Electrician needed

[fatboyt123]

Well as most of you know this reef tank bussnies uses alot of power. Well my house is pretty old and when i have all three of my halides on and if my dad opens up the garage door with the tv on or if i have them on and my moms dehumidifer comes on it will shut down my tank. So my parents said that if i want to upgrade that is the first step i need to take toward it.

Does any one on here a electrician or does anyone know of a good cheap electrician (yes i know oxymoron). Adam i know you got all of your stuff done before you set up your tank, maybe you could give me his name.

One last question.

We have a hot tub out side that we dont use anymore and we had it setup on it own cercuit. It is right out side on the other side of my fish tank downstairs. Is there any way i could use that for just my fish tank?

 

[estanoche]

On the hot tub aspect -

Your hot tub wiring is likely 220 - so you could use the circuit, but new wire would need to be run, as you can't put a regular 110 plug on a 220 circuit

Once nice thing is, if it is installed properly, your hot tub circuit should be GFCI!

 

[roscoe]

Hey Travis I had a guy put in a couple circuits and 8 outlets for my system. He ran wires to the DT and into the garage splitting one circuit for lighting on the DT and lighting for all my other stuff in the garage. He did a pretty professional job as all wires were ran through the attic and between the walls. Let me see if I still have his contact number. I don't know what he will charge. I just paid for materials which was like $100 bucks and he just wanted frags for his labor.

 

[Workaholic]

As for your hot-tub hookup. I don't think you would need to run a different wire as IIRC 220V wire is just a large gauge than 110v. So I think all you would need to do for it to work for a 110V hookup would be to change the connections at the breaker box and put on a different breaker. Then continue the run into where your tank is of course. If I'm correct all that would do is basically have an overbuilt 110v circuit.

If that doesn't work it sounds like Sarang's guy would be the optimal choice as he works for frags

Tom

 

[fatboyt123]

Thanks guys

And ya sarang let me know

 

[roscoe]

Sorry Travis you are SOL. I can't find his number.

 

[fatboyt123]

Sorry Travis you are SOL. I can't find his number.

Well thanks alot sarang. I guess its a good thing for you as i was going to use your corals to pay him:lol::lol:

Let me know if you happen to run across it though

thanks guys for the help.

 

[fatboyt123]

nobody knows any electricians?

 

[Scooterman]

Sorry I don't have any electricians but would advise you to get it done, sucks because of cost but getting it done to code is very important. Just think of it a restful sleep knowing that your safe, tank & no fires or shocks will occur because of inadequate electrical supply to your tank. Well this won't eliminate all issues but safe power just one less thing to worry about & is very important. I would suggest getting a GFCI on the outlets that supply anything submersible, pumps, heaters, Ph's etc. these need to be on that circuit, while your at it add a ground probe to the GFCI circuit.

 

[jbudgeon]

Electrician

nobody knows any electricians?

Just saw this post today so you might have figured it out if so never mind.
If you have not figured it out let me know and I'll help you with this. I've been a commercial electrician for too long :badgrin:

 

[fatboyt123]

Nope never got anything done. Just have to flip the switch about 10 times a day.

I am getting rid of my tank now so I dont think we will have this problem as much but I do know we still need to get it fixed.

Thanks for any help you can give

 

[jbudgeon]

Nope never got anything done. Just have to flip the switch about 10 times a day.

I am getting rid of my tank now so I dont think we will have this problem as much but I do know we still need to get it fixed.

Thanks for any help you can give

Well to address you first post of everything tripping. You probably know this but this is do to having too many "things" on the same circuit. A good rule of thumb is use #12AWG on a 20 amp breaker (Not loading this breaker with any more than 16 amps. If it's on a 15 amp breaker it will be feed with #14 in which you want to only load to no more than 12 amps) (There is more reasons for what I posted but it's beyond mentioning for this post) This usually stops the tripping and is to code. To fix your current situation. You have to "lighten the load" on that breaker. unfortunately many receptacles in older houses are tied together. One way is to locate where they are tied together (probably in a receptacle somewhere) 1. you can run another #12 romex to this location and separate the loads this way. 2. If the circuits are all tied together in the main panel (This is ideal, and happens quite a bit in older houses as the owners needs change over time). 3. Another option is to re-feed this circuit from another circuit in close proximity to where the circuits are all tied together.

Sorry but I have to continue this post at a later time I've run out of time and have to go teach a Micro Lab :lol: I'll respond later on how to fix the spa issue. know worries TTYL.