How to rate a generator to your tank.

[ajremington68]

With the current weather near me in Illinois it has brought me to realize a generator is a necessity with how much money in coral and fish I have. I have no problem spending more money on coral why not a generator. My thing is how does one get the best generator for tbere case?
Like let’s say I wanna run my canister filter on my 20g frag tank, my return pump on my 55 and my return pump on my 180 with one generator. How do I rate that a generator one will be able to do this? Two how long it’ll be able to run it on a full tank of gas? Also don’t think I need to worry about heaters at least now in the summer but in the winter maybe but if the power is out long enough that my whole house heats up or cools down I got bigger problems, or I have to buy chillers for all my tanks…
Anyways any help with this if you have bought a generator, I can’t sleep at night worrying about my power going out and think it’s time to get reassurance.

 

[Fishgeek88]

Everyone's situation is different. And you have many choices. Do you plan to run other electronics in the house? How much work do you want to do when the power goes out?

 

[Formulator]

If your power goes out, how long does it typically take for the power company to fix it? I live in St. Louis and we get some crazy thunderstorms and the occasional tornado. I just bought a UPS (uninterrupted power supply) battery back-up rather than a generator because our power is typically restored within a day and the UPS can handle running a couple powerheads and heater for that duration.

Sorry I know this doesn’t answer your question, but maybe save you some money if you are in a similar boat.

 

[FUNGI]

Sizing Calculator

These Sizing Guides are intended for estimating purposes only. Actual power requirements of high demand appliances vary widely by brand, model and capacity. Always have an authorized dealer or qualified electrician analyze your specific requirements before making a purchase decision.

generatormart.com

 

[mfinn]

As long as you taking the time to look at generators to protect your investment and health of your tank, think bigger.
Get something big enough to have to creature comforts. ( or whatever that expression is)
Get one that will give you enough for lights, some cooking and heat. Maybe some cooling.
Maybe some hot water.
Then look into getting a small circuit panel wired in for the generator ( gentran)
Skip the extension cords and do it right the first time.

 

[ajremington68]

If your power goes out, how long does it typically take for the power company to fix it? I live in St. Louis and we get some crazy thunderstorms and the occasional tornado. I just bought a UPS (uninterrupted power supply) battery back-up rather than a generator because our power is typically restored within a day and the UPS can handle running a couple powerheads and heater for that duration.

Sorry I know this doesn’t answer your question, but maybe save you some money if you are in a similar boat.

Would an ups be like a battery back from eco tech? Like could I get one for a generic pump. My problem is I don’t have like the high end pumps that can plug a battery back up in.

 

[ajremington68]

Everyone's situation is different. And you have many choices. Do you plan to run other electronics in the house? How much work do you want to do when the power goes out?

I am planning on having it just for the tanks, the more I can plug in the better as long as the price tag doesn’t jump up. I would just like the return pumps and maybe the heaters if it was the winter.

 

[ajremington68]

If your power goes out, how long does it typically take for the power company to fix it? I live in St. Louis and we get some crazy thunderstorms and the occasional tornado. I just bought a UPS (uninterrupted power supply) battery back-up rather than a generator because our power is typically restored within a day and the UPS can handle running a couple powerheads and heater for that duration.

Sorry I know this doesn’t answer your question, but maybe save you some money if you are in a similar boat.

Also my power hasn’t went out in a while knock on wood but once it did it was a day maybe, but I figured a generator would be nice cuz if I need it for anything else round the house I have it but then I can plug all my 3 tanks into the one generator.

 

[Formulator]

Would an ups be like a battery back from eco tech? Like could I get one for a generic pump. My problem is I don’t have like the high end pumps that can plug a battery back up in.

Exactly. Here is the one I ended up getting. Pumps don’t need anything special. You just plug them into this instead of the house outlet. Then the UPS plugs into your wall. The UPS senses when there is a power outage and automatically switches to battery power.

CyberPower Intelligent UPS

 

[ajremington68]

As long as you taking the time to look at generators to protect your investment and health of your tank, think bigger.
Get something big enough to have to creature comforts. ( or whatever that expression is)
Get one that will give you enough for lights, some cooking and heat. Maybe some cooling.
Maybe some hot water.
Then look into getting a small circuit panel wired in for the generator ( gentran)
Skip the extension cords and do it right the first time.

