Going home for the holidays, fishies.... not.

I live on campus here at UCI and we are 'sent home' for a month during
winter break when the dorms are all locked up and we have no access to our
rooms. The power is turned off and we can't get in until sometime in
January. Problem is, I have my fish tank in my room. It's a 15 gallon
Eclipse 1 show tank, 11 harlequins and one african butterfly.


Questions:

1. If I get a standard household UPS for the tank to supply power to the
pump, approximately how long will it last? Not sure about the
specifications.

2. Would sunlight from across the room be enough to light the tank so that
the riccia won't die?

3. Can an autofeeder be set to one massive dose once every few days?

4. Will my fish eat those disgusting time-release food blocks you get at the
fish store?



I know it's better to leave it in someone's care but i literally don't have
the resources to do it, nor the time. I need a few people and a car, and
everyone i know will be stuck with finals and stuff. This is sort of a
last-resort that I am forced to take. Tank atm is completely healthy and
clean, and I'll clean it every day for the week preceeding the month off.

0rion wrote:

1. If I get a standard household UPS for the tank to supply power to
the pump, approximately how long will it last? Not sure about the
specifications.

Not long enough. WAGging some numbers here...

Assume 30W for lighting, 20W for pump (strictly WAGs mind you) and a
500A-hr UPS with a 80% efficiency...

That's 50W worth of load on a 500W-hr UPS would be 10 hours but dropping
to 8 hours due to efficiency.

Typical month is ~720 hours...

Dropping the lighting and only running the pump... tipity-tapity would
be 20 hours.

Assuming I messed up and the pump is only 5 watts would give you 80hrs.

Bzzzt. Wrong answer.

You MIGHT be able to work a solar voltaic thru the window to a battery
to an inverter... but...

Since you're in UCI, I assume that tank temperature isn't going to be a
problem...

Still, I'd be thinking long and hard about a short term move for those
fish.

-Donald
--
"When you've lost your ability to laugh, you've lost your ability to
think straight." -To Inherit the Wind

"Donald Kerns" wrote in message
...
0rion wrote:

1. If I get a standard household UPS for the tank to supply power to
the pump, approximately how long will it last? Not sure about the
specifications.

Not long enough. WAGging some numbers here...

Assume 30W for lighting, 20W for pump (strictly WAGs mind you) and a
500A-hr UPS with a 80% efficiency...

That's 50W worth of load on a 500W-hr UPS would be 10 hours but dropping
to 8 hours due to efficiency.

Typical month is ~720 hours...

Dropping the lighting and only running the pump... tipity-tapity would
be 20 hours.

Assuming I messed up and the pump is only 5 watts would give you 80hrs.

Bzzzt. Wrong answer.

You MIGHT be able to work a solar voltaic thru the window to a battery
to an inverter... but...

Since you're in UCI, I assume that tank temperature isn't going to be a
problem...

Still, I'd be thinking long and hard about a short term move for those
fish.

-Donald

i am, i am

i have to inconvenience a few people to do so, but it's looking extremely
likely that i'll have to move them elsewhere for a while. fortunately it's
only 15 gallons (and still a nightmare)

"0rion" wrote in message
...
I live on campus here at UCI and we are 'sent home' for a month during
winter break when the dorms are all locked up and we have no access to
our
rooms. The power is turned off and we can't get in until sometime in
January. Problem is, I have my fish tank in my room. It's a 15 gallon
Eclipse 1 show tank, 11 harlequins and one african butterfly.


Questions:

1. If I get a standard household UPS for the tank to supply power to
the
pump, approximately how long will it last? Not sure about the
specifications.

It would depend on the number of car batteries you were willing to
connect together to run the UPS.

2. Would sunlight from across the room be enough to light the tank so
that
the riccia won't die?

Any significant change in light levels would affect the plant life. The
question is whether the Riccia would completely die off in one month.

3. Can an autofeeder be set to one massive dose once every few days?

All the auto-feeders I've seen work on a daily routine, either with one
or with two feedings. It would be possible to set an auto-feeder to run
for one month though, easy. You could set it for a single daily feeding,
not too generous a portion and the batteries will be fine for 1 month.

4. Will my fish eat those disgusting time-release food blocks you get
at the
fish store?

To know for sure, you would have to try it before you go. Generally,
they tend to pollute the tank. The auto-feeder is the way to go.

I know it's better to leave it in someone's care but i literally don't
have
the resources to do it, nor the time. I need a few people and a car,
and
everyone i know will be stuck with finals and stuff. This is sort of a
last-resort that I am forced to take. Tank atm is completely healthy
and
clean, and I'll clean it every day for the week preceeding the month
off.

