Building a fish room

Matthias7 · Jun 17, 2015

i am in the planning stages for building a fish room in my garage. I am a fairly decent DIY'r but have little to no experience with electricity. My question is how much power will I need to run my equipment. I will have 2 DC return pumps, skimmer, frag tank setup with led lights. And a few smaller electrical items , dosers etc. my breaker box is full so I am trying to figure out what I need to do to get enough power. The area I will be using has 1 outlet with no major draws on that circuit. Any input would be appreciated. I really don't want to spend 1000$ on an electrician if I don't need too.

HiddenUser · Jun 17, 2015

What size tank? Majority of the power draw will be heater / chiller and maybe return pumps.

I have my 90G running off a single outlet (two Apex EB8's plugged into that outlet) on a 15Amp circuit. According to my Apex I max out at about 7Amps. My 270G + 60G Sump + 65G Refugium build is another story. I have 2 separate 20A circuit GFI outlets behind where the tank will be located in addition to another 3 separate 20A circuit GFI outlets in my fish room.

Redundancy and and plenty of power so I don't have to overload any single outlet.

reeffirstaid · Jun 17, 2015

If I were you, I would use an electrician. I planned the basement of my home as a fish room while it was being constructed, and anytime you are mixing saltwater and electric, I would seek a professional. You shouldn't have to tie up thousands with an electrician, as your main concern will be that each tank has it's own circuit and that those circuits are GFCIs. That way if water infiltrates something, the circuit will blow. I also suggest having a hard wire network connection installed somewhere close to your aquariums, if you plan on using controllers. You could have an electrician re-arrange your circuits - perhaps adding some items to a circuit and freeing up however many you need for your tanks. I don't know how serious an aquarist you are, but if you're planning a fish room there are several things I suggest to make it truly functional. Sadly, they all cost money.

miller175 · Jun 17, 2015

Open a joint bank account with your tank.

menglish · Jun 17, 2015

I had my electrician installed a separate 20amp circuit for my fish tanks/room and it cost me $400.00 to do it.
Not that expensive.

Matthias7 · Jun 17, 2015

The display tank is 250 gallons. The lights and the wave makers would be on a different circuit (living room). Total water volume will be around 500 gallons after the sump upgrade. 400$ would be a deal if I could get it done at that cost.

Chameleon · Jun 18, 2015

Running a circuit yourself isn't too much of a task either. Some linesman pliers, 12/2 romex, a 20A breaker, and a few boxes/outlets, and wire staples are all you will really need.

HiddenUser · Jun 18, 2015

For 250G Display and total 500G you'll definitely want more outlets and might want to consider some redundancy by using multiple circuits.

I had an electrician add 3 20Amp outlets for $280...I was told the cost can vary greatly depending on the distance the new outlets are from the breaker box and whether or not they have to rip open walls.

You may be able to call a few electricians and ask them to come out and give you an estimate.