jmarks
Member
I have been thinking more and more about adding a simple battery back up air pump to my aquarium for peace of mind just in case of an extended power outage. Penn Plax offers a cheap air pump that runs off of 2 D batteries. If I understand it correctly, it does plug into an electrical outlet, however it does not run this way. It can only detect no power from the wall and then kicks itself on using battery power.
I was curious on how to set this up. Could I simply install this into my existing air tubing and air stone setup? My idea would be to install a splitter just past the check valve of the current air pump. Then I would have the new back up pump and a check valve put in before attaching to the splitter. Does this make sense? Each pump would have a check valve just past its output and then be plugged into the splitter that would combine them into the existing air line running into my tank.
In theory, the normal pump would always be on with one of the check vales stopping air from going into the battery backup pump. Then when power is cut, the current pump turns off and the battery back up kicks on keeping air flowing through the exisitng air stone.
Thoughts? Anyone else do this?
I was curious on how to set this up. Could I simply install this into my existing air tubing and air stone setup? My idea would be to install a splitter just past the check valve of the current air pump. Then I would have the new back up pump and a check valve put in before attaching to the splitter. Does this make sense? Each pump would have a check valve just past its output and then be plugged into the splitter that would combine them into the existing air line running into my tank.
In theory, the normal pump would always be on with one of the check vales stopping air from going into the battery backup pump. Then when power is cut, the current pump turns off and the battery back up kicks on keeping air flowing through the exisitng air stone.
Thoughts? Anyone else do this?