Best Hurricane Backup Solution?

[aaron186]

Living in south Florida and having gone through two extended power outrages due to hurricanes as well as one northeaster in Jersey this concern top of my list. Goal is to run filtration off one pump at lowest setting, shut heaters and lights off including wave makers. Now go find an electric solution that can run that three to five days as I don't have access a generator.

How much juice if tank flow downgraded to one turn over per hour in darkness? I'd start there then seek twice that juice for expected extended power outage. At least that's my plan. Might also incorporate a chiller into the equation although seen a documentary where bleached corals recovered where cold weather rolled in shortly after heat event and understanding being photosynthesis during hot weather why corals ejects their zooxanthellae plus fact they can require therefore no lights and no water changes might help save those beyond three days which has to be considered since storm might damage that generator. Might as well plan for the worse and be glad it was minor inconvenience.

Just curious. Where in South Florida are you? Im in Ft Myers and dont know too many other reefers down here

 

[aaron186]

It’s a great (and ideal) solution but not really fair to compare, or suggest. We are talking about solutions in the 300-400$ range and you are suggesting a device that costs $5,000 + installation.

I have the money for it. Unfortunately my HOA wont allow me to burry a propane tank and we dont have natural gas here. Would love to have whole home generator if possible

 

[aaron186]

Speaking from experience. Having a generator is easy. Trying to find gas to run it is the real challenge after a storm. I've been through many. The latest was Ian. I'm currently inland and lost power for only 3 days. Managed to get by with a power inverter hooked up to my boats trolling motor batteries running pumps only on an 80 gallon system and a 180 gallon system. I'm building a new house currently on Pine Island which took a direct hit from Ian. I'm not planning on having any tanks going forward. Just too stressful and not worth it to me anymore. If a major storm comes again we're packing up our dogs and hooking up the boat and leaving until we can come back. After that storm the only road to the island was washed away and the only access was by boat for a couple weeks after the storm. With the heat and everything you could only get by for maybe 3-4 days tops with a generator before things went south quickly and that's if you have a steady supply of fuel. I'm not willing to take that risk anymore. I've been in and out of the hobby for 3 decades but this last one did it for me.

Im in Fort Myers too. I dont know too many other reefers in the area. Hit me up if youre into the community down here and point me in the right direction if you dont mind

 

[flashsmith]

Im in Fort Myers too. I dont know too many other reefers in the area. Hit me up if youre into the community down here and point me in the right direction if you dont mind

I'm currently in Winter Haven now. Should be moved by the end of the year. Permitting is taking forever. To me the downside of a whole house generator is that it may or may not be needed. We might get multiple hurricanes but then again your area may not see another one for a couple decades. You just never know but they are getting more frequent and more powerful. I looked into solar but it seemed more of a scam than a viable option for us. The payment doesn't even offset the savings they claim and what really put us off on the idea was that for whatever reason you needed to replace your roof or anything like that everything had to be removed and then reinstalled at the owners expense of course. It's pretty much useless unless you have a Tesla power wall installed with it to store energy. You're still hooked to the grid as well so even with solar you would still have no power without installing the power wall and that put us up somewhere around 60k if I remember right and to make a home self reliant you'll need to practically cover your entire roof with panels. Also say in 5-6 years you decide to sell your home. You either have to pay off the entire system or hope the buyer is willing to take on the payment for you. I've been through so many in recent years that I've got a pretty good system in place I think. I have a 3500w generator/inverter and keep a portable a/c and seal 1 room off for sleeping with the a/c in that room. I can cpu and wifi if available with my generator and run a line to the fridge and the tanks as needed and use an inverter on deep cycle batteries for the tanks if needed. I fill my boat up in advance and pump gas out as needed. I also own own a lawn company and fill everything up I can and use that if needed.

 

[aaron186]