Don't overclean before you go. Let lots of light in. Set the
auto-feeder. Harlequins are fine at room temperature. Drop the
bio-wheel into the water. If using a UPS, drop a tiny powerhead inside
the tank (this might be the lowest power consumer available) just to keep
things stirred up a bit (and cause the bio-wheel to move around a bit).
There are dc powerheads which run directly off of 12V car batteries, but
you would need to source a tiny powerhead and that would take some
research and time to find/order & receive.

I wonder what a CPU fan would do underwater? (after adding a mesh so you
don't decapitate any fish). They are probably not 12Vdc, but they would
be low wattage...hmmm.

NetMax

I believe CPU fans run on 5V, but I would be surprised if it didn't short
out when you drop it in the water. Even submerging the bottom third of the
fan would likely create enough splash to short out eventually.

I like the idea though!

-Anton

"NetMax" wrote in message
...

I wonder what a CPU fan would do underwater? (after adding a mesh so you
don't decapitate any fish). They are probably not 12Vdc, but they would
be low wattage...hmmm.

NetMax

I don't believe that the conductivity of freshwater would conduct any
current at only a 5Vdc potential. Wiring 2 fans in series would divide
the battery's 12Vdc potential into a more practical 6Vdc working voltage.
The fan's are not designed to operate (turn the blades) at the viscosity
of water, so they would be prone to overheating, but submerged in water,
they could not really overheat, could they? ;~)

I'm not suggesting that anyone try this. It's only an idea with some
potential. It would need to be tested with the correct equipment.
NetMax

"Anton" wrote in message
.rogers.com...
I believe CPU fans run on 5V, but I would be surprised if it didn't
short
out when you drop it in the water. Even submerging the bottom third of
the
fan would likely create enough splash to short out eventually.

I like the idea though!

-Anton

"NetMax" wrote in message
...

I wonder what a CPU fan would do underwater? (after adding a mesh so
you
don't decapitate any fish). They are probably not 12Vdc, but they
would
be low wattage...hmmm.

NetMax

"NetMax" wrote in message
...
I don't believe that the conductivity of freshwater would conduct any
current at only a 5Vdc potential. Wiring 2 fans in series would divide
the battery's 12Vdc potential into a more practical 6Vdc working voltage.
The fan's are not designed to operate (turn the blades) at the viscosity
of water, so they would be prone to overheating, but submerged in water,
they could not really overheat, could they? ;~)

I would not try this. There is a very good chance the windings would
over-heat despite being submerged in water which could cause the insulation
to breakdown and possibly start giving off noxious gases, not something you
want your fish to breath.

Mark

"Markyt" wrote in message
news

"NetMax" wrote in message
...
I don't believe that the conductivity of freshwater would conduct any
current at only a 5Vdc potential. Wiring 2 fans in series would
divide
the battery's 12Vdc potential into a more practical 6Vdc working
voltage.
The fan's are not designed to operate (turn the blades) at the
viscosity
of water, so they would be prone to overheating, but submerged in
water,
they could not really overheat, could they? ;~)

I would not try this. There is a very good chance the windings would
over-heat despite being submerged in water which could cause the
insulation
to breakdown and possibly start giving off noxious gases, not something
you
want your fish to breath.

Mark

I'd tend to agree about the potential for something going wrong. It's
always quite risky using items not designed for aquarium use. Thanks for
your feedback.

NetMax

Rubbermaid container, probably $8 at a walmart... a small internal filter,
$23 LFS, and some water from your tank, some hiding material for the
duration... and a lid...

Transporting this is pretty simple as long as you're not moving 15hrs
away....

--

RedForeman ©®





"0rion" wrote in message
...
I live on campus here at UCI and we are 'sent home' for a month during
winter break when the dorms are all locked up and we have no access to our
rooms. The power is turned off and we can't get in until sometime in
January. Problem is, I have my fish tank in my room. It's a 15 gallon
Eclipse 1 show tank, 11 harlequins and one african butterfly.


Questions:

1. If I get a standard household UPS for the tank to supply power to the
pump, approximately how long will it last? Not sure about the
specifications.

2. Would sunlight from across the room be enough to light the tank so that
the riccia won't die?

3. Can an autofeeder be set to one massive dose once every few days?

4. Will my fish eat those disgusting time-release food blocks you get at
the
fish store?



I know it's better to leave it in someone's care but i literally don't
have
the resources to do it, nor the time. I need a few people and a car, and
everyone i know will be stuck with finals and stuff. This is sort of a
last-resort that I am forced to take. Tank atm is completely healthy and
clean, and I'll clean it every day for the week preceeding the month off.