Electrical needs discussion
- Thread starter muggle0981
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For my 250 gallon, I have 2x 20 amp breakers; which barely covers the 1000w of lights, 1/4hp chiller, and all the accoutrements. They're all on GFCI circuits. I'm not sure what you mean specifically, but the "receptacles" outlets aren't that important; as they break off into 3xEB8 apex power strips. There are a few that aren't on the apex that have their own controllers; but if I were to do it again, I'd run 3 or 4 circuits just because it's easier to separate them. I end up tripping the breaker if I don't spread the load evenly, and it's close to tripping if a bunch of things go on at once.
Oh, and label everything! buy some nice labels and stick them on every receptacle/outlet, every cord, every electrical wire. I even labeled every receptacle to tell me what breaker it was on; has come in phenomenally helpful.
Oh, and label everything! buy some nice labels and stick them on every receptacle/outlet, every cord, every electrical wire. I even labeled every receptacle to tell me what breaker it was on; has come in phenomenally helpful.
Greg P
Valuable Member
My 115g system runs on 2x15Amp circuits, and both have surge suppressor outlets before any equipment.
1 circuit for the sump hardware, and 1 for the DT lights, Vortechs w/battery charger and canopy exhaust. Plus a spare outlet for any in-tank maintenance requiring a pump or such.
Each circuit can handle more than the total required if all were running together.
Each piece of wet hardware has it's own GFCI. I have 9 total just for my DT.
Use some math and add up all your hardware with the total watts required.
Each 15amp circuit can safely and continuously supply 1440watts @120vac with a safety factor of 80%
Each 20amp circuit can safely and continuously supply 1920watts @120vac with a safety factor of 80%
1 circuit for the sump hardware, and 1 for the DT lights, Vortechs w/battery charger and canopy exhaust. Plus a spare outlet for any in-tank maintenance requiring a pump or such.
Each circuit can handle more than the total required if all were running together.
Each piece of wet hardware has it's own GFCI. I have 9 total just for my DT.
Use some math and add up all your hardware with the total watts required.
Each 15amp circuit can safely and continuously supply 1440watts @120vac with a safety factor of 80%
Each 20amp circuit can safely and continuously supply 1920watts @120vac with a safety factor of 80%
i agree with the last post up it to a #12 wire and 20 amp circuit, have them put the receptacle away from the tank if possible, and i prefer no gfci recptacles in case it trips on you and leaves your tank off, but thats your call i always feel better with no gfci and the plug on the other wall and hide cords and power/surge protector on the wall in loom/ wire mould
FWIW, you really only need 1 GFCI per circuit, not 1 per device. I'd go with a GFCI/AFCI breaker rather than GFCI outlet (the outlets have a poor reputation for performance/reliability compared with breakers). I'd also agree that going with a 20Amp circuit is well worth the few extra dollars.
Greg P
Valuable Member
What have you decided?
Did you add up all your hardware to find out what your total wattage use is?
Greg P
Valuable Member
I agree with the upped circuit for total load.
I'll argue that my system with a GFCI for each in-water hardware item is not a waste of time or money.
If my heaters blow their circuit, the return pump still runs etc.
Worth it to have each wet hardware unit on it's own GFCI if you have room and can stomach the initial cost.
Personally i would run 2 circuits. I always have have some water flow at least spread across 2 circuits. Especially with gfci nuisance tripping is often an issue and ideally if one breaker pops you still have some water flow. Not so much of an issue anymore as most setups dont require a chiller, but if you ever find you need one you are going to wish you had that second circuit.
As for gfci i use several mini gfci powerstrips. So the circuit itself is not protected, but all items i plug in first go to a gfci type power strip. Again this was done after i kept getting some nuisance gfci tripping.
As for gfci i use several mini gfci powerstrips. So the circuit itself is not protected, but all items i plug in first go to a gfci type power strip. Again this was done after i kept getting some nuisance gfci tripping.
Eric R.
Well-Known Member
Out of curiosity, do you have your outlets wired so that if one trips, the downstream outlets don't trip as well? I would imagine that this is possible, I've just never seen it done.
My 100g w 40g sump has 1x 20amp GFCI Breaker and use power strips with surge suppression for each device. But more importantly power strips are wifi so if anything loses power or has wattage/voltage irregularities I get a push notification. (Kasa strips integrated into home automation Control4).
jdiefenbaugh
Active Member
Had a sub panel the previous owners installed that was mostly empty, I ran 2 20A circuits for the tank, 1 for QT, and 1 for mixing station/ancillary uses. Having the tank in an unfinished room, and a drop ceiling made this all very easy, tho.
KStatefan
2500 Club Member
I have a mix. In my aquarium area I have four 4x4 boxes in each box there is a GFCI and a standard outlet. The second box is hooked to the lineside at the first GFCI. I have two separate circuits so then I mirror that on the second circuit.
I think what you're looking for is a pigtail for each circuit. If you don't daisy chain the receptacles then each receptacle gets like a home run. It's a lot more work, but that's how I did my whole house, makes troubleshooting receptacles much easier. But you can run into box fill issues that way which isn't to code.
Normally a gfci has all the receptacles downstream daisy chained. If you use pigtails you'd lose the protection, but then you can use individual gfcis like greg did.
Greg's set up is the gold standard and I wish I had seen that before I wired mine up!
Eric R.
Well-Known Member
Yeah that's how I was thinking I would do it. I think the assumption tends to be when you see someone saying they have multiple GFCIs on a single circuit is that they don't understand how they work. The way Greg did it is pretty unusual, but makes it worth it for sure. And a gfci outlet isn't much pricier than a regular outlet. Got me thinking some ideas now if I ever get a bigger tank and need that many outlets!
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