I'm currently in Winter Haven now. Should be moved by the end of the year. Permitting is taking forever. To me the downside of a whole house generator is that it may or may not be needed. We might get multiple hurricanes but then again your area may not see another one for a couple decades. You just never know but they are getting more frequent and more powerful. I looked into solar but it seemed more of a scam than a viable option for us. The payment doesn't even offset the savings they claim and what really put us off on the idea was that for whatever reason you needed to replace your roof or anything like that everything had to be removed and then reinstalled at the owners expense of course. It's pretty much useless unless you have a Tesla power wall installed with it to store energy. You're still hooked to the grid as well so even with solar you would still have no power without installing the power wall and that put us up somewhere around 60k if I remember right and to make a home self reliant you'll need to practically cover your entire roof with panels. Also say in 5-6 years you decide to sell your home. You either have to pay off the entire system or hope the buyer is willing to take on the payment for you. I've been through so many in recent years that I've got a pretty good system in place I think. I have a 3500w generator/inverter and keep a portable a/c and seal 1 room off for sleeping with the a/c in that room. I can cpu and wifi if available with my generator and run a line to the fridge and the tanks as needed and use an inverter on deep cycle batteries for the tanks if needed. I fill my boat up in advance and pump gas out as needed. I also own own a lawn company and fill everything up I can and use that if needed.

Agreed. I don’t think solar is a good financial purchase yet. I’m hoping it goes down and the tech gets better to the point that changes in the next few years. For now I’m rolling with my gas generator and a battery. I spoke with my neighbor and a whole home generator isn’t explicitly blocked by HOA but getting a burried propane tank might be

 

[GARRIGA]

Just curious. Where in South Florida are you? Im in Ft Myers and dont know too many other reefers down here

Pembroke Pines

 

[GARRIGA]

I'm currently in Winter Haven now. Should be moved by the end of the year. Permitting is taking forever. To me the downside of a whole house generator is that it may or may not be needed. We might get multiple hurricanes but then again your area may not see another one for a couple decades. You just never know but they are getting more frequent and more powerful. I looked into solar but it seemed more of a scam than a viable option for us. The payment doesn't even offset the savings they claim and what really put us off on the idea was that for whatever reason you needed to replace your roof or anything like that everything had to be removed and then reinstalled at the owners expense of course. It's pretty much useless unless you have a Tesla power wall installed with it to store energy. You're still hooked to the grid as well so even with solar you would still have no power without installing the power wall and that put us up somewhere around 60k if I remember right and to make a home self reliant you'll need to practically cover your entire roof with panels. Also say in 5-6 years you decide to sell your home. You either have to pay off the entire system or hope the buyer is willing to take on the payment for you. I've been through so many in recent years that I've got a pretty good system in place I think. I have a 3500w generator/inverter and keep a portable a/c and seal 1 room off for sleeping with the a/c in that room. I can cpu and wifi if available with my generator and run a line to the fridge and the tanks as needed and use an inverter on deep cycle batteries for the tanks if needed. I fill my boat up in advance and pump gas out as needed. I also own own a lawn company and fill everything up I can and use that if needed.

Why best compromise (space permitting) is getting more power walls to ride it out. My current thought process since HOA not going to allow solar panels and just like you they seem not cost effective perhaps absent government help.

 

[DIYreefer]

I've got battery powered aerators and plenty of batteries for the initial power loss (I'm in Tx on the gulf coast). These will be perfectly sufficient for probably 24 hours, maybe longer. Plenty of time for the storm to pass through. Then I have a pair of portable generators that will easily power all of my tanks and keep my house comfortable (I have a few portable a/c's) until the power is restored.

 

[BubblesandSqueak]

I live in Florida. I own a gas generator but I cant use that during the active part of a storm. I was wondering what the best solution would be to run my tank during the first 24 hours of a storm when I cant get outside. I was looking at some of the power bank solutions like the Ecoflow River that's on sale for prime day now. I wont need to run heaters (will be hot in house without AC) but would like to keep my flow and dosing pumps running if possible. My tank is using apex with 2 cor return pumps, a UV sterilizer (ill turn off), 4 maxspect gyres, and 2 MP40s and 4 versa pumps. I have the ecotech backup battery I can use but its about 2 years old now and likely needs replaced soon.

Can someone recommend what power station I should be looking at? How big should I go? Would prefer something polished and user friendly over a car battery or similar

I have a gas generator and use a gentent during storms. Keeps rain and snow out of electronics and I think it was like 75mph wind. Costs about $150. Been using APC UPS for pumps which gives me a few hours to set up the generator. Also use battery air stones that come on for 24-30 hours or something when power goes off when plugged into an outlet. Whole house backup for me was quoted $16k for a 20kW so I’m passing on that.

 

[VintageReefer]

I have a gas generator and use a gentent during storms. Keeps rain and snow out of electronics and I think it was like 75mph wind. Costs about $150. Been using APC UPS for pumps which gives me a few hours to set up the generator. Also use battery air stones that come on for 24-30 hours or something when power goes off when plugged into an outlet. Whole house backup for me was quoted $16k for a 20kW so I’m passing on that.

