Week 6: Wiring Your Reef Tank, Everything You Forgot to Think About. | 52 Weeks of Reefing

Welcome to the electrifying Week 6 of 52 Weeks of Reefing, where we share some tips and tricks on electrical safety, management, and planning!
#BRS160
We are dealing with saltwater and electricity which can be both a health and fire hazard. It’s not that difficult to make it safe with careful planning during tank setup. The most important components to consider are your home's electrical infrastructure, water safety, and proper cord management. We’ll of course finish with the installation of our solution for the BRS160.
The first step of this is make sure you have enough power for your tank. A typical four foot reef tank might have a 300 watt heater, LED lighting around 300 hundred watts, 50 to 100 watts of powerheads, a 100 watt return pump, 50 watt skimmer, and maybe another 50 for other filtration equipment.
That's a base line of about a thousand watts for a typical aquarium. Add a chiller, UV light, T5 or halide lighting, calcium reactor, ozone reactor, Zeovit reactor, refugium and other various pieces of gear and you can quickly start using a considerable amount of power.
Now that you know what you are working with and what the limit is we need to figure out two things; what else is on that circuit and and how much power will your tank consume.
Once you have figured out your electrical load and how you are going to handle it try to avoid plugging more occasional high consumption items into that circuit in the future. Make sure you let your family know that it is a bad idea to plug in vacuums, clothes irons, hair driers and similar items into these outlets!
Since we are dealing with water it is also highly recommend to use either GFI outlets or circuit breakers which help protect your tank and home from shorts, especially those related to water. If you can’t do that you can also use power bars which have GFI’s built in.
Neatness and cord management are often overlooked, but this can also contribute to your tank's electrical safety. A dedicated "electrical board" goes a long way to keeping things organized and safe.
Note: When choosing a fire extinguisher for your tank, make sure you go with a CO2 filled extinguisher, and not a monoammonium phosphate or ammonium sulfate filled one.
Legal Stuff
The purpose and content of this video is to provide general information regarding the products and their applications as presented in the video. Aquatic sales solutions, inc. And its officers, directors, employees and agents disclaim all express or implied warranties, in any way, related to the products and their application as presented in this video, make no representation or warranty regarding the products and the application as presented in this video and shall not be liable for any direct or indirect losses or damages of any type, including but not limited to punitive damages, or from personal injury or death resulting from or in any manner related to the video, and the products in and contents of the video. The viewer expressly agrees that aquatic sales solutions, inc. And its officers, directors, employees and agents shall not be liable for any damages or losses related to the products in and content of the video and hereby agrees to hold the foregoing harmless from any such losses or damages.

[@PhD-JWT]

Ryan. Good information but dang.... it’s enough to scare most off.

[@miston1013]

I was gonna skip this one but even this was very informative & this entertaining

[@briansfishtanks]

Reallty enjoying this series!

[@firebirdude2]

Bullseye as usual guys! Crystal clear. Well written/spoken. Keep up the good work!

[@xaflatoonx]

you guys are just CRAZY GOOD! super helpful.

[@FloodXL]

Such a cool series! It's no wonder you appear so excited when you get to build a perfect high end setup from the ground up!

[@XHamad123]

Nice setup , can not wait to see it finished.

[@reefdonkey55]

Awesome series i haven't started my first reef tank yet but i'm getting more confident with every video you guys put out!!

[@electriciandallastx9182]

Thanks for the suggestions you have shared here.

[@JeremyPrattigmp2u]

On my tank adjacent plugs I use GFCI and outdoor rain covers to ensure that the outlets and plugs are protected and i'm protected from the tank. They also have titanium ground plugs that plug into the GFCI outlet and sit in the sump or tank so any stray voltage gets grounded and the GFCI will subsequently trip keeping the humans safe. I also have a 3500 watt generator from my RV that stays in the garage for power failures wired to a transfer switch. In the event of a power failure start the generator and flip the switches and the house and tank are back online. I can run the whole house except for the AC.

[@Zenlot]

Bulk Reef Supply very informative video. Thank you for all this information. Loving this series!

[@coraljungsreefingstoryreef3067]

You guys are my hero

[@philfount10]

Electrical engineer here. National Electrical code dictates that if anything is running for more than 3 hours it’s classified as a continuous load and has to be counted as 1.25x what the rated load is. For example if I’ve got a 100W LED light for my tank running for 5 hours, I gotta factor in 125W into my calculations, so bear that in mind.

[@danielmijares1532]

definitely the bible being written for aquariums.

[@jonathankritikos1913]

can't say i disagree

[@hafnium911]

Great tips! Love the cable management!

[@Craig-it5sv]

This series has been great! I hope you do a whole series on quarantine for both fish and corals. Perfect addition to your new #BRS160 show.

[@objectinstantiation]

Great video as always Ryan and BRStv. I think I am part of your target audience you mentioned in this video at 9:00 haha :p. I think your Nuvo 20 starter kit will likely be my first reef tank. Have a great weekend!

[@ryanchristie5349]

For 30 bucks at Home Depot I bought a Husky brand PVC handheld pipe cutter. It makes clean fast straight cuts and makes life much easier. With the cutter it's easy to rough cut all the pipes a hair longer then you think they should be, then easily trim them during the test fit process.

[@ryanchristie5349]

BulkReefSupplyCom m.homedepot.com/p/Husky-1-1-4-in-PVC-Ratcheting-Cutter-70165/205183063

[@love_cocoa3643]

so informative. Thank You!

