# expert help needed with aquarium



## Guest (Dec 27, 2003)

how's it going. i'm setting up a saltwater tank and i need some help with the electrical part of things. basically what i need is some advice on wiring everything into the stand, and as the saying goes <i>water and electricity don't mix...but water and electricity mix all too well</i>, want to do everything right. i need prolly 10-12 outlets, i want to have some kind of breakers and GFI's. i have very limited experience with electrical work so any help or suggestions is appreciated.

thanks in advance,
rob


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## hatchet (Oct 27, 2003)

Dang.. how large of a tank is it? I would suggest running a home run from your main breaker panel. 10-12 is about max for a typical home - and since you will probably have something running on all of them it will definately be maximum. You will probably need a 20amp GFI breaker and put into 3 - 4gang boxes into the wall. Now if you want them built into the case you could put the romex inside seal-tite piping from the wall into the case. You'll have to check the codes in your locality on remox outside of a wall cavity. I'm not sure if seal-tite can be used in that situation. Might have to go with Flexible MC.


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## phenom5 (Dec 28, 2003)

thanks for the reply, the tank is a 75gal with a 29gal sump. i didn't really understand much else from your reply so let me rephrase my question...or put it this way, the link below is to a thread on another board. the first page has pictures of the in-stand wiring i'd love to have in my stand. the thread has a lot of images...just a warning.
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=273216&highlight=drilled+tank


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## Grumpy (Oct 8, 2003)

In my tank(terrarium) I use 3 plugs, light, fogger, water filter. The fogger and the light are on timers. At no point does anythng electrical touch water except the fogger which has been engineered to be submerged under water. 

I use a typical surge supressor/power strip on a 110 volt line.


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## hatchet (Oct 27, 2003)

Those pictures show just about exactly what I was trying to describe. Seal-tite is a flexible plastic like tube with waterproof connections. MC Cable is Metal Clad Cable - also flexible. I was saying to use that to run the wire inside the case. 
I think, as the pictues showed, you could do it easier with the power strips they are using. I don't quite understand why they have the power strips and the outlets. Seems like it would be half the labor if you just used the power strips.


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## Speedy Petey (Sep 30, 2003)

While that looks like a nice neat job the whole thing is highly illegal. All that 120 volt wiring in no conduit or sleeve with the plugs on the ends is a huge no-no.
The power center looks factory installed and is the way to go. I would use that type of setup and just use another power strip mounted inside the cabinet. Use a good quality strip, not the $6 Home D. type strip. 

I would consider running (or have an electrician run) a multi-wire circuit to the tank area. This is a cable with three conductors which can serve two circuits. I would install a GFI receptacle on one circuit and a standard receptacle on the other. Any critical loads such as heaters or filters can be taken from the non-GFI circuit and any incidentals can use the GFI for a little extra safety.
GFI's can *nuisance* trip at any time and if you are not around for a while you may lose some expensive fish or plant life.


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## Guest (Jan 7, 2004)

save time and money call a lisenced electrician he should know the codes and get it don in half the time you could.................


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