We’ll I’m only 22 and just want ones for my tanks due to my parents have one for the house but it doesn’t have the power to run my tanks

 

[ajremington68]

Exactly. Here is the one I ended up getting. Pumps don’t need anything special. You just plug them into this instead of the house outlet. Then the UPS plugs into your wall. The UPS senses when there is a power outage and automatically switches to battery power.

CyberPower Intelligent UPS

So what size return pumps do you have hooked to this and how long can it run for? Or what do you all have hooked to it?

 

[Formulator]

So what size return pumps do you have hooked to this and how long can it run for? Or what do you all have hooked to it?

I just run the essential life support items. These are my heater and a couple powerheads. The tank can go for a day (or longer) without lighting and return pump.

 

[paragrouper]

1. Determine the power consumption in Watts of each device you plan to power. You can usually find this information on the power supply label or in the documentation. If they provide this in volts and Amps, just multiply the two together to determine Watts.
2. Add the consumption of all devices to determine total power required.
3. Add a fudge factor to account for future changes and to ensure you’re not running the generator at maximum load. I use 40%.

Thats the size generator you need.

 

[Formulator]

We’ll I’m only 22 and just want ones for my tanks due to my parents have one for the house but it doesn’t have the power to run my tanks

If your parents have a whole home generator on the house, I think you are fine. You don’t need to run the entire system during a temporary power outage. Just need to keep temperature and flow going. I could be wrong but I bet their generator could accommodate just those things.

 

[mfinn]

We’ll I’m only 22 and just want ones for my tanks due to my parents have one for the house but it doesn’t have the power to run my tanks

I don't have all the facts, but if your parents have a house generator, it seems you could use atleast one outlet for the bare necessities.

"Like let’s say I wanna run my canister filter on my 20g frag tank, my return pump on my 55 and my return pump on my 180 with one generator."

Just a wild guess, a 2000 watt generator would have plenty of power to do what you need.
I have a house sized generator that I run from 6 am to midnight.
Then I hook up a Harbor Freight Predator 2000 watt generator to make power for my return pump and 1 powerhead on my 240 and the same on my 66 gallon tank during the night.

It's been a few years since we lost power long enough to run this program, but I have it in place when the need happens.

 

[VintageReefer]

Exactly. Here is the one I ended up getting. Pumps don’t need anything special. You just plug them into this instead of the house outlet. Then the UPS plugs into your wall. The UPS senses when there is a power outage and automatically switches to battery power.

CyberPower Intelligent UPS

This is not ideal…
This is meant to power a computer and monitor for 12 minutes

At 50% load (450watts) it will run for 12 min

If you had a single 50w return pump (or 50 watts load from wavemakers and a return pump or whatever l) then…

450 / 50 = 9x less power draw which = 9x more runtime
9 x 12min = 108 minutes. Less than 2 hours for 190$

If you had a 25w load, you could get 3.6 hours for 190$

What you and everyone here that wants ups functionality needs is a lithium power station rated in watt hours with a built in ups feature

I own two of these

Amazon.com

a.co

It’s on sale for 250$ (normally 300$)

To calculate runtime from watt hours the formula is
(Watt hours x .85) / watt load
This device is 537.5wh

So with the 50 watt and 25 watt examples

(537.5 x .85) / 50w = 9.1 hours

(537.5 x .85) / 25w = 18.2 hours

This will also auto cutover to battery in the outage and auto switch back to ac power and recharge itself when power is restored. It takes less than 2 hours to fully recharge and the cyber power take 8+ hours. The lithium power station also can recharge from solar panels and comes with the adapters to connect them.

They make higher rated ones as well but I just wanted to use this one as an example as it has the needed features to work autonomously in an outage and not all brands have UPS functionality

The reality is those apc and cyber power units are designed to save your work and shut down. They aren’t designed for prolonged use.

I had a high end cyber power and bought it thinking it would keep my tank running and was surprised I wouldn’t get 2 hours out of it. That was new. These things have lead acid batteries that are old tech. After a few years the device runtime diminished from 1.75 hours to 9 minutes. That’s what started me on this side hobby almost 10 years ago.

