How Do You Do It?

[missigfunk]

Hey everyone!

I was just wondering...

For those of you that have more than 1 or 2 tanks...how do you deal with powerpoint issues?

I still live at home, so I have limited space to keep my tanks. I have a 3ft tank in my room (I think it's about 150ltrs) and that itself uses up so many power cords.
Then I have a smaller tank (about 15ltrs) on the bench in the kitchen. That has 2 power cords.

My parents keep telling me that I'm going to burn the house down!

I would love love LOVE to get another decent sized tank to put in the living room (my mum already agreed! She just said I need a better job to pay for it all ) but the issue of powerpoints and cords scares me.

How does everyone else do it?

 

[MHunt]

Personally as a rule of thumb I would say one main outlet for each tank, You probably wouldn't need much more than a 4 way extension to power everything unless you have loads of lights extrnal filters etc. The biggest challenge is organising the power cords in such a way that the water and electricity don't meet. Try and arrage it so you have a drip loop that would keep any drips from the tank away from the electrical sockets. Good luck with the new tank, i'm seriously tempted by the aqua one 620 I saw at one of my LFS's, has a nice wet and dry filter above the tank too. Not so good for planted tanks as it strips the CO2 out of the water, but a nice tank nonetheless.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

Ian put in some new rings so we've about twenty billion sockets in every room...... guess that only works if your other half is a builder though.

other than that, put things on good quality extensions leads with power surge things built in.

 

[Athena]

I've been worried about the same thing. I'm one of these people who goes around the house at night, pulling out plugs and turning unnecessary things off - especially the TV - could never leave it on standby like some do. I once dated a firefighter and the things I heard from him about fires caused by plugs left on at night - well, it's made me quite paranoid. Anyway, now that I have 3 tanks set up in my living room it is a constant worry to me and I loathe all those plugs and wires!

They are set up on two separate power-surge extensions with the smaller tank on an adapter plug. But even though it's got a power surge thing on the extensions I still can't help but unplug the plugs that are not in use at night - like the ones for the tank lights and the airstone pump - and I just leave the main filter and heater plugs left in.

Perhaps I'm being overly careful - but I can't help it. I'm a born worrier made worse by hearing horror stories!

Also, I worry about the wires that actually go into the tank - like on the heater or filter. I know they are watertight when we buy them - but what happens if over a period of time the waterproofness deteriorates? Ok, I'm stressing myself now so I'll stop there...

Definitely get good quality, power surge extension sockets! And don't have the extension socket sitting too near your tank underneath to avoid water splashes during water changes etc hitting the sockets.

Athena

 

[missigfunk]

Well with the tank in my room, the actual powerpoint is on the other side of my room, so I have all the cords running under my bed

I have a powerboard that my cords are plugged into, but they all still run off the 1 single powerpoint. I think it just looks like I have heaps of cords because I had to use an extention lead because the powerpoint is on the opposite side of the room to my tank.

The tank in the kitchen runs off a double adapter. My parents have to unplug something when they want to use the kettle

 

[kribensis12]

For my 2 30gs , i have one outlet, and 1 extension cord. I plug the pump, filter, sponge filter, 2 heaters, 2 lights on the cord. For my 20 gallon flat hexagon, i have 2 outlets and i plug the filter on one side, and the pump and heater and light on the extension cord pluges into a outlet. I'd hate to know the energy costs, so i dont think i'll be asking my parents anytime soon =]

 

[missigfunk]

LOL Krib.

My parents are going to start asking me for electricity money soon. I can feel it.

 

[kribensis12]

lol, i found out how much it cost a year, a little over 400 dollars to pay for electricity for my tanks ( woops!).

 

[shelaghfishface]

lol, my wiring is totally illegal.. lol, (not really) i have never owned or do i know anyone else that owns as many extension leads as i do. i have even managed to wire one up ( safley) into my en-suite for my goldfish tank ( i ran out of room for it). i currently run 8 tanks, and with that and all the mod cons this house seems to have i really wish builders would consider putting more power points in when building houses........but BECCA320 is having her garage re-wired to accomdate more tanks lol, dont tell her i told you, but she is totally addicted to fishkeeping .. huh and she calls me mad !

shelagh xxxxx

ps, luv ya bec xx lol

 

[becca320]

lol, my wiring is totally illegal.. lol, (not really) i have never owned or do i know anyone else that owns as many extension leads as i do. i have even managed to wire one up ( safley) into my en-suite for my goldfish tank ( i ran out of room for it). i currently run 8 tanks, and with that and all the mod cons this house seems to have i really wish builders would consider putting more power points in when building houses........but BECCA320 is having her garage re-wired to accomdate more tanks lol, dont tell her i told you, but she is totally addicted to fishkeeping .. huh and she calls me mad !

shelagh xxxxx

ps, luv ya bec xx lol

LMAO ... got three more tanks coming hopefully tommorow, and the garage is not rewired !!!!! ARGGGG !!!
They are gonna have to sit there looking pretty empty for now ...
I aint mad ... just a bit nutty !! ha ha

 

[ox5477]

I usually use one socket/tank... but I use two seperate surge protector strips for my marine tank (one for lights, the other for equiptment):

• 2 powerheads
• skimmer
• two heaters
• 3 light chords (10k's, actinics, moonlights all have seperate chords)

So: 8 chords for the saltwater

For the fresh I use only one surge protector strip:

• Light
• 2 HOB filters
• 1 canister
• 2 heaters

So: 5 in the surge protector and one directly into the outlet

If you have less then this, no worries.... this is no where near as bad as it can get. As long as your under 12 chords (2x surge strips @ 6 plugs per strip) per outlet then you are set

 

[poconoboss]

I use a Coral Life digital power center. It has a digital timer that turns my lights on and off when I am not home.