Fishroom Electrical- 11th hour doubts

[User]

Yeah, I caught that typo and added a comment while you were typing yours it seems.

I have a 40 amp subpanel in the basement already installed by the previous owner, but it’s wired with aluminum wire 12 ga. Or so my fil says. We plan to run new 6 awg thhn x3 (in 1” conduit) from the main panel to this sub (replacing the al wire) to bring it up to a 60 amp rating. Then run 12-2 +g romex to the various locations needed for 20 amp circuits.

 

[salty joe]

Yes run multiple outlets. Also I prefer to use a gfci for every plug (pigtailed) rather than run through the first one or by breaker this way they trip individually. .

+1. Definitely plenty of GFI outlets wired in parallel (unlike the typical kitchen, wired in series).

 

[tank o tang]

Also, I installed all of my fishroom outlets high as possible so they were well above sump level. Put them high so they are out of the way from spills, splashes, salt creep, etc. Then I put a piece of painted plywood between the outlets to mount my controller powerbars. Makes it nice having everything above the sump and right in front of you as your working.

 

[User]

Also, I installed all of my fishroom outlets high as possible so they were well above sump level. Put them high so they are out of the way from spills, splashes, salt creep, etc. Then I put a piece of painted plywood between the outlets to mount my controller powerbars. Makes it nice having everything above the sump and right in front of you as your working.

Yeah- I’m mounting my eb8’s up high 6.5 feet, then using conduit to run individual ‘extension cords’ made out of 14 awg thhn to outlet boxes around the room, at 5 feet height. I’ll have the rest of my apex boxes on a plywood mounting board under the eb8’s so it’s all organized.

Like this- not my pic but from another member- “drummereef”

 

[User]

Individual gfci outlets for stuff I’m not going to run permanently seems overkill. For the room outlets, I’m thinking things like an extra lamp on a timer, a small pump to move water around, or an extra powerhead for the fuge or skimmer section to blow out debris.

Those things are like 8x the cost of a simple side wire duplex outlet.

 

[PhreeByrd]

Just a word about GFCI receptacles. They do occasionally nuisance trip, for no apparent reason. So do GFCI breakers. I think using GFCI receptacles, singly wired is the best approach (so that in case of a trip, you only lose power to that one receptacle). But I'd only use them where they are really necessary. If the chiller, for example, is on a GFCI receptacle that trips while you're at work or on vacation, this could spell disaster... so I'd think long and hard about whether a receptacle should be GFCI or not. For your installation, most (if any) of them should not be required by code to be GFCI.

 

[User]

One breaker for upstairs, one for downstairs, and one for “extra” downstairs is more than enough.
With that said the more outlets in fish room the better, especially close to sump.
Have circuits gfci protected and use ground probes in tanks.
Would also use 12 gauge romex cable and run all electric inside walls
Check with codes to make sure your heigher than typical is ok.

Do you have central air? You running a duct for fish room?

Nope- no central air into/ out of the room. Didn’t feel comfortable running fishroom air through the returns. The ac system is 20 years old, so rather not tempt it.

I’ll have a 6” in-line dc duct fan pushing air outside, with make up air coming from the other end of the basement. Plenty of filters on it too. It’s rated fir 440 cfm, big I plan to throttle it back to 150cfm and reduce its noise.

The plan for the apex controlled outlets is set. 1”conduit running 14awg thhn from eb8’s to outlet boxes where needed.

Supplementary non-apex outlets will be 12-2+g romex in the walls, with gfci protection. Not every outlet, but 3 banks of 4 outlets.

Fishroom lights (4 x 6” ‘easyup’ leds- these run 850lumens for 200mA, and are environmentally sealed) and fan will be tied into the basement light circuit, with 14-2+g romex. Motion sensor switch fir lights and humidistat for the fan.