Battery powered bubbler ok for emergency?

[randL524]

As my 24 gal nano cube becomes stablized I want some protection against power outages. To that end I recently purchased an Azoo battery powered air pump. The idea is to keep it bubbling while plugged in and then if there is an outage, the battery will keep the water oxygenated for several hours. I thought I read somewhere that bubbling is not good for a reef tank. If not that approach, can I use a PC APS unit? won't power the lights, but maybe the heater and pump for a while. Guidance?

[Sk8r]

Ordinarily it's not, but this is different. An APS needs only to run the main pump, not even the heater, if you wrap your tank in insulating materials. I had a 12 hour outage, cycled the main pump for 5 minutes every hour, and brought a 52g reef through with no losses. It sank to around 64 degrees: 62 is the lethal temperature for some specimens. Solar heating of your house, plus insulation of the tank, would stave off chill for a longer time than might be.

[randL524]

Thanks. secondary (buried) question was whether it's OK to have an air pump bubbling away during normal reef tank operation?

[phishy2]

i run a bubbler in my tank, i was having problems keeping my ph up, adding the bubbler helped tremendously it now stays within acceptable ranges day and night. i do not get mircobubbles off of it so its no problem there. not sure what other ill effects a bubbler could cause...

[ambaratur]

One of the main reasons people don't like bubblers in saltwater is the salt creap. Where the bubbles break the surface will cause splashing and lead to more creap - otherwise there is not a problem with them if they are not causing microbubbles.

[mwwhite]

Do you run your bubbler 24x7? We have the same PH issue and over the weekend ran the bubbler about 8 hours or so and it raised the PH nicely....

Could we put the bubbler in the sump with the same effect?

[randL524]

What are microbubbles (and salt creap for that matter) and why are they a problem?

[dc]

I have pennplex battery pumps. I only put them in my tank when I go out of town. They plug in and if the power goes out, they come on. I don't use airstones tho. Just rigid tubing.