720 gallon Miami Build

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locito277

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Conduit plastic or emt is not dry acording to code, it is considered a wet location is what im trying to get at.

Basically it needs to be covered as if it is underwater? Shame you don't live in Miami :-(
 

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Basically it needs to be covered as if it is underwater? Shame you don't live in Miami :-(
The best person to ask would be the electrical inspecter that is coming out to approve the installation....

What Im trying to say is say you pulled regular wire through conduit, this would be unacceptable for an installation that is wet... direct burial.. pools.. etc, because the conduit is considered a wet location.. piping leaks this is why. Liquid tight is continuos armored and coated so it is impervious to leaks. The only thing conduit is used for is mechanical protection. So back to my example, I put conduit in ground, I need to still pull water proof cable in the conduit.

Ill try to illistrate as best I can on phone.

[PANEL]---》---(Romex /REGULAR WIRE)---》---[GFCI RECEPTICLE OR BOX IN DRY AREA]---》---(Conduit / THWN/Waterproof)---》---[weatherproof recepticle]

If you are staying in a wall or fixture you do not need conduit, as this is considered the mechanical protection.

If you get a good inspector they will help you... I belive you didnt pull permits for your build based on your progression pictures.

Typically the progression goes like this...

Permit -> Build Wiring, boxes, conduit. No drywall or coverings. -> First inspection. Inspector will tell you what is not acceptable and things to change. -> Fix messups -> finish building -> hopefully final inspection, if there are some minor messups left they might pass you and write the things you have to fix on the sticker -> enjoy.

My warning to you and others that do not get inspections... if your house burns down, even if its not electrical related, they will pin it on the wiring and not pay... maybe.

@Brew12 is a good resource.

This is a long post on phone haha.
 
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locito277

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The best person to ask would be the electrical inspecter that is coming out to approve the installation....

What Im trying to say is say you pulled regular wire through conduit, this would be unacceptable for an installation that is wet... direct burial.. pools.. etc, because the conduit is considered a wet location.. piping leaks this is why. Liquid tight is continuos armored and coated so it is impervious to leaks. The only thing conduit is used for is mechanical protection. So back to my example, I put conduit in ground, I need to still pull water proof cable in the conduit.

Ill try to illistrate as best I can on phone.

[PANEL]---》---(Romex /REGULAR WIRE)---》---[GFCI RECEPTICLE OR BOX IN DRY AREA]---》---(Conduit / THWN/Waterproof)---》---[weatherproof recepticle]

If you are staying in a wall or fixture you do not need conduit, as this is considered the mechanical protection.

If you get a good inspector they will help you... I belive you didnt pull permits for your build based on your progression pictures.

Typically the progression goes like this...

Permit -> Build Wiring, boxes, conduit. No drywall or coverings. -> First inspection. Inspector will tell you what is not acceptable and things to change. -> Fix messups -> finish building -> hopefully final inspection, if there are some minor messups left they might pass you and write the things you have to fix on the sticker -> enjoy.

My warning to you and others that do not get inspections... if your house burns down, even if its not electrical related, they will pin it on the wiring and not pay... maybe.

@Brew12 is a good resource.

This is a long post on phone haha.

Thanks for the info. I didn't think I needed a permit due to the fact that it was a non weight bearing wall. Since I didn't change the layout of the home a permit isn't required. I totally get what your saying though. When you pay people for a job well done you expect them to use their expertise and do it right. I'm going to talk to the contractor to see if he can refer me his electrician to redo the work. Rather get it right the first time than have a bigger problem later.
 

RamsReef

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Thanks for the info. I didn't think I needed a permit due to the fact that it was a non weight bearing wall. Since I didn't change the layout of the home a permit isn't required. I totally get what your saying though. When you pay people for a job well done you expect them to use their expertise and do it right. I'm going to talk to the contractor to see if he can refer me his electrician to redo the work. Rather get it right the first time than have a bigger problem later.

Id get a second opinion from an inspector or someone in your local area.

Where I am from you need a permit for any new construction.
Gas requires gas permit and inspection.
Electrical requires electrical permit and inspection.
New building, beams, loadbearing, stairs require building inspection.

You should still need electrical atleast according to my area codes.
 
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locito277

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Id get a second opinion from an inspector or someone in your local area.

Where I am from you need a permit for any new construction.
Gas requires gas permit and inspection.
Electrical requires electrical permit and inspection.
New building, beams, loadbearing, stairs require building inspection.

You should still need electrical atleast according to my area codes.

Looking into this Monday:) thx for the advice!
 

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Looking into this Monday:) thx for the advice!
Judging from the pictures you should be fine. It isn't how I would have done it but it looks acceptable. The one thing I can't comment on is your electrical code since I'm not familiar with your area (and didn't see what it was). The National Electric Code sets minimum standards which this looks to meet. Local areas sometime add more stringent requirements. If you live in a state with very strong union influence you probably have stricter codes to follow. Honestly, I wouldn't worry about it as your electrical contractor probably followed the local code (as well as he could anyway, codes aren't exactly straight forward when it comes to large aquariums). And code inspectors may not be much help. When I had my pool put in, I had to explain to him why it was allowed by code because I had them do stuff just a bit differently. Many inspectors work by looking for things that are different than other installations they have inspected. I doubt many inspectors have ever seen a tank like you are putting in! (It is awesome, btw)

I will make 2 recommendations. In 4 to 5 years you should have an electrician come and do a clean and inspect of the outlets inside your sump area. There is nothing you can do to keep the salt creep out, even if you use water tight everything, so this is a safety measure.

