GFCI will keep you alive. Period. You cannot rely on a power bar to do this.

Install one as soon as you can.

GFCI's are very good, they trip when there is an imbalance between the line and neutral, meaning that power is going elsewhere(ground). They will not trip if you have current flowing from the 'line' to 'neutral' prongs. This is where you can have issues with them, especially since lots of plugs for our aquariums only have 2 prongs. Use a grounding probe in your tank to pick up stray voltage, it will still trip the GFCI because of imbalance, but it won't be in your tank. I've only had issues with one pump before, and took awhile to find what was tripping the GFCI, turned out that i was flowing water through the pump faster than it could pump it (it was for a canister filter that was flowing from the Display down to the sump).

As many people have said, drip loops are good, and keep the powerbars out of anywhere that will get them wet, water evaporates, salt doesn't :S. I have one powerbar mounted right under mt DT for all my sump equipment, and another on the side of the canopy for lights/powerheads. Good quality equipment is good too, there's someone here who had a house fire caused by a cheap timer powerbar(can't find the thread, it's here somewhere).

You nailed it...the best thing to do is designate the one or two circutes you are going to use for your equipment and GFI protect them at the panel with a GFI breaker this will eliminate some of the GFCI outlet trips.

Thanks for all the suggestions.

I had a complete tank crash last year because of a failed powerbar. The warm humid air in the stand eventually corroded and shorted the bar out and this tripped the GFI. I will never have any kind of plug or electrical connection inside my stand again. The subsequent upgrade and rebuild included 2 dedicated Gfi circuits to the tank and I custom built a small cabinet to go beside the tank to house all of the electrical connections etc. There are pictures in my build thread if your interested.

yup we all learn eventually through storys like this and in the end even if its not likely to happen we should prepare the what if's.......for me no more power in my stand period and i dont believe screwing the bar to the top of the inside of the stand is a good idea in my mind if its beneathe your tank in anyway in your stand then there possibilit for a flood.


for the person who mentioned it earlier it was me who had the fire when my hob filter cracked i had came home to a smokey house after work i didnt even notice the smoke i sat on the couch and looked at my zoa tank and noticed barely any flow happening then when i went there the back of my tank and wall were burned black the bar was a melted heap and all the plugs had been burned down to nothing.....was almost a very serious diaster.

the only things that saved my tank and all my rare zoas were the fact i had powerheads and heaters on seperate plugs and on seperate breakers.


my power bar was a gfci but it doesnt matter if water lands on it and finds its way inside it can spark before it trips. you need to have the gfci away from water for it to work properly ie. in your wall.

ill never ever run power in my stand anymore all my bars gop on the walls with the cords hanging low and all recepticles are swapped out with gfci.

having a dedicated breaker goes along way as alot of them are tied together in your house anyways so theres alot more plugged into then whats on our powerbar:):)

Outside of and a distance away from your stand if at all possible. Use a GFCI device. Make it so. Also a good idea to mount them upside down and let gravity help you keep them dry. Drip loop on the cords. If you insist on keeping them in your stand, especially with a sump in there, look around for outdoor, weatherproof boxes, conduit etc.