The station I have now on my main reef will keep my dc return pump running for 40 hours off battery and that will provide my tank with flow, aeration, and allow the 20g of water in my sump to remain circulated and included in the overall volume assisting with buffering any spikes.

And before anyone chimes in with “get a gas generator” I have one and i recommend them, but it’s a different purpose. These powerstation devices are able to be kept and run indoors, you leave them plugged in all the time, they are compatible with any brand of equipment, and if the power outage happens and you are asleep or not home, they activate automatically.

 

[mfinn]

I had a high end cyber power and bought it thinking it would keep my tank running and was surprised I wouldn’t get 2 hours out of it. That was new. These things have lead acid batteries that are old tech. After a few years the device runtime diminished from 1.75 hours to 9 minutes. That’s what started me on this side hobby almost 10 years ago.

The station I have now on my main reef will keep my dc return pump running for 40 hours off battery and that will provide my tank with flow, aeration, and allow the 20g of water in my sump to remain circulated and included in the overall volume assisting with buffering any spikes.

And before anyone chimes in with “get a gas generator” I have one and i recommend them, but it’s a different purpose. These powerstation devices are able to be kept and run indoors, you leave them plugged in all the time, they are compatible with any brand of equipment, and if the power outage happens and you are asleep or not home, they activate automatically.

Living in remote areas as I have most of my life I have been around generators for a long time and am familiar with their care and upkeep. Generators are not perfect. They need upkeep and maintenance.

So when people started thinking outside the box ( away from generators for power) I bought into the UPS idea and was pretty unhappy with the hour of power it gave me.
Then the Ecotech battery came around and thought this was a great idea, until I found out the batteries didn't last more than a couple years. At least mine didn't.
For the expense, only getting a couple hours at most didn't seem wise.

It would probably help many people if their was more information on specific products and uses we could use.
Maybe if someone ( hint) started a thread with a list, that others could add to.
This would have to be specific products, listed price and useable hours.
If enough people started contributing, it could be made a sticky.

So for me, right now, the gas generator is my tried and true option.

 

[VintageReefer]

Living in remote areas as I have most of my life I have been around generators for a long time and am familiar with their care and upkeep. Generators are not perfect. They need upkeep and maintenance.

So when people started thinking outside the box ( away from generators for power) I bought into the UPS idea and was pretty unhappy with the hour of power it gave me.
Then the Ecotech battery came around and thought this was a great idea, until I found out the batteries didn't last more than a couple years. At least mine didn't.
For the expense, only getting a couple hours at most didn't seem wise.

It would probably help many people if their was more information on specific products and uses we could use.
Maybe if someone ( hint) started a thread with a list, that others could add to.
This would have to be specific products, listed price and useable hours.
If enough people started contributing, it could be made a sticky.

So for me, right now, the gas generator is my tried and true option.

The ecotech battery is a lawn tractor lead acid battery and is tech from over 10 years ago. The battery market has grown so much

The lithium units I discuss have lifespans of 10 years and over 3500 recharge cycles before they reduce to 80% capacity. That is, using it 100% till it’s dead. Then recharging it 100%. 3500 times minimum. They have battery management tech that monitors every cell for temp and voltage and capacity and balances the load or charging evenly to make sure everything is always safe and balanced


There is a killer prime deal out now on one for 300$. It’s 1000 wh. It will give 17hours at 50w load and 34 hours at 25w

Prime day deal. Sale + coupon
560 normally and you can buy for 300

Amazon.com

a.co

Mine comes Friday but I think the sale ends today

 

[BZOFIQ]

I just run the essential life support items. These are my heater and a couple powerheads. The tank can go for a day (or longer) without lighting and return pump.

Not a chance you're running for a day or longer with heaters connected. Even with just your pump and powerheads.

Pull the plug, see for yourself.

 

[VintageReefer]

Not a chance you're running for a day or longer with heaters connected. Even with just your pump and powerheads.

Pull the plug, see for yourself.

It will tell him a fake number because the heater is not on or using current. Once the heater kicks in, that unit will provide 20-20 min tops

450w load is 30 min tops on that device. That’s a optimistic value from the manufacturer.