power heads

[xoomer]

I've seen some cheap battery backups on ebay. These can be used to eliminate power cuts, blackouts, browouts, etc.

I highly recommend one rated at 1500VA just for the powerheads. Powerheads draw very little power so in case of a blackout they'll still run and oxygenate water and provide current.

I also have a small (rated up to 120W) power inverter that converts from 12V to 120V. In case of a longer power outage I can just take the battery from my car and run all 7 powerheads (each less than 10W) for probably at least a day or two. These smaller inverters are cheap, they can be found for about $20. Larger inverters are more expensive.

When buying one get one rated for double the load you'll be attaching to it. So if your return pump is 160W and you have 6 powerheads, each at 12Watts, get a unit rated between 300-500 Watts, this way they don't overheat and fail.