Peppie's 180 Reef-Room

[kpiotrowski]

Your going to have to get a bigger panel!! LOL

my panel is bigger than yours LOL.

 

[trido]

Fun fact: one way to contribute to domestic bliss is to elimate the problem of the coffee maker AND the microwave blowing the circuit is to ask for hot/hot/neutral/ground (3 phase) and then use one hot for the top receptical and the other for the bottom

.

FWIW, this is not three phase. 12-3 romex but not three phase, only two.

Peppie, with the two 20 amp and single 15 amp circuits you have you should be fine since you have LED's.


Your other half, (kpiotrowski) will be the one who needs to have a larger transformer installed at the street to supply the extra 200amp main panel for just the fish tank. I suppose we could squeeze a hot tub into the mix but the electric bill will be near and extra $200 a month. If it makes either of you feel better, I have a 200 amp panel and 50amp sub panel both maxed out.

On a more serious note, it is likely possible to add a 50amp sub panel to your main box if you need to add more circuits. I've been rewiring houses for about 13 years. We do a lot of commercial wiring here at the college now. When I lived in Cali, I permitted everything and passed all my inspections. Sadly five years of experience doesnt count as much when I moved back up here.

 

[kpiotrowski]

.

FWIW, this is not three phase. 12-3 romex but not three phase, only two.

Peppie, with the two 20 amp and single 15 amp circuits you have you should be fine since you have LED's.

IYour other half, (kpiotrowski) will be the one who needs to have a larger transformer installed at the street to supply the extra 200amp main panel for just the fish tank. I suppose we could squeeze a hot tub into the mix but the electric bill will be near and extra $200 a month. If it makes either of you feel better, I have a 200 amp panel and 50amp sub panel both maxed out.

On a more serious note, it is likely possible to add a 50amp sub panel to your main box if you need to add more circuits. I've been rewiring houses for about 13 years. We do a lot of commercial wiring here at the college now. When I lived in Cali, I permitted everything and passed all my inspections. Sadly five years of experience doesnt count as much when I moved back up here.

have a 200amp panel, currently 3 cicuits devoted to fish room, and room for more breakers too.
just need to mod my meter so it doesn't turn so fast!

 

[TJL]

Having done a ton of electrical myself both residential and commercial Duanes advice/experience above is good to follow. The one easy analogy in explaining electrical circuits is to look at it like your creating a river system going up steam: heavier wire nearest panel on longer circuits and for high amperage outlets in general. In my most recent kitchen remodel project I ran 12/2 from panel to 1st (GFIC) and 2nd outlets then 14/2 to 3rd and 4th going into living area. I also replaced original 10g solid going to 220v Range plug with new 4g stranded since most of the last 4" of insulation was melted. Dave, be sure to have breakers off before tools are applied even though I usually don't... think my own bodies electrical system is a 60hz 120v makeup

Cheers, Todd

 

[Spinner]

have a 200amp panel, currently 3 cicuits devoted to fish room, and room for more breakers too.
just need to mod my meter so it doesn't turn so fast!

Just run a line underground to the house next door next time they leave for out of town

 

[Peppie]

Peppe has a great build going and no need to change as the system with two 15 circuits is definitely more than I have to work with. But I get nervious with electricity and spout PSAs.

Yes. The wire and the breaker (and the load) need to be right sized. I was thrown off by the 50A question. The harm in building a 50A (or even 20A) loop with the correct wire (edit:AND THE CORRECT RECPTICALS) and an undersized breaker is that a correctly sized load (from the receptical shape) will trip the breaker.

Any outlet in a wet location (outside, garage, tank) needs to be GFI. Now GFI outlets are expensive at ~$14 each but one outlet can protect multiple outlets downstream.

GFI are known to trip. Having two circuits can be a help by reducing points of failure.

If in doubt please check with an electrician.

Edit: I see that the right wire was used so no limitations there.

Thanks for the input on the wiring. It makes me feel better knowing that I am going in the right direction

 

[Peppie]

Duanes,


Peppie, with the two 20 amp and single 15 amp circuits you have you should be fine since you have LED's.


I have seen many systems run on much less than what I have to work with. Thanks for the input bud.

 

[Peppie]

Hey, Todd

I am going to have a buddy come by and do all the electrical hook up when it is all read to go.
I thought about doing it myself, but I keep seeing Mojoes melted hand in the back of my head. And that smell of burnt flesh.

 

[NC2WA]

Dave,

Smart man...hire a electric professional...I did when I got an additional box installed

 

[Peppie]

Well my freshwater top off for my running tank is pretty close to being empty. I need to get my filters back on line.

Today was spent trying not to slop the purple primer all over the place. No matter how careful.......

The proof is in the pics.

