135 Oceanic: Electrical Capacity Requirements

[beetlejuice]

I have a 76" wide by 19" deep "nook" on one of my living room walls. This "nook" has one electrical outlet with 2 sockets. I want to determine if I need to place this outlet on a dedicated circuit and if that is possible.

My home is a brand new 1200 sq ft condo with cement floors and a parking garage below. I am not worried about the weight because of the cement floor reinforced with I-beams but want to be educated/informed on the electrical requirements.

My living room is on a 15A circuit with numerous outlets on all four walls. The only thing plugged in currently and in the future is my plasma tv with a receiver, bluray player and audio system.

With that said, I have room on the panel for at least two more circuits. The outlet I plan to use will be solely for the tank. How can I calculate the necessary amperage and pending the results, is it possible to put the tank outlet on it's own circuit even though it is already on a "shared" living room circuit?

My tank plans are as follows:

-Oceanic 135 Ultimate Starphire (72.5x18.5x25) Dual Overflows and rated for 1200 gph

- 3x250w HQI Pendant with some form of supplemental actinic

- Mag 12 return (Is there a more energy efficient quality pump?)

- 250W heater

- 1 Vortech MP40w with Battery Backup (My "nook" has space for only one side of the tank to have a Vortech)

- BK Mini 180 Skimmer or equivalent (something with one pump)

- Tunze Osmolator for top off

- Geo KalkReactor

- Power compact refugium Light

- RKE or RK Lite for controlling with 1 DC 8

- 22 gallon finnex for quarantine/frags ( skimmer, return pump, 150w hqi, heater) I may ditch the hqi if it is putting me too close to maxing my amperage out. I may just plug this whole setup into the 2nd socket by itself and use the RK with DC8 for the main tank on the other socket.

I don't anticipate needing any fans on the tank as I have central air and keep the house at low 70s.

So where do I stand or how can I figure this out myself? If it makes a difference I will take the skimmer and hqi off the 22 gallon finnex.

Thanks in advance for your help. I really appreciate it.

 

[boilermaker1]

I ran my 180 with 2 Reeflo external pumps, 2 250W heaters and 2 MJ600s (for the phosphate and carbon reactors), a skimmer and 3 halides on the same circuit as my entertainment center (TV, receiver, DVD/Bluray, sub, etc...), I never found a way to pop the breaker. This was a 15A circuit, but I had my tank plugged into 2 different outlets (on opposite sides of the same wall).
If you run into a problem... ditch the energy sucking plasma for an LCD or LED panel, dont sacrifice the fish tank
and... on the front page of RC http://www.reefcentral.com/calc/tank_elec_calc.php

 

[beetlejuice]

Well that is comforting, I think? Just kidding. Yes, I do need to get an LCD and have been meaning to but my priority is setting up my other "TV". It only has one channel but beats the heck out of everything else there is to watch.

 

[beetlejuice]

Anybody else?

 

[fishman7us]

You need to have the tank on ist own circuits, potentially 2-20A or 2-15A gfci circuits. Just your lights and heater are going to pull 1000 watts which is 8.5A and over half of your current circuit rating. Safety first my friend, you dont want to burn your house down. If you are anything like the rest of us you will be adding more goodies and gadgets in the future so plan accordingly. Try to only draw 70 to 80% of circuits capacity. Happy reefing.

 

[beetlejuice]

Thanks. My question is, can the outlet I plan to use be put on it's own 20A circuit, even though it is currently on a circuit sharing the entire living room?

 

[Mike31154]

Yes, it sure can, but again, as fishman7us mentions, two separate circuits on GFCI will be better/safer. Redundancy of two circuits means you may not lose all the equipment running your tank by a single breaker or GFCI trip. You can probably stay with 15A circuits that way as the total load will be nicely distributed.

If I'm not mistaken, going to 20A will require a totally new wiring run with larger gauge wire. First you'll be well advised to confirm that all the outlets in the living room are indeed on the same 15A circuit. If the electrical contractor was on the ball when he wired the condo, he may actually have split those outlets on separate breakers. If this is the case, things could be quite straightforward for you. Use one GFCI receptacle (probably the one in your nook) to run all your 'in' tank or 'wet' equipment such as pumps, powerheads (except VorTech) and heaters. Use one of the other (hopefully separate circuit) receptacles in the living room for your lighting. This may not need GFCI but you have the option of replacing that receptacle with GFCI as well if you wish, probably a good idea.

If all the living room receptacles are on the same circuit breaker, then you can run another 15A circuit to your tank and that should give you a very good safety margin.

BTW, with respect to room for the VorTech, I've heard of some inventive individuals who have suggested building a small 'dry' box inside their tank to house the dry side. This eliminates the need for clearance outside the tank, but has the disadvantage of using up real estate inside your display.

Edit: with respect to total power on a single circuit, a 15A household circuit is maxed out at 1875 watts. Most devices such as power bars and timers are rated around 1500 watts and that's a good number to aim for as far as total wattage on a 15A circuit. Then take off another 500 watts for peace of mind, so I would advise against loading a 15A circuit above 1000 watts. Sure a toaster or microwave can be close to maxing out a 15A circuit, but we typically run those appliances only for minutes. Much of your tank gear will run constantly.

A single 20A circuit maxes out at 2500 watts, which is considerably more, but IME 2 x 15 will give you adequate power, the redundancy of 2 circuits and potentially less rewiring in your house.

 

[reidcrandall]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15414236#post15414236 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by beetlejuice
Thanks. My question is, can the outlet I plan to use be put on it's own 20A circuit, even though it is currently on a circuit sharing the entire living room?

That depends on how your builder wired the outlet. If they used 12g copper, you will be fine to switch out the breaker and put a 20A circuit in. If they used 14g wire, which is smaller, I would not. That is how fires start.

 

[LobsterOfJustice]

My only comment is on the fans. Doesn't matter how cool you keep the apartment, without any circulation that cool air won't get to your tank. You'll need fans with halides.

 

[Mike31154]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15414361#post15414361 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by reidcrandall
That depends on how your builder wired the outlet. If they used 12g copper, you will be fine to switch out the breaker and put a 20A circuit in. If they used 14g wire, which is smaller, I would not. That is how fires start.

Yes, +1, as I mentioned the wire guage has to be appropriate for a 20A circuit breaker, you can't install a 20A into a circuit previously wired for 15A unless the wire is the proper specification. You could run the proper guage wire up to that receptacle but would have to disconnect any downstream 15A receptacles/equipment. Could become a bit of a wiring nightmare as compared to simply running another 15A circuit to that location.

 

[HighlandReef]

i ran a 10 ga wire to my tank and spit it into 2 15 amp sockets, worked out fine and i have not had any issues as far as power goes for the 210

 

[HighlandReef]

forgot to mention i used a 20 amp dedicated breaker just for the tank but i am not running anywhere near 20 amps for the tank but ran 10ga incase i even needed it

 

[beetlejuice]

So does this require running another line from the box or can it be split off the existing outlet? The reason I ask is that the box is on one side of the living room and the outlet I'm using is on the other side of the living room.

 

[beetlejuice]

Or should I just go with T5's and minimize this issue altogether? What will going to T5's do for me? What would you recommend?