Counting the cost of a thunderstorm

Neil H

Retired Moderator
Joined
11 May 2008
Posts
2,797
Reaction score
60
Location
JHB
so i have been on the verge of buying a backup power supply system for some time...

Saturday 4pm and a hellava thunderstorm hits my area .... lightening hits sub station and i am left with no power .....

I hoped for the best, kept water movement going and tried to aerate the water..... i was told it would be out for a couple hours tops......

this morning my coral beauty passed away ......:( .... bleak

so i took the plunge and bought a jenny ....... 2300 watt, anough to run the system and a few extra's ..........

everything else seems to be fine, rest of the inmates swimming fine and corals now back with almost full PE..... Significant water change tomorrow on the cards..

So cost of thunderstorm, 1 coral beauty and R3000 worth of generator :( not a happy camper.

Finally a word of thanks to midsblenny for his help over the phone!

oh and of course 3 hrs after things returned to normality in the tank, the elec came back on........ If i ever find murphy !!!!
 
Next time you have a power failure you will be thanking Murphy.
 
Hmmmm guess my lighting upgrade will have to wait until the new year !
 
fair comment ..... cash flow is the reason ! But it is in place now going to get a battery backup as well.... so ....anyone feel like donating 150w Mhs's ????;);)
 
Neil - do yourself a favor:
- get yourself at least 2 or 3 battery operated air-pumps - they go on automatically when the power fails..... keep one in your sump, and 2 in your tank.... keep them plugged in. They only have a "relay" that is kept open by the 220 volt... they are still battery operated...

Then, if/as soon as you can, invest in a car battery, intelligent car battery charger and a 12 volt pump..... then you can still keep your water cycle going by still having a return pump pumping water to your main display tank - in such a way, the bacteria does not die off (the 1st to die off is the bacteria). The fish also use up all the oxygen in the tank water VERY QUICKLY.....

The gennie is good - but unless it is completely automated to kick in automatically (costing HUGE $$$$$ or rather RRRR's), then you would want the abovementioned measures as well....

Air operated pumps: +-R60 each
Car battery - mine from Midas was R550 - intelligent charger: R470, 12 volt pump: R110....

Good luck mate!
 
great advice, thankyou,

i will have a look into this asap,

the only thing that confuses me is the relay that keeps the pumps off when there is power.... where do i buy this and how do i wire it up??
 
Jacquesb, how long could that setup run a return pump? (OR6500 in my case). Thanks.
 
You need to get yourself a 220v ac relay. Look at getting one with the relay and base a bit more expensive but then you can just use a screw driver to connect it up. If you tell them the current draw of the pump they should sell you one that will be 100%. Just don't know who you can go to in JHB to get one. Mantech is up their but JHB it a bit bigger than Durban.
Connecting it up is the easy bit. What will happen is the 220 mains power will hold the relay in and when the power goes out it will close the contact and then switch the pump on. We can talk about that when you get the relay. Any good place will be able to show you how to connect it.
 
thanks guys, will look at sourcing the odds and ends over the next few days !

Gaboon, perhaps i read the thread differently but as i understand the system, you would buy a second return pump to keep the system running, the battery would not run your primary system, is that correct jacques !
 
Gaboon - I have a seperate 12 volt pump that pushes out 1200 litres per hour (excluding head calculation). My car battery lasts more than 12 hours supplying power to this pump. I use this 12 volt as my return pump in the time that there is no power, or when I expect a power outage, and that I will not be home.....
 
Back
Top Bottom