Lightening and Power Outage....

So the past few days we have been having major thunder and lightening storms up here in Oregon. I had to run out in the middle of the storm and buy a battery back-up surge protector for my tank.

I got the last one that Walmart had left, yet it says only 200watt/350. So we tested it and although it DOES work for a miniscal minute(I got too scared to try it any longer), I am wondering if my tank needs something stronger. I think my heater alone is 100 or 200 watts?????

 

Battery backups are made to run long enough to shut your computer down if the power goes out. Your best bet is to just run a power head or air pump off of it till the power comes back on.

 

Don't even think about plugging your lights into it. It's most likely warm enough right now that your tank can run for a while (several hours perhaps) without the heater. If so, leave it out. I agree with Silverwolf72 here, just run what would be essential until the power comes back on.

If you're in a house, and this is a common issue, a better idea would be a generator.

 

i have my large UPS on my return pump only and a generator for anything longer than 2 hours.

 

If its for a long period of time, like 3 days and more, I get the old generater up and running. If its a couple of hours, I bust out the good old reliable battery air pump. My electricity went out the other day from 9am to 5pm( I didnt know this until I got home @ 5pm) and with no air pump or anything. Nothing died, everything was normal.


Luna