Wire And Amps

[Kevin Tran]

Hey all
I am moving my 180g to the basement and have it in wall. Beside that I am also keeping my 75g frag tank as a separate system and have myself a fish room. I know some of you have done something like this and I like to know what wire gauge and amps I should install or use? Thank you very much I’m advance

 

[TORX]

I would run separate dedicated breakers to each tank if you have the opportunity. Standard 2 wire w/ground house wiring is fine at 14awg I beleive. I would put each tank should be on a 15amp to be on the safe side.

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[Jason Bell]

I used 12/3 to connect a few outlets for my main and sump on a 15 amp breaker.

 

[Josh]

14 gauge = 15A
12 guage = 20A
10 gauge = 30A
Dedicated circuits work best. Ground may be downgraded by 1 size if run seperately. Ie #10 conductors may use #12 ground.

I would run 12 personally. 22 gauge is thermostat wire.

 

[MrHermit85]

Why would you run ground separate? Unless he is piping it? Residential wiring comes as a cable with all you need. No need to worry about bond/ground size...

When deciding what size cct to run you need to consider what you are running on it. Likely will be able to run all off 15amp ccts as most equipment is dc and doesn’t draw much. Again you know what equipment you have and what it uses...

josh gave the correct wire sizes for each breaker size...

 

[Josh]

Just a bit of extra information, some people have old houses without grounds. Most wire you will buy will come with a ground.

 

[TORX]

When deciding what size cct to run you need to consider what you are running on it. Likely will be able to run all off 15amp ccts as most equipment is dc and doesn’t draw much. Again you know what equipment you have and what it uses...

A lot of equptment is getting away from DC power. As example, the Radion G5 XR30 has an inrush rate of 4 amps. Although circuit are normally able to handle an the inrush above the rating, if you are running a few lights as well as other equipment on a single circuit they could potentially trip it when they power on.

 

[Salty Cracker]

Can't go wrong with 8ga on 30amp. That way you can run both tanks and your hot tub on the same lines.

 

[Kevin Tran]

Thank you all, with this information I able to move on. I can just use 14/2 gauge wire that I already have to a 15a on each tank.
This will do right?

 

[MrHermit85]

A lot of equptment is getting away from DC power. As example, the Radion G5 XR30 has an inrush rate of 4 amps. Although circuit are normally able to handle an the inrush above the rating, if you are running a few lights as well as other equipment on a single circuit they could potentially trip it when they power on.

that is a good point! Lighting would probably be the major ones. Again though, as I said Kevin needs to figure out what all his stuff is using to decide.

 

[MrHermit85]

Yup14/2 for 15amp ccts

do you mean to 15amp receptacles by each tank? As you can daisy chain plugs together on one cct but two sep ccts need two breakers... also don’t double up wires on breakers (bad practice)

 

[TORX]

that is a good point! Lighting would probably be the major ones. Again though, as I said Kevin needs to figure out what all his stuff is using to decide.

Exactly. Especially if running multi lights on multi systems. Can add up quickly.

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[Kevin Tran]

Yup14/2 for 15amp ccts

do you mean to 15amp receptacles by each tank? As you can daisy chain plugs together on one cct but two sep ccts need two breakers... also don’t double up wires on breakers (bad practice)

What you said here make sense and I do not want to double up or use two breakers if I don’t have to.
In this fish room I want to install 4 outlets and two regular house light(each light with it own individual on/off switch). I don’t know what you mean by daisy chain plugs , if you don’t mine, can you please help me draw a simple drawing with label so I can study it. I don’t need anything fancy, I am thinking just draw it on a piece of paper and snap a picture to post it here

 

[MrHermit85]

If you want to install 2 lights and 4 outlets on one cct that is perfectly fine. Standard practice would be no more that 12 devices total per 15amp branch cct.

are you sure that 1 cct will be sufficient for a 180 plus a fragtank? In residential they say 12 devices per cct as they presume that not all will be on at the same time whereas with 2 tanks, there is a potential that at any one point all your lights, pumps, reactors, controllers, heaters will turn on which will draw potentially 15amps or more and will trip your breaker.

if your walls are open and you are already running wire the extra cost of running another 14/2 and adding a second breaker is negligible. If I were you I would do what others have said and run 2 separate ccts to run the tanks perhaps 1 per tank.

First look at all your equipment and double check what their max draw is, (amps) and add it all together, this will give you a total of what size cct you need and what breakers and wire to use. if your total is under 15amps per tank 15amp breakers will do, if you find the max is almost 15 or ever then you need to upsize to 20amp breakers and run 12/2 wire.

it would be a terrible affair if you do all the work and run a single 15 cct and it trips once done...

I will gladly draw you a wiring diagram. Pm me you email and I will send it to you by tonight. It will make more sense then.

 

[Josh]

Yup14/2 for 15amp ccts

do you mean to 15amp receptacles by each tank? As you can daisy chain plugs together on one cct but two sep ccts need two breakers... also don’t double up wires on breakers (bad practice)

Not just bad practice! its illegal! When i rewired my sub panel in my hot tub room i found a bunch wired that way and had to switch to space saver to fix it up.

If you are worried about space in the panel, check out space saver breakers, same size as a regular except you can run 2 feeds off it.

 

[Kevin Tran]

How about this? Two 14/2 wire going from the fish room to the panel and each wire connect to a 15 amp. On the other end of my the wires, each wire are connect to two outlets and one light.
In the past I have ran 3 radion g4, skimmer, apex 2 mp 40 and 2 little fish reactor with out any issue just from regular home outlets
Is what I mentioned above safe?

 

[Jason Bell]

I have 4 plugs to 15amp circuit. Run ATI 6 bulb T5 48" (54w), Tunze refug LED, clip on LED, 2 FX350 Gyre, 3 media reactors, Royal 250 skimmer (DC), Vectra M1 (DC), Jebao (DC), 2 x 500w Finnex heaters. When I do water changes I add 2 x 150w heaters and another pump for mixing and filling the tank, never had a breaker pop.

 

[TORX]

I have 4 plugs to 15amp circuit. Run ATI 6 bulb T5 48" (54w), Tunze refug LED, clip on LED, 2 FX350 Gyre, 3 media reactors, Royal 250 skimmer (DC), Vectra M1 (DC), Jebao (DC), 2 x 500w Finnex heaters. When I do water changes I add 2 x 150w heaters and another pump for mixing and filling the tank, never had a breaker pop.

You are pushing that breaker to its limits for sure which is not safe. Just the 2 heaters and ATI is 11 amps alone when all three are on. For continuous load you should not be running more then 12amps. You have either been extremely lucky or worse, the breaker could be faulty and not tripping when it should.

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[Josh]

typically a 15a circuit will pop when you hit around 1800w's. It would take every heater and every drop of equipment to get up there, 1300W in just heaters. that leaves you 500W for your lights and pumps. @TORX is correct, you may want to split that load up. Or simply enough just shut your heaters off to the tank while you heat the water. Its the heaters that really sap the power, if you want a rough idea of how much power something is using, feel how warm it is. Warmth is generally a good indication of power useage.

 

[TORX]

324w for lights (54w x 6 bulbs)

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