I have a 4500w gas generator as well. My logic is most of not all power outages are less than 24 hours. I use the battery backup and if it goes behond that then I’ll fire up the gas generator. I have not had to use the gas generator once in the 10 years I’ve owned it. But I do have it for peace of mind and unexpected emergencies / extended outages

I’ve considered the gen tent but it’s pricy for what it is and I keep thinking about diy solutions like a pop up camping tent or something similar

 

[aaron186]

I have a 4500w gas generator as well. My logic is most of not all power outages are less than 24 hours. I use the battery backup and if it goes behond that then I’ll fire up the gas generator. I have not had to use the gas generator once in the 10 years I’ve owned it. But I do have it for peace of mind and unexpected emergencies / extended outages

I’ve considered the gen tent but it’s pricy for what it is and I keep thinking about diy solutions like a pop up camping tent or something similar

Unfortunately the last 2 hurricanes here (Irma and Ian) power was out about a week

 

[BubblesandSqueak]

I have a 4500w gas generator as well. My logic is most of not all power outages are less than 24 hours. I use the battery backup and if it goes behond that then I’ll fire up the gas generator. I have not had to use the gas generator once in the 10 years I’ve owned it. But I do have it for peace of mind and unexpected emergencies / extended outages

I’ve considered the gen tent but it’s pricy for what it is and I keep thinking about diy solutions like a pop up camping tent or something similar

Before I bought the gentent, I just used a 1/4” hard board that had a white poly coat on one side. 4’x4’ with eye bolts near each corner and bungee corded to frame. Inexpensive and Worked but not in high wind. We’ve been getting a lot of several day outages but those two last storms in Jan were a real pain. No working gas pumps within a 30 minute drive.

 

[VintageReefer]

Before I bought the gentent, I just used a 1/4” hard board that had a white poly coat on one side. 4’x4’ with eye bolts near each corner and bungee corded to frame. Inexpensive and Worked but not in high wind. We’ve been getting a lot of several day outages but those two last storms in Jan were a real pain. No working gas pumps within a 30 minute drive.

I’ve been there before. I lost everything
5 - 6 days no power. Ambient in the house dropped to 50’s. Roads unusable. When roads we’re finally cleared, you couldn’t get gas

 

[LPS Bum]

It’s equal in runtime rating, performance and features for 180 less. It has an app to connect and monitor/control it, a feature only on the higher end / fancier models. The one I linked is on sale for 300…it’s normally almost 600$

Great find. Been looking for something like this to run my return pump on my reef. I’ve been relying on a UPS but I know it’ll only give me an hour or so.

Just ordered one from the link you provided. Many thanks!

 

[VintageReefer]

Great find. Been looking for something like this to run my return pump on my reef. I’ve been relying on a UPS but I know it’ll only give me an hour or so.

Just ordered one from the link you provided. Many thanks!

You’re welcome!

I think a dc return pump plus a device like this is all that’s needed for most power outages.

I had a mag7 prior, it was 60 watts. I switched to a dc return pump of equal gph ( well capable of double the gph but I run it at 45%) and cut my wattage down to 19 watts. This tripled the runtime of the power station. Then I can dial back to 35% if needed and squeeze another 5-10 hours out of it

This is the cellpowa 600 - rated for 520 watt hours capacity. The one I linked to is 1000 watt hours.

I just unplugged the station to simulate a a power outage with my pump at 45% and 35%

For emergency power / battery powered gear we need to think different than we are used to. Or think about think we don’t normally think about.

I normally don’t care how much power a device takes or if it’s ac or dc. I’d you want to power from battery, this becomes important.

It takes power to convert from ac to dc, and there is loss. If you have gear that’s already dc, it’s more efficient. Here we see just a difference of 4 watts translates to 8 more hours of power. My AC mag7 was 60 watts with equal flow, I would get 8 hours compared to 30+ hours

Halides couldn’t be run off those battery devices for more than a few hours. However I could run my leds on 5-10% for a few hours a day and only take up a few watts and add lighting in my backup plan

I can recharge via solar panel during the day, and run from the power station evenings and night.

The key to maximizing your battery life is
1) increase battery size / number of batteries
2) reduce power consumption as much as you can


I have a pico tank, with a cellpowa 600 I can run the entire pico tank - lighting, filtration, and heater - for a power outage of 60 hours of assuming my home is 68-72 degrees.

