Power strip or wall outlets

[wwinters]

We are moving the 18G tank out to the livingroom and while moving the tank I might as well upgrade to a 40G, and this time have it drilled and add a sump, and while I am waiting for the the tank and stand I should probably upgrade the electrical sooooo...

Is it better to install a few wall outlets (it will have it's own circuit) right behind the new tank or just one outlet and use power strips with surge protectors.

Finally where on the wall is best to put the outlet (or outlets), near the floor in the usual place or higher up the wall.
thanks
Wendy

 

[Anonymous]

any time you can give your tank it's own circuit, I'd say go for it!

Where you place the receptical may have to do with the electrical code in your area. Since you're going to end up running a cord into your stand, it really doesn't matter where it is on the wall. As long as it's accessable when you get to it, it shouldn't matter where it is.

If you're putting in a dedicated circuit, make sure it's a GFCI outlett and breaker. IF you're going to do it, do it right!

Since you're running one circuit into your tank, (20 amp) there's not necessarily a need to have two wall outlets. However, you could have two GFCI's on the same circuit, and if one trips, the other will still be hot. so you have a redundancy going. if you make sure your pumps and heaters are split between the two outlets, if one trips, you'll still have some circulation/heat going in your tank. If you just install one, and it trips, everythign shuts off.



B

 

[wwinters]

The GFCI outlett and breaker are great ideas!

"since you're going to end up running a cord into your stand.."

I was considering not running a cord from the wall to the stand. Instead I was thinking of plugging the lights, pump, heater, skimmer and power heads directly into the wall, behind the tank.
My husband thinks it would be better to have everything plugged into a surge protected power strip.
What do you think?
wendy

 

[kim]

It's great that you have a dedicated circuit.....I would kill for that, but not rip my home apart.....

I don't think it matters whether you have one cable feeding six sockets in the wall, or one cable feeding one socket in the wall feeding a six way strip. Okay, the latter has an extra connection, but it's not a big deal.

Whichever suits - a tidy set up is probably a safe one...it's the spaghetti's that scare me. Work out beforehand how many plugs you think you will need and try to install that number of sockets (in the wall or in the strip).

Then I would use as many independent GFCI's as possible, certainly separate lights and powerheads....the usual things that trip, and make sure that the circuit itself is not governed by a GFCI in the consumer unit (is that what you call it...the fuse box thingy..sorry, don't speak americano..?). Use manual GFCI's...the type that do not trip just because of a momentary power outage.

Use drip loops, especially if you plug "wet" items into a low lying socket (a drip loop is a fancy way of saying that the cable is going upward when it enters the socket, having previously reached a lower level...drips run downhill along cables, and not up). And an earth probe.

kim

 

[FranklinP]

Be careful with power strips. The circuit breaker inside them is very substandard and will trip over a period of hours under load. I admit I have a heavy load going to my power strip but it is not 20 amps. The breaker claims to be 20 amps but blows after about 3 hours of use.
GFCI outlets are often slaved off one GFCI outlet so it may look like a regular outlet but is controled by another GFCI type outlet. The instruction tell you how to slave one. Just a newbees .02. Good luck.

 

[rabagley]

I would be careful taking the advice about adding a ground probe to your tank.

Their effectiveness at actually solving any problem has yet to be established. Moderate static voltages don't hurt a thing in or near the tank. Also, if you do have a hot line in your tank, a ground probe guarantees that current will be flowing through your tank (from the hot line to the ground probe) which is much more likely to harm fish than "stray voltage" and is guaranteed to electrolytically release metals into the water while the current flows.

BTW, this electrolytic release of metal ions is guaranteed any time the ground probe is doing what the manufacturers claim it's doing (grounding out non-static voltages). If there's current flowing, there will be electrolytic erosion of either the probe or the other end of the circuit.

Personally, and this may just be me, I think ground probes are a solution looking for a problem. When I'm feeling stressed, I might even say that they're snake oil, but I'm relaxed right now, so I won't say anything like that

Regards,
Ross