Austin goes Rimless - Dudester's 203g mixed reef
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Dudester
Premium Member
need help with electricity
need help with electricity
The system will be coming to my house very soon (hopefully), so I need to ensure I'll have adequate and reliable power before it's in place. The wall behind the tank has 2 outlets, but they're both on the same circuit (standard house circuit, not sure if it's 15 or 20 amp). My main electrical needs include:
lights (10x 54W T5's) = 540W
JBJ 1/3hp chiller = 250W
CL pump (Sequence Barracuda) = 325W
heater = 250W
chiller return pump (Eheim 1262) = 80W
... plus my sump return pump, pumps for reactors (skimmer, calcium and carbon), aquarium controller, Tunze Wavebox, and a bunch of other small items.
I'm having an electrician come to my house tomorrow to help me come up with a solution. I'm pretty sure I want the 2 outlets on separate breakers, but I'm not sure how to divide the load. I thought I'd just go ahead and prepare for 2000W, even though things like the chiller and heater won't be on at the same time, since I'd rather be over-supplied than under.
Any suggestions are welcome!
need help with electricity
The system will be coming to my house very soon (hopefully), so I need to ensure I'll have adequate and reliable power before it's in place. The wall behind the tank has 2 outlets, but they're both on the same circuit (standard house circuit, not sure if it's 15 or 20 amp). My main electrical needs include:
lights (10x 54W T5's) = 540W
JBJ 1/3hp chiller = 250W
CL pump (Sequence Barracuda) = 325W
heater = 250W
chiller return pump (Eheim 1262) = 80W
... plus my sump return pump, pumps for reactors (skimmer, calcium and carbon), aquarium controller, Tunze Wavebox, and a bunch of other small items.
I'm having an electrician come to my house tomorrow to help me come up with a solution. I'm pretty sure I want the 2 outlets on separate breakers, but I'm not sure how to divide the load. I thought I'd just go ahead and prepare for 2000W, even though things like the chiller and heater won't be on at the same time, since I'd rather be over-supplied than under.
Any suggestions are welcome!
EBOLII
New member
Have you considered power backup for during emergencies or is that a later thought? I have been looking at some of the auto/inverter setups. Here in SC we tend to get allot of power disruptions from various weather
So this is inline with my power calculations. Not saying it has to be in your computation
So this is inline with my power calculations. Not saying it has to be in your computation
Electrical
Electrical
Mike,
Looks like your major listed loads come to about 1200 watts(being heater and chiller won't be on at same time.) A normal 15 amp circuit is 15A X 120V = 1800 watts, which should be enough for your big loads plus whatever little loads may be added (Reefkeeper, etc.) You might ask your electrician if the wire size to the plugs will handle a 20 amp breaker, which would give you 2400 watts, which would be plenty. There is no need to go to the expense of adding another circuit and pulling wire at this time. I would advise using the money to add an emergency backup generator and transfer switch instead. That's what I'm doing.
Are you putting the new tank up against the same column where you had the old one? Or a new place?
I'm off all day today and just puttering around with my ham radio equipment. Call me if you want to talk about this a bit. Do you still have my cell phone number? If not I'll PM it to you.
Bruce
Electrical
Mike,
Looks like your major listed loads come to about 1200 watts(being heater and chiller won't be on at same time.) A normal 15 amp circuit is 15A X 120V = 1800 watts, which should be enough for your big loads plus whatever little loads may be added (Reefkeeper, etc.) You might ask your electrician if the wire size to the plugs will handle a 20 amp breaker, which would give you 2400 watts, which would be plenty. There is no need to go to the expense of adding another circuit and pulling wire at this time. I would advise using the money to add an emergency backup generator and transfer switch instead. That's what I'm doing.
Are you putting the new tank up against the same column where you had the old one? Or a new place?
I'm off all day today and just puttering around with my ham radio equipment. Call me if you want to talk about this a bit. Do you still have my cell phone number? If not I'll PM it to you.
Bruce
jnarowe
New member
yup. 3000 rated watts just for my halides. but what I did was put each 1000w halide on a seperate circuit with other small items. I have 2400W of heaters, multiple blowers, an Alita 100, several accessory pumps, Hammerhead return, 5 Vortechs, IceCap 660 for fuge lamps, lamp movers, etc. etc...the fact is I built my system specifically for reduced electrical consumption, but ran wire for a less efficent rating to have plenty of excess. As it is, I am always adding new stuff, tanks etc.
Since I had the wall out, I decided to run double my calculated need. It had to be done anyway, so why not run the extra wire? Actually, it's just heavier gauge wire, so the work involved was the same. I also ran RG11 into the wall for future entainment purposes.
Since I had the wall out, I decided to run double my calculated need. It had to be done anyway, so why not run the extra wire? Actually, it's just heavier gauge wire, so the work involved was the same. I also ran RG11 into the wall for future entainment purposes.
Dudester
Premium Member
EBOLII - We're lucky in Austin in that our power outages are relatively infrequent, and in the 6 years I've lived here we've never been without power for more than 30 minutes. My emergency backup power will therefore consist of an APC unit into which I'll plug my sump return pump. This will provide the necessary circulation and oxygenation to hopefully prevent things from getting too far out of whack.
jnarowe - I know what you mean about planning for much more, but the reality in this case is that I'll be moving to a new house in about 18 months, and I don't plan to expand too much on this current system while I'm in this home. The new house will be built with a pimped-out tank room and plenty of opportunities for expansion.
bcoons - Thanks for your advice, and good to talk with you on the phone. I'll heed your recommendations and see if I can upgrade to a 20 amp breaker.
jnarowe - I know what you mean about planning for much more, but the reality in this case is that I'll be moving to a new house in about 18 months, and I don't plan to expand too much on this current system while I'm in this home. The new house will be built with a pimped-out tank room and plenty of opportunities for expansion.
bcoons - Thanks for your advice, and good to talk with you on the phone. I'll heed your recommendations and see if I can upgrade to a 20 amp breaker.
ThomasinKind
New member
Glad to find this thread, the last one was very informative. Do you plan to use the 30 as a QT?
-Thomas
-Thomas
Dudester
Premium Member
Glad you found this thread too, Thomas. Even though it's less volume, I have a 20 long that is probably better suited as a QT than the 30 cube, just based on its length. I'll also keep the 30 running until it's time to transfer the fish into the new tank. I have a few corals that will also transfer, but FEW is the operative word, as I don't want to risk introducing bryopsis into the new system.
Dudester
Premium Member
That's awfully nice of you to say, but WAY premature and not very likely. But I appreciate your optimism!
As far as an electrical update, and after confirming with the electrician, I've ultimately decided to do nothing to increase the supply to the tank wall. The only way I'll get into trouble is if I abandon the plan for all T5 lighting and end up with a MH/T5 combo, but I hope this won't be necessary.
So it's confirmed ... tomorrow's tank move in day!!!!
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