 

[LPS Bum]

You’re welcome!

I think a dc return pump plus a device like this is all that’s needed for most power outages.

I had a mag7 prior, it was 60 watts. I switched to a dc return pump of equal gph ( well capable of double the gph but I run it at 45%) and cut my wattage down to 19 watts. This tripled the runtime of the power station. Then I can dial back to 35% if needed and squeeze another 5-10 hours out of it

This is the cellpowa 600 - rated for 520 watt hours capacity. The one I linked to is 1000 watt hours.

I just unplugged the station to simulate a a power outage with my pump at 45% and 35%

For emergency power / battery powered gear we need to think different than we are used to. Or think about think we don’t normally think about.

I normally don’t care how much power a device takes or if it’s ac or dc. I’d you want to power from battery, this becomes important.

It takes power to convert from ac to dc, and there is loss. If you have gear that’s already dc, it’s more efficient. Here we see just a difference of 4 watts translates to 8 more hours of power. My AC mag7 was 60 watts with equal flow, I would get 8 hours compared to 30+ hours

Halides couldn’t be run off those battery devices for more than a few hours. However I could run my leds on 5-10% for a few hours a day and only take up a few watts and add lighting in my backup plan

I can recharge via solar panel during the day, and run from the power station evenings and night.

The key to maximizing your battery life is
1) increase battery size / number of batteries
2) reduce power consumption as much as you can


I have a pico tank, with a cellpowa 600 I can run the entire pico tank - lighting, filtration, and heater - for a power outage of 60 hours of assuming my home is 68-72 degrees.

Yes, agreed. I have a Sicce Syncra SDC 7 return pump, which I normally run at 67%. I can drop that to 50% in an emergency and probably get 40+ hours with this UPS, which should be enough to get me through just about any power outage where I live (the Denver area).

And if I want to push it, I could give my corals maybe 20% light from the LEDs and still get 15-20 hours of coverage.

Great find and I appreciate your recommendation. Mine gets delivered next week.

 

[VintageReefer]

Yes, agreed. I have a Sicce Syncra SDC 7 return pump, which I normally run at 67%. I can drop that to 50% in an emergency and probably get 40+ hours with this UPS, which should be enough to get me through just about any power outage where I live (the Denver area).

And if I want to push it, I could give my corals maybe 20% light from the LEDs and still get 15-20 hours of coverage.

Great find and I appreciate your recommendation. Mine gets delivered next week.

A great plan. I really wish this tech was affordable a decade ago but it’s taken time to get to market affordably.

One day I’ll get something like this

 

[aaron186]

The link you posted is just the expansion battery and requires the main unit to function. It’s not standalone

For a good priced 1000wh unit with ups function this is the best deal now. I bought one today

Amazon.com

$560 on sale for $460 and then there is a 35% coupon that makes it 300$. Best deal on Amazon as far as these devices go

Automatic cutover to battery and auto cutover back to ac when power is restored

Thank you btw. I purchased this as well

Got any recs for solar panels to add to it? Is it worth it?

 

[VintageReefer]

Thank you btw. I purchased this as well

Got any recs for solar panels to add to it? Is it worth it?

I don’t have any panel recommendations I feel I could honestly endorse. I don’t own panels yet. I would refer to the manual for the highest charge rate it supports and then buy the highest wattage panel at that voltage. Probably 160-200w panels. Higher watt panels provide more power and thus charge the battery faster.

You won’t get full power out of a panel. There is some loss and the ratings are under perfect conditions. Expect to get 85% of what they claim per hour on a typical day.

I would also look for ones that have a built in adjustable stand. The angle they are to the sky affects how efficient they are. You don’t want to have to lean them on a tree. The built in stand looks like a valuable feature to have

 

[aaron186]

I don’t have any panel recommendations I feel I could honestly endorse. I don’t own panels yet. I would refer to the manual for the highest charge rate it supports and then buy the highest wattage panel at that voltage. Probably 160-200w panels. Higher watt panels provide more power and thus charge the battery faster.

You won’t get full power out of a panel. There is some loss and the ratings are under perfect conditions. Expect to get 85% of what they claim per hour on a typical day.

I would also look for ones that have a built in adjustable stand. The angle they are to the sky affects how efficient they are. You don’t want to have to lean them on a tree. The built in stand looks like a valuable feature to have

Thanks again. Do you think they are worth the investment? Would I be able to get near 24 hour coverage if I ran a dc power head and return only off it?