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New house = tank upgrades


kmoniaci

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Hi Everyone!  I bought a house this fall which means that it's time for a tank upgrade.  Haven't decided yet if I want to keep my 75 gallon and just change the things that I don't like (aquascape, background color, flow, stand, lights.  I guess that's pretty much everything) or step up to a 4 foot 120 gallon.  I can't fit anything bigger than a 4 foot tank. ;)   But before I get to that decision I have a couple hurdles involving the 'joys' of home ownership.

#1 Electrical

The house is 90 years old and still has a lot of the original wiring, which is knob and tube. (I do have a breaker box, not fuse box) There's no way I'm putting my tank on that.  So, I need to have new wiring installed.   I have no idea where to start.  Obviously I need to think about number of outlets, but beyond that I'm pretty clueless.  I want to have an idea of what I want before I hire an electrician.  I've tried to look online for info, but it's hard to find anything about this, and then I get overwhelmed.  Amps?  Wattage?  Maximum load on a breaker?  Has anybody had new electrical put in for their tank?  It would be great to just sit down with someone and have this stuff explained!

#2 Floor Jacks

The tank will be running parallel with floor joists.  I know, great idea but it's the best spot in the house.  There is full access to the floor joists in the basement, but again I get overwhelmed here.  Has anybody put their tank parallel to joists?  I don't know if this is a terrible idea or not.

Thanks in advance! :) 

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On 1/13/2018 at 8:24 AM, kmoniaci said:

Hi Everyone!  I bought a house this fall which means that it's time for a tank upgrade.  Haven't decided yet if I want to keep my 75 gallon and just change the things that I don't like (aquascape, background color, flow, stand, lights.  I guess that's pretty much everything) or step up to a 4 foot 120 gallon.  I can't fit anything bigger than a 4 foot tank. ;)   But before I get to that decision I have a couple hurdles involving the 'joys' of home ownership.

#1 Electrical

The house is 90 years old and still has a lot of the original wiring, which is knob and tube. (I do have a breaker box, not fuse box) There's no way I'm putting my tank on that.  So, I need to have new wiring installed.   I have no idea where to start.  Obviously I need to think about number of outlets, but beyond that I'm pretty clueless.  I want to have an idea of what I want before I hire an electrician.  I've tried to look online for info, but it's hard to find anything about this, and then I get overwhelmed.  Amps?  Wattage?  Maximum load on a breaker?  Has anybody had new electrical put in for their tank?  It would be great to just sit down with someone and have this stuff explained!

#2 Floor Jacks

The tank will be running parallel with floor joists.  I know, great idea but it's the best spot in the house.  There is full access to the floor joists in the basement, but again I get overwhelmed here.  Has anybody put their tank parallel to joists?  I don't know if this is a terrible idea or not.

Thanks in advance! :) 

Congrats on the new house!!

 

The Electrical:  I always try to have at least 1 20 amp circuit for the tank.  If there is a option for 2, then thats better.  I try to put Heaters and return pump on a circuit by itself if possible.  

 

Floor Jacks:  Most of the time I try to run the beams perpendicular to the floor system with a 4x6 for support.  In extreme cases, ill do this twice.  

 https://goo.gl/images/8d4tkr

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Electrical can be expensive if you hire an electrician, may want to try and find out your total power needs and see if it can be split between two different circuits if you have a few outlets close by that are on different breakers. 

A normal 15 amp breaker is capable of a max load of 1800 watts before tripping but it is recommended to never run at more than 75% of the capacity of the breaker. So for a normal household outlet running around 13-1400 watts is optimal.  

 

I would tally ally up all the power needs of each piece of equipment and see if you will need to spread out the power or can use one outlet with a apex or power strip. Keep in mind you'll have to also account for whatever other household items use power on that same breaker. 

 

I am using two different outlets on separate breaker for my 180 gallon but I use 1100 watts of heaters because my basement is cool in the winters.

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