calling all electricans

[Buzz]

I guess I should also say I'm not and electrician. But the I just finished wiring my garage and I used 12/2 wire so I could run 20A breakers for welders and other power tools. I read the local code book and it said 12/2 is the minimum wire size for a 20A breaker.

[cwatkins]

I would look at running a dedicated GFCI circuit from your panel. (Either GFCI at the outlet or at the breaker). 15 or 20amp, whichever you prefer. You'll get 12 amps from a 15 circuit. That's more than enough for your lighting.

[Skimmerking]

ok i can run a circuit that isn't a problem ok .

[bauder1986]

Keep this in mind to as well when you are calculating the amp of your fixtures that they draw. 110 watts of lighting is 1 amp. soo a 250 watt MH is 2.3 amps of steady draw and then you have to keep in mind how much draw your ballasts have when the fire up.

Now keep in mind that when electricians wire in a house they run a parralel that runs no more that 12 amps max! Every plug in a parallel is concidered one amp and every light is concidered 1 amp and smoke detectors are concidered .25 amps. Pot lights are concidered .5 amps since most of them are 50 to 75 watts max. but the moral of the story is that your tanks is most likely not the only thing that you have plugged into that parallel so you may have more draw than your tank such as your TV which probably draws around 3 amps steady. and your lights draw 8.2 amps steady...so yah that is pushing it.

But yah i would replace the old 15 amp breaker with a new one just to be safe and run a dedicated GFCI 20 amp breaker to the tank with 12/2 wire and leave it at that.

[Skimmerking]

Originally Posted by bauder1986

Keep this in mind to as well when you are calculating the amp of your fixtures that they draw. 110 watts of lighting is 1 amp. so a 250 watt MH is 2.3 amps of steady draw and then you have to keep in mind how much draw your ballasts have when the fire up.

Now keep in mind that when electricians wire in a house they run a parallel that runs no more that 12 amps max! Every plug in a parallel is considered one amp and every light is considered 1 amp and smoke detectors are considered .25 amps. Pot lights are considered .5 amps since most of them are 50 to 75 watts max. but the moral of the story is that your tanks is most likely not the only thing that you have plugged into that parallel so you may have more draw than your tank such as your TV which probably draws around 3 amps steady. and your lights draw 8.2 amps steady...so yah that is pushing it.

But yah i would replace the old 15 amp breaker with a new one just to be safe and run a dedicated GFCI 20 amp breaker to the tank with 12/2 wire and leave it at that.

ya that is what I will do run a 3 plug system just for the lights. one plug parallel for each timer or I may just get thou build in timers the actinic, night lights and vortex will stay on that line to make it easier

[Aquattro]

3 MH and a big screen will trip the breaker. I know, i just had to run a separate circuit to my tank for this reason. Also take into account your heaters and pumps. You really can't run a tank your size on one circuit

[Skimmerking]

Originally Posted by Aquattro

3 MH and a big screen will trip the breaker. I know, i just had to run a separate circuit to my tank for this reason. Also take into account your heaters and pumps. You really can't run a tank your size on one circuit

ya that is what I was thing Brad. I will keep the
return pump ocean runnner 2500
ehiem 1260 skimmer pump
2x300 W heaters all n one circuit
and a 20 amp for the
3x250's
vortech
maxi flow
25 W night lite.
that should do it right and

thanks to you all for the help tonight