Cable under sand bed

[five.five-six]

If I decide to put a stream pump (6055 in my case) at the far end of a peninsula tank, is it ok to burry they cord under the sand bed the length of the tank and use a tunze rock?

 

[VJV]

My advise is: don't do it. You will regret it later. Every time you need to service the pump (and that will be at least every 6 months to remove Coraline and calcium deposits that in time will jam the pump and burn the motor) you will need to tear down the sand bed taking out whatever is on top, and put it back in. Not to mention I would not feel comfortable not being able to visually check the physical integrity of the cables.

Just my two cents.


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[rvitko]

You can do it, but there is the PITA factor VJV discussed. We do this at shows and it works fine, but as a long term maintenance item unburying and reburying the cable is tedious. I tried this at home and decided I could live with the visible cable vs the hassle of keeping it hidden and being able to easily maintain the pump. I wouldn't be so worried about the integrity, the cables are double insulated and the newest ones the cable is very thin and polyurethane, it is very flexible and durable, older ones are PVC and the main threat to their integrity is UV light exposure so being buried would only help.

 

[five.five-six]

To service it, I just need to unbury 2-3' so I can hang a cup of vinegar on the side of the tank and soak the motor block? I'm sure I want to avoid setting large rock structures on the cable

 

[rvitko]

That is pretty much how I do it, I use a 1 gallon bucket, I think you may find though that the clean look doesn't justify the hassle vs just tidying up the wire along the tank edge with sticky holders and cable ties.

 

[five.five-six]

Tank is a peninsula and the end is about the first thing you see when you walk into our home. It's either that or no pump on that end of the tank.

I'm doing a gyre with 2X6105's on the back end, I just think it would be prudent to have a pump at the front end to mix things up now and again.

 

[rvitko]

I agree, I found the same, a pump on the far end makes a big difference.