My Planted Tank Room :)

ok so recently i ordered a 2m cabinet so i could free my kitchen space of my fish tanks

the room we had was carpet so we decided to retile and paint it.. what a mission.. but its done! so im glad to say that now i have a bran spanking new Planted tank room!

heres a pic:


1st tank is my new 2ft. 2nd tank is my old 2ft where my fish stay atm till the other one cycles. the third tank is my nanno want to get a new 3ft soonish! also i want to build a stand to sit on the cabinet to house more nannos thats the master plan atleast.. have to run it past the wife

one Q i have.. theres only one electrical outlet in this room.... im sure this is dangerous if i have 5 tanks connected to this.. what can i do??

 

Now you just rubbing it in.....lol

No electrical expert here,but I have run up to 2,5kW of heaters,pumps and lights off a single plug(Via a good multiplug of course!) with no problems for years and years in the past...Maybe ol bob the Builder can help...@Zoom

 

haha.. dont be a hater.. if it makes u feel any better.. i wanted to do this for 4 yrs now so its like a mini dream come true!

 

lol - this aint me hating Dude - this is me pea soup koi pond green with envy....

 

Um... I would put another 2 plugs in that room. You can still run it off the same circuit.. the problems comes in that if the multiplug upon multiplug draws more AMPS than the plug itself can give... it will burn the plug out. General rule of thumb.... 25A per plug circuit.

 

thanks @Zoom.. since im not very electrically technically inclined.. umm.. how do i add another 2 plug outlets to this room? thicker wire with another outlet box connected to the original plug? thanks so much for the info!! really aim to have as much tanks as possible in this room.. hmm..hope my wife dont read this thread hahaha

 

I really would not advise you to do this on your own if you are not electrically minded. Rather contract an electrician in. (He can also confirm if this circuit would be able to handle the extra 2 plugs)

 

Circuit could be 25 or 20A in the older houses, but a single wall socket is rated for 16A @ 250 volts .. atleast that is my understanding if I look at SANS 164.
Is your current single plug point square or rectangular? If square you should be able to have the single plug replaced by a dual plug and switch.

Later Ferdie

 

its one of those square ones. but i want to extend this plug to the back of the cabinet?

 

I would go for multi-plug at the wall that has a trip-switch in the unit .. then run the lead to the back of the cabinet - you are going to move the fishroom around a few times so do not get to hung-up on power points. You probably want to run a lights timer on on lead and the pump heaters on another .. something like that.


My fish room is on the same circuit as the kitchen and laundry room (20A) .. and I need to decide do I run the fish stuff or make a cup of coffee while doing the laundry/dishwasher/dryer? .. its is a numbers game ;-)

 

What you should do is get a tank made to fit that entire cabinet!! Then you only have 1 tanks power to worry about!!!

Awesome stuff!

 

haha.. but then i couldnt fiddle with everything! hehe.. thanks f-fish and zoom will prob ask an electricians opinion..