Why you should always invest!

[Snaz]

I installed mine today in five minutes. $12.00 at RONA.

[BlueAbyss]

Originally Posted by Joem

...also a little surprised that no forum trolls suggested that his tank caught fire because he was housing tangs in a 40 gal.

ROFLMFAO! TOO FUNNY!

I'm really considering getting a GFCI for my light (which is sitting on glass above my tank) and the fan (also sitting on the glass)... are there GFCIs that just plug in? I mean, I don't need to wire a breakout for one, do I (I can just buy one premade)?

[mike31154]

Yes, plug in GFCI adapters are readily available these days. Just make sure you get one which does not require a manual reset in the event of a power outage, many of the plug in ones are like that. Check my earlier post where I provide info regarding some of these which are designed for the shop & power tools. I can trip the circuit breaker, reset it, and my receptacle GFCI (a la Snaz) will power up again as well without a reset. I also have a single plug in type adapter which needs to be reset every time I unplug it, so it would also need a manual reset in the event of a power outage. It's a handy little device for plugging in wherever you might need GFCI protection, but I wouldn't use it for any of my tank gear.

[fkshiu]

This is how I have my system set up for both safety and redundancy:

- 3 separate GFCIs over 3 separate circuits. I don't have all my eggs in one basket.

- The circulation pumps are hooked up to a CanTire UPC. If there is a GFCI trip on the circuit with the pumps on them (or a power outage) the UPC will kick in.

- One of these days I'm getting a Lee's battery bubbler as a final bit of redundancy should the UPC run out of juice as well.

[danny zubot]

I'm really considering getting a GFCI for my light (which is sitting on glass above my tank) and the fan (also sitting on the glass)... are there GFCIs that just plug in? I mean, I don't need to wire a breakout for one, do I (I can just buy one premade)?

I wouldn't just get GFCI for that, I'd get a new system for your lights. I learned the hard way not to put lights on glass tops no matter how thick. I came home from work one day to find my 250 watt pendant along with a dual 65 watt pc in my tank. I didn't have a GFCI, and it didn't even trip the main breaker to my condo. It could have been catastrophic, but I guess someone was looking out for me.

[BlueAbyss]

Originally Posted by danny zubot

I wouldn't just get GFCI for that, I'd get a new system for your lights. I learned the hard way not to put lights on glass tops no matter how thick. I came home from work one day to find my 250 watt pendant along with a dual 65 watt pc in my tank. I didn't have a GFCI, and it didn't even trip the main breaker to my condo. It could have been catastrophic, but I guess someone was looking out for me.

I am looking for a 70W reflector that can be hung for this exact reason. I don't trust the glass, even with just a 70W, but I have no other option at the moment. So I'll be looking for one of those plug-in GFCIs that mike mentioned (thanks for clearing that up mike, I must have missed that) in the mean time.

I'm actually attempting to find a 70W spotlight-style fixture... barring that I might have to have one built (and a reflector for it... and I might as well lens it while I'm at it ).