The Puffer Forum

Hi all
the big day is nearly here moving my large Mbu to our new home in the countrysides of Devon,UK
I would like to buy a back up system Incase of power cuts but not really sure what I would need have been looking at ups devices but these are mainly used for pc's/servers ext
I Will be using 2 x eheim 2180 thermo filters each run 545 w when heater is on
A large pump for the 500 ltr sump tank
And a 8 way pump for the air curtain
Would like to buy something that would hold power for 8hrs (to be over safe)
If anyone could help would be appreciated
As I don't have a clue with electrics
Kind regards :0)

how about a generator?

+1 to a generator

Simply add up the total wattage of all your gear - a good guesstimate would be around 2000W (2kw)

Search about for a 'suitcase' generator - the Honda ones are favoured by the canal boat communities. Not as pricey as you may think, about £150 second hand

We bought a cheap generator in December when we lost power due to a snow storm and were told we wouldn't be getting power for nearly 2 days..it ended up being 30 hours but that was bad enough.

We paid around $150Cnd for a petrol powered one. It various combinations of our then 10 tanks for 4 hours before it needed re-filling with petrol. We would chance the tank combinations every 4 hours to make sure no tank was totally powerless for more than 4 hours. We were lucky in that it wasn't too cold -4C or so and we were running wood burning stoves to try and keep some heat in the main rooms opf the house.

Setting your tanks wisely to start is good practice. Never overcrowd your tanks and they can and will survive with little power beyond a little aeration if the tank area(s) can be kept warm by alternate methods (wood stoves, external draft fireplaces, etc.).

The winter's here aren't terrible, but just in case I have a battery powered air pump, and an old uninterruptable power supply for a computer that I keep around in case I have to plug the heater in.

After 2 very bad storms last year, I broke down & bought a generator.

Here's something I played with a few years ago with an AquaClear filter to use a battery powered pump. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHRkaONO ... t1hZDd9vBA

I've got a good idea to do the same for canister filters with some 1/2" pvc on the output side of the filter.


I have a small 12 volt power inverter to use filters during short outages. But I'd like to be prepared for something long term like we've had before and I think a few regular air pumps could be run long term using my inverter.