neighbour's car if you are a fast runner - and then you can plug in your heater or power filter or both depending on the strength of the inverter.
I use one regularly as my car is my office/workshop so I can recharge batteries or run a laptop etc.
Price around €40 to €80 depending on the wattage / strength of the unit but if it saves the day ???
Another option is to have a spare battery on standby and if needed remove car battery with engine running and fit spare into car to charge while you run tank off charged car battery.

Processor.

Also a foil emergency blanket wrapped around the tank would sort the temp out for a good long while leaving you to concentrate on filter.
You can get these blankets in a chemist or the first aid kits of a lot of cars nowadays or just bribe an EMT ambulance person.

Ya Shuuda got the first aid kits from Lidl when they were on special.

SugarHoneyIceTea now they know I'm stingy !

Could we sue if we had a major fish kill if it was the ESB`s fault.
Say if they turned the power off for testing.

Could we sue if we had a major fish kill if it was the ESB`s fault.
Say if they turned the power off for testing.

Fraid not.
ESB are under no legal obligation to provide uninterupted power.
Unscheduled power cuts are not their 'fault' and scheduled ones, well it's tough titty.

Something worth thinking about is a DC to AC inverter.
Basically plug it into your cars cigarette lighter and you have AC power so if you got one of these then you could either have a 12volt battery costantly charged in case of power failure or just take the battery out of your car - or your neighbour's car if you are a fast runner - and then you can plug in your heater or power filter or both depending on the strength of the inverter.
I use one regularly as my car is my office/workshop so I can recharge batteries or run a laptop etc.
Price around €40 to €80 depending on the wattage / strength of the unit but if it saves the day ???
Another option is to have a spare battery on standby and if needed remove car battery with engine running and fit spare into car to charge while you run tank off charged car battery.

Processor.

I am not very mechanically minded, but I am guessing you could change the battery while the engine is working if it is a diesel, but not on a petrol engine?

No you can do it with either.
Some people whether they be garages,mechanics or manufacturers will tell you yes or no depending on what they have learnt but the truth is that you can do it with practically any car.
I deal with the motor trade every day and as batteries go flat on a regular basis with sales cars sitting around for a while it has to be done if the jump leads are missing etc.

I just feel safe knowing I can use this inverter if the power goes off but you know yourself the power will only go off when your not in.
Fe** Murphy and his law.

Processor.

The ESB can't be held responsible for anything. Well not for power supply anyway. If they at least gave you notice theat they are turning the juice of for their regular maintenace. At least you could get the blanket around the tank and get aeration going. I rang them regarding this and the lady on the phone told me in a plote way to get stuffed. Too much to ask as if every state monopoly. God forbid if they were customer friendly