Apex issues.......

Reefpro · Jan 21, 2016

So last night I come home (7 pm) and discover tank is not running.well at least my mp 40's were since not plugged into apex. I look and find that the power strip breaker tripped that the two EB 8's are plugged into, thus killing power to apex and all of components plugged in. So I flip rocker switch back on and voilla the tank comes to life. 5 min or less off it goes. The tank has been running perfect for last week or so with my two ATI sunpowers plugged into the apex. One unit is a 60" (8) bulb and the other is a 60" (4) bulb fixture.
I tried several combos of plugging lights into different spots on the EB 8's but kept running into same issue with tank shutting down shortly after flipping breaker. I finally got system to stay on by leaving one set of lights off.

What I've done thus far
1. Changed out power strip
2. Moved items around on EB8's (pain in ****!!!)
3. Looked at amp pull on each item plugged in (the biggest being 4.5 6 bulbs of t5)

EB8 #1 was pulling 4.9 amps
EB8 #2 was pulling 11.9

Now since moving items around one is pulling 8.5 other is 7.2 but if I run all the lights it goes off

Any thoughts or has anyone had this problem?

bevo5 · Jan 21, 2016

I'm no expert. But. Maybe it's one specific fixture that is causing problems. Have you tried a little trial and error to see if you can narrow it down to a specific fixture??

Reefpro · Jan 21, 2016

Hey be Ill call you

Ryengoth · Jan 21, 2016

You are exceeding the 15A built-in breaker on most plastic "strips". I don't suggest running that much current on a single 15A house circuit, though, unless the peak load is only for short periods of time. You should split the power source to two 15A breakers on the house or reduce your load through DC motors and LEDs where you can.

Ryengoth · Jan 21, 2016

Personally, I'd run the T5 lighting on it's own GFCI circuit and have the rest of the criticals on battery backup on a separate GFCI house circuit.

WetWhistle · Jan 21, 2016

Also check the end caps on the T5 for water. I had that when one of mine got splashed and it kept dumping off till I dried it.

Reefpro · Jan 21, 2016

Ryengoth said:
You are exceeding the 15A built-in breaker on most plastic "strips". I don't suggest running that much current on a single 15A house circuit, though, unless the peak load is only for short periods of time. You should split the power source to two 15A breakers on the house or reduce your load through DC motors and LEDs where you can.

I'm thinking you are right and will do that next
The circuit this plugs into is a 20 amp circuit ran with 12/2 wire. The surge protector is heavy duty 15 amp but I will try two of them

Ryengoth · Jan 21, 2016

Reefpro said:
I'm thinking you are right and will do that next
The circuit this plugs into is a 20 amp circuit ran with 12/2 wire. The surge protector is heavy duty 15 amp but I will try two of them

Ok, cool, 12/2 should handle 18A nominal easily with a spikes up to 24A. Too bad you didn't run 12/3. You could have split it into one 20A breaker off both legs of the panel with a quad running 2 20A receptacles. :D

Reefpro · Jan 21, 2016

Ryengoth said:
Ok, cool, 12/2 should handle 18A nominal easily with a spikes up to 24A. Too bad you didn't run 12/3. You could have split it into one 20A breaker off both legs of the panel with a quad running 2 20A receptacles. :D

It's easy enoughtnto run another outlet which I will likely do

Ryengoth · Jan 21, 2016

Oh yeah, You can never have too much amperage support. :D Especially if you plan on keeping the T5s. I'd seriously look into DC motors though for return pumps and recirculating. You'll greatly reduce noise, heat and power consumption. I had a Pan World 100 on my closed loop and swapped it out for a Waveline 2500 to match the 3/4" plumbing. Drop-and-swap, nearly silent, better flow (and control) and major drop in amperage. A benefit also is I can use the Apex VDM to create in-reef flow patterns that work with the WAV surface wave programs.