Howdy Geek. Logical, yes. Realistic, unfortunately not.
Welcome to 3Reef. Having been a computer network guy in a past life, and an electrician now, I can tell you that it's not as simple. A UPS is a good thing for stuff like computers, where all that's required to avert disaster is enough time to save data and perform a proper shutdown.
Unfortunately, in the world of reef aquaria things are a bit different.
In a computer, there's not a heck of a lot of power draw, and a UPS can keep a machine running for a good chunk of time.
An aquarium requires a lot of inductive load, meaning most of the items associated with aqauriums utilize pumps and motors. These two items drain batteries (such as a UPS) in no time. Reef tanks require not only large amounts of water movement and turbulence, but "turnover" as well. Turnover keeps water oxygenated; a critical point for corals and sensitive fish.
The motif of power outage which you've no doubt seen tossed around here often; deals with disaster control, i.e. not flooding your house when the power goes out. As long as your setup is designed such that when the power fails, you're protected against a flood; that's about where your influence ends.
Outside of that, we're all pretty much at the mercy of the local utility. There are pumps that provide water movement, like the Ecotech Vortech; which can be paired with its own $160 battery backup and will provide about 24 hours of tank turbulence without utility power. But not much else is available presently. Unfortunately, without a generator, all we can do is wait for the power company to rectify the situation.
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90G display tank. Kent Phos Reactor running carbon and ROWAPhos, Coralife 225 Skimmer. Wet/Dry converted to 10 Gal Sump w/ auto topoff float valve connected to Typhoon 5 Stage RO/DI. Little Giant inline (external) return pump. Coralife 2x150MH, 14K + 2x96W PC Actinics, Ecotech Vortech propeller pump, Hydor Koralia #2.
Last edited by ReefSparky; 03-13-2008 at 04:18 PM.
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