[Rusty Heap]

I double on the comment that airstones are worthless for actual aeration of the water. keep the top of the water active and in motion is where you get the O2 exchange from more surface area.

For automatic turn on power switch-over, one great way I've seen an inverter rigged up (heck I even have a 135 reef and I need to do this) is the following.

A / B selector switch, A=wall power B=inverter power

You run a 12 VDC DPDT (double pull double throw) relay, powered by a trickle charger that is plugged into the wall and also chargers/tops off the battery. The trickle charger keeps the relay pulled in / engaged. As long as house wall power is on, the relay stays engaged and the aquarium stays powered by source A. When wall power is lost, the relay turns off and the DPDT contacts switch over to turn on the inverter (source B) and power the devices.

hope you followed all that.