UPS power or nahhh

[MrZ2u]

In the past I had a 200 gal Chiclid tank with four canister filters.  I had two 1400va UPSs, one for each pair.  I learned a hard lesson on a previous smaller tank and canister that if power goes out for too long the canister becomes an ammonia bomb set to go off when power returns and nukes the fish.  I could run my canisters for about 32-36 hours which was plenty of time to make accommodations with neighbors to get them on generator if I happened to not be home.  Heaters and lights were never on the system...too much draw. 

Fast forward to now and live rock is my filter and the whole system is open air.  I don't have the monster UPSs anymore so it's just home office type now and I have several but I question their worth at this point.  Sure, it would be nice to keep the circulation going but I have a whole house generator now to handle extended outages and realistically if the power goes out then I am only a couple of minutes to a couple hours from having power (depending on where I am, my genny is not automated)

Who uses UPSs?

Talk me out of using them on my new tank.

Talk me into keeping them on my new tank.

Brain is stuck on "I always have in the past"

[mcarroll]

If you ask me, UPS's are for outages that last <1 hour....or <15 minutes, depending on your budget.   

 

If outages like that (<1 hour) are common, then maybe the UPS will be worth it.  However, outages >1 hour are where the problems begin for most tanks...and that kind of outage is usually very expensive to solve with UPS's....you have it covered with the generator.  (Flow is the main factor to sustain, followed by heat...but while a tank will hold its heat for a good while, flow immediately goes to zero.  Thankfully flow uses very few watts, relatively speaking.)

 

If your power is mostly stable, then I mostly don't see the rationale.  UPS's have such a limited lifespan (the batteries, specifically), so there's also an ecological concern with that.  Solve that and (for my situation) I might like to have a small battery backup on my powerheads. 😉 

[MrZ2u]

2 hours ago, mcarroll said:

If you ask me, UPS's are for outages that last <1 hour....or <15 minutes, depending on your budget.   

 

If outages like that (<1 hour) are common, then maybe the UPS will be worth it.  However, outages >1 hour are where the problems begin for most tanks...and that kind of outage is usually very expensive to solve with UPS's....you have it covered with the generator.  (Flow is the main factor to sustain, followed by heat...but while a tank will hold its heat for a good while, flow immediately goes to zero.  Thankfully flow uses very few watts, relatively speaking.)

 

If your power is mostly stable, then I mostly don't see the rationale.  UPS's have such a limited lifespan (the batteries, specifically), so there's also an ecological concern with that.  Solve that and (for my situation) I might like to have a small battery backup on my powerheads. 😉 

Yeah, if I use it, all that will be on the battery is two pumps, three power heads and maybe a doser...all in we are looking at no more than 82 watts but probably about 50-60 nominal.  I already have the UPSs so there is no expense there.  Kinda talking myself back into it now 🙂 

[mcarroll]

On 12/29/2023 at 4:12 PM, MrZ2u said:

I already have the UPSs so there is no expense there.

Sunk costs vs no expense, but I hear you.  Given that, it's definitely a good idea to use the batteries if they still have life in them...or sell them.   But after these batteries are toast?