Powering aquarium filters during a house move

[Biscuity]

Trying to do it right

Our house is on the market & we are making plans for the move. (Isle of Man to Scotland) We have a number of tropical fish tanks, 2 large tanks, 3 medium sized & 20 small tanks. Each tank has a filter system. Each filter holds the biological media which allows nitrification bacteria to live & complete the nitrification cycle in each tank. A nitrification cycle takes about 6 weeks to create in a tank with no fish, or 6 months to create in a tank with fish. A filter unit also includes some filtration media & the water is pumped from the tank through the filter & back into the tank with a small impeller.

During the house move, which will take 2-3 days, we will put the fish into separate buckets with heat packs. The aquarium tanks will be empty for tranportation. We must also maintain the bacteria within the filters. To do this, the bacteria needs constant warm oxygenated water & food. If no fish are present, this can be a controlled dose of Ammonia.

Although the fish prefer a temperature of 28-30C, we will run everything at 24C to improve oxygenation.

I have roughly calculated the wattage of the filters & this totals 163W. Multiply this by 3 for safety & this gives 489W.

From previous experience, I have found that impellers need to be powered by a pure sine-wave supply. In case of power cuts at home we have a stepped sine wave generator powering a stepped sine wave 1.5kVA UPS (for the heaters) & two pure sine wave 750VA UPS units.

To do the trip, we hope to hire a large van. The filters will sit alongside food safe buckets with heat packs & will be seeded with Ammonia. We need to power the filters.

Running a generator in the van doesn't sound feasible & also would not be allowed on the 4 hour ferry trip. The UPS units will not run the filters for 2 days. My thoughts are to get a pure sine wave inverter, possibly 1000W. Also to get a camper van type 12V battery of say 110Ah.

My calculations seem to suggest that my power requirement is just under 1A (seems a little low to me). If that is correct, then I think that I have 110 hours of running.

Filters as follows:
4x 17W filters
3x 5W filters
20x 4W filters

Some questions:
Is all that rubbish?
Are my calculations correct?
I would locate the inverter & battery higher & well away from all the water buckets. But is there some chemical risk from the battery & inverter that I am not aware of?
Is there a better way?

Thank you.

 

[AdrianUK]

Yes, there is an error in your assumptions.

Your calculated power requirements are 163W which equates to around 700mA at 230V.

Assuming your inverter is 100% efficient (it wont be) 163W at 12V is 13.6A.

(The power is the constant, not the current)

At this rate your 110Ah battery would last around 8 hours at (very optimistic) best.

 

[conny]

Is there a way to connect your inverter to the removal van battery, which will be constantly charging during the journey, and then using your stand-by battery on the ferry crossing?

You could then re-connect to the removal van for the remainder of the journey.

Just had a chat with my partner who keeps tropical fish and she has suggested 2 leisure batteries fully charged as a minimum safety margin.

Alternatively, contact a marine chandler and they may be able to put you in touch with someone who does this as part of their service and may be able to advise you.

She also says be prepared for the fact it is inevitable that you will lose some fish along the way.

 

[AdrianUK]

Yes, that might be a way..... but don't use a cigarette lighter type connection - they are not suitable for this kind of current for this length of time.

 

[Biscuity]

Thank you for your help Adrian & Conny. I'm glad I asked the questions!

The van would be a hire van which we would hire separately in addition to the removals van.

Understood about not using the cig or aux connection.

We would have the possibility of connecting to the van's battery, but we may not be able to get into the engine compartment with the wires. I will try to look over the hire company's van fleet.

So otherwise, it's one 110Ah battery per 8 hours, 3 per day, 6 for 2 days. Is there an (expensive) option to buy 6x 110Ah batteries & connect them in parallel to the inverter to give approx 2 days worth of running? Would that work?

The other option may be to hire a motorhome. There is an issue with this option of a lesser amount of storage space. However I understand from a motorhome hire company that when on the move, they only provide a 9V supply.

Is my inverter spec of 1000W correct please? Also can the forum suggest a good brand of inverter?

Conny, you mention a marine chandler. We only have one here on the Island, I will see if they have any ideas.

 

[davelx]

Also can the forum suggest a good brand of inverter?

Victron:

http://www.victronenergy.com/inverters/Phoenix-inverter-180VA-1200VA

 

[bernardgreen]

Alternative thinking

Would it be cost effective and possible to have a second set of filters at the destination being prepared for use when you arrive. Then there would be no need to keep any filters active during the journey.