[@nathanvandewater8142]

You can only run 80% of power on a breaker. So a 20amp breaker runs 1920watts and a 15 allows 1080 watts. Otherwise it's designed to trip over that current. Watts = 120v x current.

[@Inconsistensea]

80% of power when its continuous use (which this is) otherwise you can run 15 amps on a 15 amp breaker, most breakers dont trip immediately at their rating and I've seen some hold at 150% of their rated amperage

[@tedfisher1396]

A must is a whole house surge arrestor instead of the surge bars.

[@NavyGuy2OO7]

Awesome tank! I'm so jealous!

[@VipeRecon]

I live in Belgium... We have 20 amp fuses, but 220v... so we can go up to 4400 watts, our main fuse is about 40 amps for the whole house, so here you can put on about 8800 watts at all time.

[@ssavader]

Ryan, you're power board is awesome and clean, but how do you get all the devices power cords to that board from the tank and sump?

[@warusweims]

About circuit breakers. You really don't want any breaker to be tripping often. Circuit breakers are mechanical devices and the more often they trip, the faster they wear out. You'll find in older apartment buildings were the breakers have been tripped so many times over the years, that it actually takes less overload to get it to trip. Most circuit breakers should be replaced after 10 years. Some may suggest replacing them more often. Ultimately, you can do what ever you want....at your own risk.

[@andygustafson1]

Just found this series, wow this is great. This guy is a tool

[@dougahern2781]

I like to use DJ switch products that have an illuminated switch for each item plugged in. Label then and you can shut off one thing at a time without pulling plugs. They run about $40 at the Guitar Center for a series of 8 outlets.

[@andrewhales9771]

Doug Ahern good tip

[@buggyloustudiotv7134]

Super !!!

[@CarolinaCoopsVideos]

Loving these videos! Quick question I believe you said that you had a 20 amp circuit ran. If so why did the electrician only use 15 amp outlets?

[@intox69]

I thought an electrical octopus was a nice addition to my tank >.>

[@oxiac6006]

Ragnarok does it supply electricity to your tank?

[@Inconsistensea]

Great video, only issue is because this is a continuous use system (on for over 3 hours at a time) a 15amp should only have 1440 watts and a 20 amp 1920 watts st a time according to NEC code.

[@alexanderlucas9059]

No one is going to trust a stoner hahaha

[@merrittmcdowell8675]

I prefer my JD light bars

[@Filekv5]

Would be nice to see a maxspec gyre on this tank for a change. Curious how it performs

[@Filekv5]

***** nice to hear that : ) thanks

[@youngdaggerdix]

haha my cords and wiring look like the powerlines from bali xD

[@everettradcliff5609]

I would suggest a pvc material and not rubbermaid. Rubbermaid are ply MDF wood, composite, and sometimes mdf. All of which shouldn't be around water. PVC also doesnt require paint so doesnt stain with contact of water and can be wiped down and cleaned.

[@roblugo6003]

Great vid. What kinda lion fish is that?

[@christopherbartak7831]

What is the tool used to drill the shelf? Is it just a wood hole saw attached to a normal drill? What size holes did you make? 2"?

[@eliasaguilar8267]

do you guys plan on using an apex which comes with its own surge protector?

[@mauricion69]

What are you guys using to mount the quiet drive controller @7:39. And what is on the cord near the controller? Some sort of connection point?

[@sleexox]

I have a home computer running the same circuit and that's pretty much it. I'm planning a setup via 3ft tank , protein skimmer,chillers,leds,pumps and the typical stuff you need. Would it pose a problem? P.S: I think the circuit is running at 16A.

[@gustavomartinez1700]

Does the Kill a watt PS-10 have programmable outlets? Or timers?

[@maineway1999]

You guys arnt afraid to shell out a few extra bucks for some high quality gear, awesome tank ! To bad its one video a week :-)

[@marcelrodriguez2067]

This is overwhelming

[@darthweezy]

Where did you get the bracket for the EcoTech driver?

[@tsurro8086]

Where did u get that power strip? Do u guys sell them? Thx

[@RoboNarples-et6ky]

What are the dimensions of the sump on this?

[@barronthompson5039]

Hey great video on power management. I have one question concerning your choice of power bars. What's the name of the power bar and where can I get one? It looks as if the power bar is labeled P3 and I tried finding it online with no luck.

[@barronthompson5039]

Make a cattagory for power on your Web site and you will go to heaven.

[@petercarter1741]

Would their be anyway to drill an already existing tank?

[@bdkaka]

you can also try Porch.com for someone to help with electrical work needed.

[@minnesotasmooth]

I Need help, im trying to hook up my kessil 160we up to My reefKeeper lite Via the ALC module. I have the kessil controller cable but It doesn't show up under the systems on Myreef 2.0...I'm stuck and am wondering if i waisted my money and shoulda just got the Spectral Controller from kessil. Any help would be great.

[@minnesotasmooth]

Thanks. I figured it out, I didn't realize you had to tell each module what its role was and can change it and really screw it all up. now i'm just trying to get the settings correct and get it to ramp up/down.

[@oxiac6006]

My tank is not reed but I want to watch the vid

[@livelyupmyself1]

1:23 full house

[@zhug3nplays809]

funny thing is water actually can travel up

[@idksoiputthis2332]

300 watts for LED lights?? if you have LED grow lights for plants, than yes, but definitely not for aquariums.. more like 50 at the most