# How many power bars and outlets do you have plugged for your tanks?



## AquaNeko (Jul 26, 2009)

Thought I'd ask as my basement where I have my tanks currently setup is octo-riffic >.<; 

Almost as bad as my computers on my main floor.


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## WiyRay (Jan 11, 2009)

What the...? *points up*

Anyways, on my 46gal. Using 4 for filters (Overfilter for the win!), 2 for lights, 2 for heaters. Octorific for me too i suppose.


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## shrtmann (Feb 15, 2009)

well not quite sure what octoriffic means but... lol

I use 3. only because im too cheap to buy a good one with a multiple timer switch on it.. haha

I have one for my lights. one for my led night lites (fish get scared of the dark too...) and one that the rest of everything plugs into


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## Zebrapl3co (Mar 29, 2006)

I run 8 tanks. So 3 plug each (1 light, 1 filter and 1 heater). Then there is 1 air pump, 1 solenoid, 1 auto liquid fertilizer, 1 overflow pump, some tanks have 2 plugs for 2 sets of light and 1 moon light.
That comes to abou 30 plugs, I split it into 8 power bars ... damn that is a fire hazard waiting to happen.

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## Tropicana (Feb 15, 2009)

well I am just gonna say fire hazard for me too lol...


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## Harry Muscle (Mar 21, 2007)

Here's my setup:

http://www.stonyx.com/stuff/img_1171-2.jpg
http://www.stonyx.com/stuff/img_1171-4.jpg

This was for my 55G tank.

Harry


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## Hitch (Apr 26, 2009)

with the 4 activetly setup tanks of mine....one has 4, 3 has 3. So 13 plugs in total, split between 4 powerbars sine they are all in diff parts of the house.


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## ameekplec. (May 1, 2008)

My 20g reef with 10g sump (about 28g total volume) occupies 11 outlets (4 on timers) across 2 powerbars.

On the other hand my L046 tank uses 3: 1 for a heater, 1 for the Eheim 2213, and 1 for a timer which the light is plugged into.


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## Mr Fishies (Sep 21, 2007)

Wow...11 for one tank eh.

Me, 3 Tanks. 2 Powerbars. 11 outlets in total. Light, filter, heater for each and on my 75 2 more for a Koralia and CO2 solenoid.


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## AquaNeko (Jul 26, 2009)

shrtmann said:


> well not quite sure what octoriffic means but... lol
> 
> I use 3. only because im too cheap to buy a good one with a multiple timer switch on it.. haha
> 
> I have one for my lights. one for my led night lites (fish get scared of the dark too...) and one that the rest of everything plugs into


Haha.. I just said 'octoiffic' to mean crazy multiple plugs all into the wall outlet.


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## AquaNeko (Jul 26, 2009)

Harry Muscle said:


> Here's my setup:
> 
> http://www.stonyx.com/stuff/img_1171-2.jpg
> http://www.stonyx.com/stuff/img_1171-4.jpg
> ...


Wow Harry, that is inspiring. Reminds me of when I was working in a server room before for a big media company. I think they had like 8-12 outlets installed all with powerbars and total tech geek powerhouse in there for all the computers, lights, and just plain geeky.

Is everything on the same circuit/breaker? Not sure if I'm using the term right but I think you know what I mean just so you don't overload one circuit (?).


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## AquaNeko (Jul 26, 2009)

Zebrapl3co said:


> I run 8 tanks. So 3 plug each (1 light, 1 filter and 1 heater). Then there is 1 air pump, 1 solenoid, 1 auto liquid fertilizer, 1 overflow pump, some tanks have 2 plugs for 2 sets of light and 1 moon light.
> That comes to abou 30 plugs, I split it into 8 power bars ... damn that is a fire hazard waiting to happen.


 Got photos of that? Holy flying fish that is a lot of plug ins. I do believe it is how many Amps being drawn from that wall outlet that poses the fire hazard but -I could be wrong- on this as I am not an electrician and something that I recalled reading about on some home reno forums a while back.


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## Harry Muscle (Mar 21, 2007)

AquaNeko said:


> Wow Harry, that is inspiring. Reminds me of when I was working in a server room before for a big media company. I think they had like 8-12 outlets installed all with powerbars and total tech geek powerhouse in there for all the computers, lights, and just plain geeky.
> 
> Is everything on the same circuit/breaker? Not sure if I'm using the term right but I think you know what I mean just so you don't overload one circuit (?).


Yup, all on the same circuit breaker. Everything is GFCI protected, but I have a switch to disable the GFCI protection (for example when I go on vacation and I don't want a false tripping to stop everything from working). A breaker can handle 15 Amps and one tank will almost never use more than that.

Thanks,
Harry


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## KnaveTO (May 13, 2007)

Lets just put it this way... I don't want to think about it... LOL


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## juanitow (Jun 21, 2008)

I'm trying to minimize the number of power plugs. I now have 1 heater for my tanganyikan tank, and 1 massive air pump for running my 5 aquaria..

I really need to find a better way to heat my tanks though. Right now I'm heating them up by heating up the room.


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## CanadaPleco (Sep 7, 2009)

Harry Muscle said:


> Yup, all on the same circuit breaker. Everything is GFCI protected, but I have a switch to disable the GFCI protection (for example when I go on vacation and I don't want a false tripping to stop everything from working). A breaker can handle 15 Amps and one tank will almost never use more than that.
> 
> Thanks,
> Harry


Smart putting a switch to disable the GFCI, I had my fishroom on a GFCI and it would go out from time to time for no apparent reason in the middle of the night. Nice clean setup you have there!


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## Cory (May 2, 2008)

My electrical situation is an absolute mess.. it's all in the line of fire when water spills too lol. Off the top of my head... 10 power bars in the fishroom + 1 for each of the two upstairs display tanks then about 15 or so extension cords on top of that.. All of the outelts are used with the exception of four or five. Unfortunately with the way things are laid out down there I can't really do much better.in terms of organization but when I move the plan is to design the basement around fish keeping.


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## AquaNeko (Jul 26, 2009)

Finally got my laptop fixed. My desktop died, literally and was in the fuss of moving out of my place so sorry if I did not get any PM/replies sent. Partly was technical downtime.

I did have a chance to talk with my dad who is heavy in the electrical/elecronics field and confirmed to me that the average household has either a 15Amp or 20Amp breaker tho the former is likely more common. It is not how many plugs/powerbars you have plugged into the wall but how many Amps you're pulling off that circuit.

Something came to mind but you may want to get one of those Kill-A-Watt devices and plug it into each of your devices to get the figures of how much power use is being used so you can have a more clear view if you need to upgrade that breaker box or move some of your tanks to another part of the house on another breaker.


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