It would require the vendors ( or someone else ) in Scotland to host the new filters as the bacteria grow and you would have to go there to set it up 6 weeks before the actual move. ( a local pet shop might be prepared to help if they are going to get a new customer ).

 

[JohnW2]

To do the trip, we hope to hire a large van. ... Running a generator in the van doesn't sound feasible & also would not be allowed on the 4 hour ferry trip. The UPS units will not run the filters for 2 days. My thoughts are to get a pure sine wave inverter, possibly 1000W. Also to get a camper van type 12V battery of say 110Ah.

There are all sorts of specialist couriers (and maybe even specialist vans for hire) around - have you consdiered (may even be cost-effective) looking for a company that had vans which come with substantial built-in electricity supplies? If those supplies relied on the van's engine running, I would imagine that the UPS could run the filters for the duration of the ferry crossing?

Kind Regards, John

 

[ericmark]

Have you enquired as to if power is available for the crossing? I am sure there will be bays for refrigeration vans with power to keep the freezers and fridges running.

 

[conny]

A lot of removal companies, (not your local man & van type), refuse to transport aquatic animals because of the risk of failure. (i.e loss of stock). Those that do usually charge a very high premium for the service with all sorts of clauses to protect themselves.

When we moved we asked the removal company about moving the fish and they flatly refused. They also advised us it would be difficult finding someone who would. As we only moved a few miles away we did it ourselves and lost 2 fish out of 24. Not a bad result.

 

[JohnW2]

A lot of removal companies, (not your local man & van type), refuse to transport aquatic animals because of the risk of failure. (i.e loss of stock). Those that do usually charge a very high premium for the service with all sorts of clauses to protect themselves.

I can well believe that, and I imagine that it's the main reason why the OP is proposing to hire a van and move the fish and associated equipment himself, separate from the main removal van etc.

However, as I said, there are also countless specialist transport companies (aka 'couriers') who could well no what the OP wants/needs - at a price.

Kind Regards, John

 

[Biscuity]

Alternative thinking

Would it be cost effective and possible to have a second set of filters at the destination being prepared for use when you arrive. Then there would be no need to keep any filters active during the journey.

It would require the vendors ( or someone else ) in Scotland to host the new filters as the bacteria grow and you would have to go there to set it up 6 weeks before the actual move. ( a local pet shop might be prepared to help if they are going to get a new customer ).

Thanks, nice lateral thinking there!

The four biggest filters are £400 each, so buying duplicates is not really a cheaper option. However to "cycle" the filter media, (create that bacteria culture), it can be in any filter. It just needs the same volume of media. In fact, it could all be "cycled" in one large filter using a bucket.

However cycling media is a skilled job, it can't just be left. There needs to be daily testing, water changes, pH adjustment & re-seeding with Ammonia. It is worth thinking about though & is an interesting solution to the issue.

We tend to stay away from Pet shops. They generally wouldn't understand the Nitrogen Cycle if it sat on their laps wearing a T-shirt. It's a little like asking Currys for electrical advice I suppose.

Nice idea though!

 

[Biscuity]

There are all sorts of specialist couriers (and maybe even specialist vans for hire) around - have you consdiered (may even be cost-effective) looking for a company that had vans which come with substantial built-in electricity supplies? If those supplies relied on the van's engine running, I would imagine that the UPS could run the filters for the duration of the ferry crossing?

Kind Regards, John

An Island of 70k people, we have no specialist anything. However it's an interesting thought in that we could get external power to a camper van. External power is available on the ferries for the refrigerated trucks. However to get that, you need to use the commercial rates, which are much more expensive. I will check this though. The UPS is spec'd to run the filters only for an hour.

 

[Biscuity]

Have you enquired as to if power is available for the crossing? I am sure there will be bays for refrigeration vans with power to keep the freezers and fridges running.

No, I've not asked, but I will do, thanks!

 

[Biscuity]

A lot of removal companies, (not your local man & van type), refuse to transport aquatic animals because of the risk of failure. (i.e loss of stock). Those that do usually charge a very high premium for the service with all sorts of clauses to protect themselves.

When we moved we asked the removal company about moving the fish and they flatly refused. They also advised us it would be difficult finding someone who would. As we only moved a few miles away we did it ourselves and lost 2 fish out of 24. Not a bad result.

Thanks Conny, I wouldn't let the removal people carry my computer, let alone the fish! Out of interest, did you lose the fish during the transportation or once they got back in the tank?