electrical connections

[mathman7728]

Hi,

still working on the set up of a new tank and wondered about the electrical connections. i plan on 120 sps with 2 MH and T5s, skimmer, calc reactor, internal pumps (cant affod external pump leaks and not worried about heat given it is in teh basement which is cool year round).

i've seen switch boards which i like but how do you connect the electrical to the board? does the board plug into one outlet?

is one outlet enough to run the equip i'm planning on using (i think there isnt much of a load on the electrial circit?)

any other considerations i should think about

thnak you

 

[Anonymous]

You might be thinking about the American DJ strips. These do have one regular grounded plug that goes into an the outlet. All the plugs on it are also grounded.

I use one and love it. I have all my powerheads, skimmer, return pump and auto top-off all plugged into it. My lights are on separate timers.

 

[Anonymous]

i've seen switch boards which i like but how do you connect the electrical to the board? does the board plug into one outlet?

Not quite sure I get the "switch board" reference, you mean something with individual plugs as opposed to a power strip? If so I could imagine simply wiring that board to 1 or 2 separate circuits via a heavy duty power cord (think about the amps you're working with!) or wire that directly into 1 or 2 circuits. The DJ Power strips are nice, and if you're thinking of those, they simply have a cord that plugs into the wall.

is one outlet enough to run the equip i'm planning on using (i think there isnt much of a load on the electrial circit?)

Depends upon how much of a load you have, you say 2 MH lamps, but there's a huge difference between 175w lamps, and 400w lamps, the ones normally used are rated for 15 amps, so you really need to think about your loads, including start up loads (which some halides can spike greatly!)

 

[Len]

Toggle "switchboards" used to be more popular back in the days, but nowadays, there are much more elegant - not to mention safer - solutions. Most people use controllers and controller power strips (e.g. Aquacontroller with Direct8).

I generally split my power between two different outlets, preferably two different circuits. Running 2 250W or 400W halides with all the other equipment will push you dangerously close to 15A (some modern homes have 20A breakers). The problem with very high amperage through one outlet is it will get very hot and can char. I used to run my old 120g on a single outlet, and when I unplugged the plug from the wall outlet, I was shocked to see how charred everything was. And yeah, plan your start up loads carefully. Don't have all the lights pop on at the same time, because that will result in a huge amp spike.