Battery Back Up

dragonrep · 11-22-2007, 06:55 PM

JEA has soaked my carpets one too many times. What battery back up systems would be recommended to keep the main pump running for 30 minutes or so? I don't think I need to worry about lights, heaters or anything else at this time, just keeping the water in the tank would be enough.

marineduud · 11-22-2007, 08:07 PM

Ok I have to ask, why does it flood when the power is off ? Do you over fill your sump and how do you service the tank if you cant turn off the pump ?

racerw · 11-22-2007, 10:41 PM

Duud good to see you on the boards.

What is the return pump you are using? You will need a very large UPS to run the return pump.

Eddie

Ikaria · 11-22-2007, 11:07 PM

One time I tried the 550VA ups that I have on the computer and I think it only ran my mag 9.5 for 5 min. if that! LOL!

tellycoleman · 11-23-2007, 03:15 AM

whats a good check valve application for a return line?
this is a good thread i was just thinking about that.

dragonrep · 11-23-2007, 08:50 AM

I have a refugium that is gravity fed from my filter. If the return pump shuts off and we aren't here to disconnect the water from the aquarium, it overflows within a couple minutes. I don't think the water is flowing back through the pump, just through the system as normal with no pump to move it back into the tank it keeps on going until the water level in the tank drops below the pickup. I haven't had any problems with it except in power outages and if it's out more than 30 minutes we have other things to worry about and we'll have the return shut off by then anyway (most of the time).

marineduud · 11-23-2007, 08:53 AM

Do you have a weep hole in the return line ?

dragonrep · 11-23-2007, 07:18 PM

There aren't any holes in the lines right now. I thought about putting a valve in the overflow line that goes into the filter, but the water doesn't reverse flow. A manual valve would shut off the flow from the tank as long as someone is home, but it doesn't flow from the tank under any pressure: tank to overflow, to filter, to refugium (all by gravity), then pumped back to the tank. Pretty low tech, definitely not state of the art, but effective so far. All the chemistry levels stay good, everything seems to be growing well, but we get water everywhere within about 2 minutes of the power going out. There could be some back flow from the return to tank line, but I mostly see the water continuing to flow from the filter to the refugium.

MikeAtJax · 11-23-2007, 09:19 PM

You want a hole in return lines just below the water the water line level to break the siphon.

dragonrep · 11-24-2007, 08:20 AM

That sounds easy enough. How about the overflow to the filter line, since it isn't powered, does it get one too?

MikeAtJax · 11-24-2007, 09:14 AM

The overflow box should not need one as it will stop if the water level does not change.