re: #31 uriel
Damn it- note to self: always check for a new thread before hitting submit. Anyways..
OK- at the sake of sounding stupid- why is this such a concern?
Admittedly, it’s been years since I had a tank over 5-10 gallons (fresh water, mostly for various shrimp, small fish and other small invertebrates) but even when I had 30-50 gallons, I don’t ever recall having any kind of issues with a limited power-outage- to the extent that the conversation around these blackouts is really the first time I ever considered it at all.
A blackout can kill a well stocked reef tank in just a few hours. The fish and coral respiration will suck up the oxygen and without circulation to drive constant gas exchange at the surface and distribution to all levels of the tank the livestock will die. You don’t need heavy flow, just enough to keep everything moving. That’s where the Ecotech setup shines, the return pump and powerhead conrollers have separate DC inputs for backup power off the battery, so they know when they’re on reserve and can be set to run at reduced speed to extend the backup time.