Fish room electrical work

[t5Nitro]

Is it important to consider a few separate 20 amp circuits to run a 170 gallon aquarium safe measure or just a single circuit is sufficient?

I'm sure my current tank is all on the same circuit but I'm not familiar with electrical work. I have some items plugged into one outlet and the other half of things plugged into a different outlet. Each of those outlets are on a different fuse switch so maybe my current tank is 2 circuits.

Asking for possibility of having home builder's electrician put something in? Also not quite sure what to ask for. Looking for any recommendations. Maybe easiest to do now. Also asked for possible T into the water line for RODI system and a utility sink plumbed in.

 

[Wes Allsbrook]

What equipment are you going to be running? You can do the math on the watts to see if you will be fine.

 

[CoralB]

Add up your total wattage use from all your devices and tell the Electricion what u want to do and he will guide you as to what you’ll need . The sink you’ll need to call a plumber and again tell him what you want to accomplish and he should be able to guide you as well

 

[t5Nitro]

Maybe safe. Looks like if all equipment was running full power all the time it might add up to ~1900W. Still under the 2400W cutoff for a 20A circuit. Although I guess if you're plugging other stuff in to those outlets downstairs too to it probably needs its own circuit. Good info to know. I can reach out to the electricians.

 

[CoralB]

I would if your able to , put your tank on its own circuit as all it would take is someone plugging in a vacuum and running the a toaster oven in the same circuit. As far as gfci outlet there is mixed feelings as if power goes out and comes back on and trips the gfci for any reason your tank would be off until you got home which hopefully isn’t while your on vacation . Maybe you could discuss this with the electrician and maybe having the gfci at the box on the breaker rather than the outlet might be a better alternative.

 

[Wes Allsbrook]

Certain types of equipment will have higher amp values when starting up. I wouldn’t cut it too close. Talking to the electrician will verify everything though.

 

[SoggyNW]

Maybe safe. Looks like if all equipment was running full power all the time it might add up to ~1900W. Still under the 2400W cutoff for a 20A circuit. Although I guess if you're plugging other stuff in to those outlets downstairs too to it probably needs its own circuit. Good info to know. I can reach out to the electricians.

One small point to add on to this if you are adding up watts load on a circuit. A modern circuit breaker is rated to operate continuously at 80% load. Above 80% they have a trip curve where it might run at 90% for 10 minutes and then trip but 95% for only 2 minutes.

So a 15 amp breaker should be treated as a 12, and a 20 as a 15.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Is it important to consider a few separate 20 amp circuits to run a 170 gallon aquarium safe measure or just a single circuit is sufficient?

I'm sure my current tank is all on the same circuit but I'm not familiar with electrical work. I have some items plugged into one outlet and the other half of things plugged into a different outlet. Each of those outlets are on a different fuse switch so maybe my current tank is 2 circuits.

Asking for possibility of having home builder's electrician put something in? Also not quite sure what to ask for. Looking for any recommendations. Maybe easiest to do now. Also asked for possible T into the water line for RODI system and a utility sink plumbed in.

@Brew12

 

[gbroadbridge]

Is it important to consider a few separate 20 amp circuits to run a 170 gallon aquarium safe measure or just a single circuit is sufficient?

I'm sure my current tank is all on the same circuit but I'm not familiar with electrical work. I have some items plugged into one outlet and the other half of things plugged into a different outlet. Each of those outlets are on a different fuse switch so maybe my current tank is 2 circuits.

Asking for possibility of having home builder's electrician put something in? Also not quite sure what to ask for. Looking for any recommendations. Maybe easiest to do now. Also asked for possible T into the water line for RODI system and a utility sink plumbed in.

A single outlet is a single point of failure.

It is always best to spread essential life support items over seperate breakers where possible.

It goes without saying that any circuit that is supplying submerged mains potential devices should be fitted with a GFCI.

 

[Billdogg]

When I set up my fish room in the basement and the DT in the living room I ran 2 x 20A circuits to both. In the living room they are both GFCI with another outlet downstream for each, so a total of 8 plugs. In the fishroom I have them set up in a similar way except that I have a total of 6 outlets to each line for a total of 12 plugs available for each.

Overkill? You betcha!!! There is not a single power strip anywhere in the system. Every corded piece of equipment has it's own plug, with spares available just in case. The outlets are also rated for outdoor use to increase their resistance to the humidity and any salt spray.

Essential life support equipment is split between the two lines so that if one does trip there is still enough working to keep the systems alive for days if necessary (vacations!).

I did all the circuits myself when I finished the basement. I also plumbed the water from the basement up to the DT so that I never have to schlepp buckets ever again. It might have cost a little more up front, but the peace of mind is more than worth the cost.

 

[AlexG]

I would recommend having an aquarium system on at least 2 x 20amp circuits with GFCI protection minimum and from my experience I would also add AFCI protection to the circuits as well. If you are building a new home this should be an easy request. While you might have a 170 now you might also want to do some future planning and add a couple more dedicated circuits in so the wiring is done and then you can expand without having to deal with future electrical installs.

 

[Floyd-]

And here I am running my 175 gallon off a single 15amp run lol. So far no issues.