Fresh RO/DI water on top. Dumps into the SW mixing barrel. There is also a 1'' line coming out the back of the FW barrel.

The clear tubing is an emergency overflow plumbed into the near top of of the FW barrel.( I forget to turn off the water time and again. The tube runs out the wall to the yard.

The waste water from the filter will follow the clear tubing to the yard also.


This is were the freshwater 1'' comes back out of the wall.

Two out lets. The higher one is for the 180 ATO FW 35gal holding tank. The lower out let is for a 5 gal bucket when needed.
Ya see how careful I was with the pipe primer on the wall!! Touch up paint soon to come.

You see where the clear tubing pokes out of the wall to be ran out the exterior wall into the yard. The yellow cord is for the ATO pump ran by the Apex on the other side of the room.

This is Saltwater Out. The T off will run to the fuge to replenish a waterchange on the 180 system. The down pipe will have a ballvalve added later so I will have access to a 5 gal bucket of SW when needed. As of now I still need to do WC on my 90 AIO.

 

[Peppie]

Ran the water for about 5 hours to be sure I had no leaks.

Yep you guessed it. I just turned off the water. Forgot to glue up one of the joints on the 1'' FW line.

Easy fix for the morning.

 

[trido]

Moving along rather quickly and looking good. You need to get yourself one of those fancy float valves for your RO bin. Then you can forget about the RO/DI make up for a day or so like I've been doing for seven years now. I flood my tank room everytime I work without one.

 

[kpiotrowski]

Dave, you are not allowed anywhere near puple primer at my house lol.

what about a 1/2inch overflow pipe at the top of the rodi barrel? kinda what I was thinking since it can be a pain to time out your rodi making to make a full jug without overflowing while at work etc.

 

[Peppie]

Dave, you are not allowed anywhere near puple primer at my house lol.

what about a 1/2inch overflow pipe at the top of the rodi barrel? kinda what I was thinking since it can be a pain to time out your rodi making to make a full jug without overflowing while at work etc.

Kevin, You must have missed post # 90.
I have had an emergency drain hooked up on this system since it was installed the first time.

Duanes,
I have thought about that float switch. Just havent went to the time and expense to install one. The overflow drain prevents the flood. Worst case is I run a couple three gallons of fresh water into the yard.

 

[trido]

Kevin, You must have missed post # 90.
I have had an emergency drain hooked up on this system since it was installed the first time.

Duanes,
I have thought about that float switch. Just havent went to the time and expense to install one. The overflow drain prevents the flood. Worst case is I run a couple three gallons of fresh water into the yard.

A kent float valve (not switch) is only $14 at the LFS. Also you must have good memory. I typically run at least 30-40 gallons into the back yard before I notice the flood.

 

[Peppie]

Tied up some lose ends on the new water system today.
Started out gluing up not 1 but 2 joints I had forgot yesterday.
I also needed to run the emergency, and RO/DI filter waste water lines out the wall.
I framed out a 3'' X 3'' hole on the bottom of the exterior wall. (did that 2 days ago, before I hung the dry wall)
I cut a hole in the drywall to fit a 2'' bulkhead

Took the nut off the bulkhead and screwed it into the wall

Had an 1 1/2'' cap in my plumbing parts bin. Drilled the right size holes for the tubing

I ran the tubing thru the wall for now. I need to make water. Later it will have a pipe run thru the bulkhead that will be attached to some kind of a dry sink so I can use it for waterchanges

 

[Peppie]

I also needed to finish up the mixing barrel. A couple of heaters, and a 300gph pump for circulation. I ziptied the pump to some 1/2'' pvc to keep it off the bottom of the barrel.

Organized the wires outside of the barrel

A bit of drywall mud, and call it a day.

 

[TheKraken]

Dave, you are not allowed anywhere near puple primer at my house.

You can buy a clear primer product now. WeldOn has one.

Since you cut a hole in the water barrel a float valve is as simple as drilling a hole and tighting a nut.

 

[Peppie]

You can buy a clear primer product now. WeldOn has one.

Since you cut a hole in the water barrel a float valve is as simple as drilling a hole and tighting a nut.

I have used the clear stuff before. This time I didnt need to buy any primer, I had the purple stuff. Sometimes you have to draw the line between how it looks, what it is, what you have, and how it works.
I am pretty sure I wont be adding a float valve to my barrel. I have been using this type of system for 3+ years. Once you get into a habit of how you perform your maintenance the little extra effort is no big deal. I have issues getting a perminate water supply to the filter unit.
Every time I need to make water I have to hook the filter unit to a garden hose.

Thanks for your input Kraken, Sometimes the obvious is not possible. LOL

 

[Peppie]

This is the proposed location of the in wall 180 I have been dreaming of for the past several months.
Any suggestions?
The pic was taken from the couch were I sit an watch the **** tube.