|
|
Post by bikeguy33 on Oct 22, 2008 14:25:46 GMT -5
good afternoon all. well.....timing i guess is everything....especially in this case. I bought a battery powered air pump last week. it plugs in and in case of powerfailure it turns on. well....i finally got around to buying batteries for it yesterday. low and behold, i blew a fuse in the basement where my fish are. i have no idea how long it was gone for, but if it were any more than a few hours, all my fish would have surely perished. this pump worked great in keeping the tank oxygenated. I am sure there are many brands of this....but mine is called "Silent air B-11" and made by a company called PENN PLAX. I recommend everyone buying one as it also doubles as a portable unit for transporting fish. www.bigalsonline.com/BigAlsUS/ctl3684/cp18280/si1382133/cl0/pennplaxsilentairb11batteryoperatedairpumpbtw, I paid 25$ but the online price is half that. |
|
|
|
Post by bikeguy33 on Oct 22, 2008 14:51:27 GMT -5
btw....hope this doesnt come across as spam....this is just a concept recomendation....
|
|
|
|
Post by demfish on Oct 22, 2008 15:04:34 GMT -5
Great idea! Wonder if they have filters too?
|
|
|
|
Post by bikeguy33 on Oct 22, 2008 15:05:31 GMT -5
a filter isnt necessary for a short term power failure....
|
|
|
|
Post by Carl on Oct 22, 2008 16:40:17 GMT -5
Funny that you mention this Bill; I invented a pump similar to this in the 1980s that would trun on and off during power failuers, and sold them in 75% of my service clients (it saved several aquariums including one during a major strip mall fire) However now there are vastly better battery air pumps than these now that actually have the power to rival many heavy duty AC pumps. ReSun and Azoo sell these and the advantage of these over the Penn Plax models is that they can be run 100% of the time as the PRIMARY air pump to run air stones or better Sponge filters or similar. They may cost more than the Penn Plax but they are superior in many ways (for one the battery is rechargable) Azoo Non Stop AC/DC PumpCarl |
|
|
|
Post by bikeguy33 on Oct 22, 2008 17:36:38 GMT -5
any idea along these lines are great....to me it is what one can afford. this is a very inexpensive way to buy alot of time. i would like to look into one of the higher quality ones you spoke of here tho...
|
|
|
|
Post by Carl on Oct 22, 2008 18:07:40 GMT -5
any idea along these lines are great....to me it is what one can afford. this is a very inexpensive way to buy alot of time. i would like to look into one of the higher quality ones you spoke of here tho... Affordability is a valid point, I just found that this older style (the Penn Plax) only maintained aquariums for a short time (about 8 hours) and were only good for an air stone in less than 15" of water. While this larger new generation pumps (I know of others in the design phase as I write), run much longer and have less worry since they can be part of the filtration system where as the older Penn Plax style cannot as the PennPalx ONLY runs when power is off, thus a filter (even if the pump had the power to run one) would not maintain bio capabilities. Carl |
|
|
|
Post by bikeguy33 on Oct 22, 2008 18:18:07 GMT -5
with this one....you can unplug it and run it solo. it is also a portable unit with an on off switch
|
|
|
|
Post by Carl on Oct 22, 2008 19:07:48 GMT -5
with this one....you can unplug it and run it solo. it is also a portable unit with an on off switch Yes, the Azoo and similar can be run for moving tanks or similar solo operations (I have run filters during long tear downs, moves, etc.) I have sold and used the Penn Plax for many years and it filled a niche (& still does IMO), so I am familiar with it. I stopped building my own when the Penn Plax model came out, since it was a near copy of my own (I did not patent mine) and was cheaper to buy than for me to make my own. When these newer generation pumps started to arrive more recently, my old maintenance business dicontinued the Penn Plax model after we got better results with the Azoo style which included filter intergration. Although more expensive, Gregg (who runs/owns my old business) found no resistance from customers upgrading to the newer style since it was less hassle, ran longer and there was not the issue of forgetting to change batteries (one major problem with the Penn Plax models is that after sitting for several months without testing, MOST would fail to start, so it was important to test the Penn Plax pumps regularly). Carl |
|
|
|
Post by bikeguy33 on Oct 22, 2008 19:12:32 GMT -5
very valid point my friend
|
|
|
|
Post by goldenpuon on Oct 23, 2008 15:40:26 GMT -5
That's a very good point guys. A battery powered pump is a great idea! I have anted to get one for some time but i have not been able to afford it. Plus tteh power in my house has never been out for more than 3 hours for the 5 years I've lived here. The time it did go out though was when I discovered the best thing to do with newly bought, stressed feeder goldfish, put a blanket/dark towel over their tanks!
|
|
