Fish Room Electrical

I will be converting my garage over into a fish room in the next few weeks and had a couple of questions about running power to a sub panel thats feeds the fish room outlets.

1)Is the sub panel necessary?

2)couldnt I just add addtional breakers to my main panel?

I plan on having at the most 30 tanks and will be running blower/sponge filtration, so the outlets will be for lighting and back up heaters.

killakacti said:

1)Is the sub panel necessary?

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Depends on the number of breakers you plan on adding

killakacti said:

2)couldnt I just add addtional breakers to my main panel?

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And yes! It's nice to only have a few tanks on one circuit in case one circuit blows due to faulty equipment and the rest are running and safe.

Arlene

ok so the sub panel is only necessary for additional breakers, I am thinking i only need to add 4 more addtional outlets, i can run outlet strips the rest of the way to get the amount of plug ins i need.

Thanks

Remember that each breaker is rated up to 15 amps. A single 150 watt heater is a little over 1 amp.

Your best bet is to figure out how many amps your equipment is going to use (you can find electrical spec. tags on the product itself or plug it into a Kill A Watt to get an actual reading). And then go back and figure out how many breakers you need to install. It's a good idea to make sure you leave some extra in case you make additions or new equipment in the future.

For my fish room I ended up putting in 3 breakers with 3-4 quad outlets on each breaker. Wall outlets with AFCI built into them are safer than using power strips.

Andy

I have 3 circuits in my fish room.
But there are very few heaters in there because I heat the room.
At its peak I have 2 in tank heaters and 2 ceramic heaters going in the winter. Also the dehumidfier.
Most of my tanks are on the one air pump but there are some power filters going.
Only problem I ever had was when I forgot and put both ceramic heaters and the dehumidfier no the same circuit with some of the tank lights. LOL . They all happened to kick on at the same time. That was a quick fix. Plug in else where.

i am going to heat the room as well, deffintley dont want to use heaters unless necessary. I think i will be able to get away with 3 breakers with 3 outlets on each breaker.

I have a electrician comming out today, I will see what he comes up with as well.

Pat, what size dehumidifier are you running?

It depends on how far main box is from garage & how many extra slots their are ie. Running 4 wires all the way from the other side of the house $$$ if electrition is on the payroll. But having a pannel right their you can allways add extra outlets if the time comes.

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Why do you run a dehumidifier in a fish room? Doesn't that speed up evaporation of the tanks?

Also, Pat, what do you mean by two in tank heaters and two ceramic heaters can you elaborate? Is that two in tank heaters in your largest tank(s) or what.

Just trying to understand and improve my 6-tank fish room.

Why do you run a dehumidifier in a fish room?

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Running a large amount of tanks in a enclosed enviroment can create a very humid atmosphere and start to grow mold spores on interrior walls. Running a dehumidifier can help keep the room atmosphere dryer thus greatly reducing the odds of mold growth and dry rot.

Doesn't that speed up evaporation of the tanks?

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Yes, but you can combat this by making sure that all your tanks have tight fitting lids with either a thick acrylic 1/4 or 3/8's or 3/16 glass lids. I prefer glass lids, there much cheaper, but alot heavier and breakable on a concret floor.


Electrician stoped by and we both agreed that 2) 20 amp GFI breakers in the panel, each breaker will run 3 outlets this will give all the area i need to cover.

Since 2 of my racks will be double sided and will set in the center of the room i am going to put 2 outlets above each rack in the ceiling and run power down to the rack. This will keep any drop cords off the floor.

I cant wait to start getting busy.

Very exciting that you are setting up a new fish room. Make sure to take pics and post up your progress.

Will be starting work tomorrow, definitely will post pics of progress.

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Here We Go

I rented a truck this morning and me and my dad took a trip to Richmond to pick up what was left of a fish store. I ended up with 6 30L's and 7 20g, 3 wood racks 2 of which hold 18'' wide tanks back to back and one 3 tier rack 18" wide with all the lights sponge filters, heaters and glass tops.

Also bought the blower and all the PVC piping with SS valves and too much to list of other items. He also had around 90 african cichlids left so i bought the rest of his stock as well.

After a full day of loading and unloading the truck and setting up the six 30's and one 20L to get the fish out of bags and drip acclimating them I am ready for a drink, and my garage is a disaster.

Here are some pics of my cluttered garage.