Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

With the likely hood of power blackouts, and high density of fish different methods of aeration may be required.

Now most have talked about UPS systems, or battery back ups for the aeration pumps.

But I had a thought, I have an air compressor and with a decent filter (to remove moisture and oil) I could supply my air from there, and in the event of a power outage the air left in the tank should give me a few hours (possibly more) of aeration.

Anyone tried this, or any other ways of doing it?

Warren

Hi Warren, I have a 14 cfm x 3 phase compresspr hooked up to my fish tank now as a backup. I have timed it and it will supply air to my fish tank (200 ltrs) for about 3 hours without any power on. So it is not bad, but I think a good battery bank with an inverter to run some small bubblers would possibly go a lot longer. I am going to set that up soon for a bit of a test and see how well it works. I have got my hands on a 200 watt inverter and I will go out soon and buy a couple of different air bubblers to see how it all goes.
Murray

The compressor with storage tank is a great idea.

Murray have you considered just using a 12V compressor/aerator instead of AC with inverter. Bit late now if you have bought the inverter. I can't help thinking it would be more efficient and less bits to fail.
Something like these

Hi B2B Those pumps look like a god idea - worth a try .... I think I will get one ... I have other plans to run some small 240 volt stuff off the inverter anyway, so it will not be a loss.... 240 volt air pumps are very low cost in most Aquarium shops so I feel for replacement etc the inverter will be good in the long run.
Murray

Hi all,

I have been talking to Bruce from Ausyfish about ordering some more perch. Told him about my power outage and this being the reason i was searching for more perch

He Replyed with the following:

"Could I suggest that you contact Aquasonic P/L. They have a great little air pump with built in Batteries. They come in a couple of sizes. We use them here and they are great! Their number is: 02 6586 4933. Please tell them I sent you."

I haven't checked out whether they have a web site or not.

Steve

http://www.aquasonic.com.au/

Some nice gear here steve

The problem with running on of these battery powerred pumps is that you would have to run it all the time (not realistic) or have the luxury of knowing the power has gone out so you can start the pump.

Yes LB, i see what u mean.

Hours of viewing pleasure! I've found some grommets that i've been looking for too!

VB I think there was meant to be an air pump that ran on power normally but had built in batteries for when the power went out, and I imagine would switch over automatically... I was unable to find anything stating that this was what it did or how it worked though....

Anyone else manage to find something like this?

The power went out in my area for just over an hour today... I thought at first that my pump had packed up, but then found that it was everything...
any more news on this topic... anybody had any luck or tried these batery operated systems?

B2B,

Did you mean to connect one of those pumps you linked to to a storage tank?

The pumps themselves look great, but i don't think they would suit feeding into a storage tank. Their max pressure is .055Mpa which is only 55kpa (Air compressors generally charge their storage tanks to 450kpa)

hmmm, so what backups have ppl installe so far then?

Ithink these would be the go.

Ac powerd , auto switch over to battery.

10 litres per hour is no small figure!

Note the last one has regargeable batteries.


http://www.aquariumproducts.com.au/category60_1.htm

these look good... the 10 - 15 hours running time on battery sounds real good as we get power outages here which seem to average 2 to 4 hours in the wet season (not including cyclone dammage)

A 6V SLA battery could be attached very easily in about 1 minute with a soldering iron or even quicker with mini aligator clips if you were expecting longer than 15 hours outage.

The again it would probably be easier to just put fresh batteries in if thye run down.

STeve