The other recommendation is to pull those silly plastic outdoor covers off your outlets. Unless you won't have anything plugged into them on a regular basis you will find them very annoying and they do absolutely nothing if you have something plugged in. They are great for outlets that aren't used much but otherwise they have no reason to be there.
 

RamsReef

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Judging from the pictures you should be fine. It isn't how I would have done it but it looks acceptable. The one thing I can't comment on is your electrical code since I'm not familiar with your area (and didn't see what it was). The National Electric Code sets minimum standards which this looks to meet. Local areas sometime add more stringent requirements. If you live in a state with very strong union influence you probably have stricter codes to follow. Honestly, I wouldn't worry about it as your electrical contractor probably followed the local code (as well as he could anyway, codes aren't exactly straight forward when it comes to large aquariums). And code inspectors may not be much help. When I had my pool put in, I had to explain to him why it was allowed by code because I had them do stuff just a bit differently. Many inspectors work by looking for things that are different than other installations they have inspected. I doubt many inspectors have ever seen a tank like you are putting in! (It is awesome, btw)

I will make 2 recommendations. In 4 to 5 years you should have an electrician come and do a clean and inspect of the outlets inside your sump area. There is nothing you can do to keep the salt creep out, even if you use water tight everything, so this is a safety measure.

The other recommendation is to pull those silly plastic outdoor covers off your outlets. Unless you won't have anything plugged into them on a regular basis you will find them very annoying and they do absolutely nothing if you have something plugged in. They are great for outlets that aren't used much but otherwise they have no reason to be there.

Id still get it inspected.
Ill agree with its probably fine due to its residential and not a perminate room/location.
Ill disagree with the covers id keep em :p
 
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locito277

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Judging from the pictures you should be fine. It isn't how I would have done it but it looks acceptable. The one thing I can't comment on is your electrical code since I'm not familiar with your area (and didn't see what it was). The National Electric Code sets minimum standards which this looks to meet. Local areas sometime add more stringent requirements. If you live in a state with very strong union influence you probably have stricter codes to follow. Honestly, I wouldn't worry about it as your electrical contractor probably followed the local code (as well as he could anyway, codes aren't exactly straight forward when it comes to large aquariums). And code inspectors may not be much help. When I had my pool put in, I had to explain to him why it was allowed by code because I had them do stuff just a bit differently. Many inspectors work by looking for things that are different than other installations they have inspected. I doubt many inspectors have ever seen a tank like you are putting in! (It is awesome, btw)

I will make 2 recommendations. In 4 to 5 years you should have an electrician come and do a clean and inspect of the outlets inside your sump area. There is nothing you can do to keep the salt creep out, even if you use water tight everything, so this is a safety measure.

The other recommendation is to pull those silly plastic outdoor covers off your outlets. Unless you won't have anything plugged into them on a regular basis you will find them very annoying and they do absolutely nothing if you have something plugged in. They are great for outlets that aren't used much but otherwise they have no reason to be there.

Thanks so much. We have no unions in Miami. I was kind of nervous they would make me redo everything with permits. The boxed up ones will likely not be used. The ones I'll be using are the two on the outside. I kept the boxes on to avoid splashing and hopefully would help with salt creep. I'm glad you have no major concerns with the set up. We had to redo the entire thing as it was originally laid out in metal :-() thanks for the compliment on the tank. They are coming to polish out tiny scratches on it now :)
 
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locito277

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Id still get it inspected.
Ill agree with its probably fine due to its residential and not a perminate room/location.
Ill disagree with the covers id keep em :p

Thanks for the suggestions! Much appreciated.
 
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locito277

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Gotta say Pedro is a beast!! OCD is a good trait when you specialize on making monster tanks. He came today to polish some scratches I didn't even realize were there.
 
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locito277

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1a2fa9d6fc127ba5aa1adde479bb179d.jpg

Gives you a sense of how large this thing is. Love this tank! Hopefully water will be in by end of week unless my work schedule gets in the way!
 

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I'm debating on just having a vectra L1 as a single return and the barracuda and extra L1 as CL. In total with the other pumps were running 497750 gallons per hour. I won't be running everything at 100% though. I'll play with flow. Might add an addition al mp 60. Got a gyre 150 1 mp60, 3 wav so flow wise I think I'm good but one more mp60 would be fun. Also got 2 1" sea swirls!
 

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Make sure with your CL use silicone around the bulkheads in the aquarium otherwise the vibration of the pump with the PVC pipe will loosen the bulkhead seal and flood your house it happened to me
 
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locito277

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Make sure with your CL use silicone around the bulkheads in the aquarium otherwise the vibration of the pump with the PVC pipe will loosen the bulkhead seal and flood your house it happened to me

Thanks for the heads up Justin!
 

Justin D

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Lot of people tell you don't do it but it's not hard to remove silicone with a razor blade when it's time trust me you don't want to come home to all that water on the floor it took about a year for this to happened to me then I had to drain the tank get all the fish in live rock out dry the glass then put the new buckhead's in silicone them in and put everybody back in the tank I tried J-B Weld on the outside of the bulkhead and it will not stop leaking
 
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locito277

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Lot of people tell you don't do it but it's not hard to remove silicone with a razor blade when it's time trust me you don't want to come home to all that water on the floor it took about a year for this to happened to me then I had to drain the tank get all the fish in live rock out dry the glass then put the new buckhead's in silicone them in and put everybody back in the tank I tried J-B Weld on the outside of the bulkhead and it will not stop leaking

:-( with tanks it's not if but when will things go wrong
 

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