GFCI power outlet

[Poustic]

How many of you use a GFCI power outlet for your aquatic equipment?   GFCI: Ground Fault Circuit Interruptor, the kind you typically find in bathrooms.   I didn't have one until I read these stories: 1, 2.  Any of you use a grounding probe for your tanks too?

[saltydog]

I will be rewiring my basement fish room over the next few weeks & was planning to use GFCI plugs. I am glad I read the discussions to which you pointed. The knowledge that one GFCI plug protects all the outlets 'downstream' of it probably save me a couple of hundred dollars! Thanks!

In my basement I have a 90 gallon plastic sump for my large marine tank positioned in front of my mains water turn-off valve. Whenever I need to shut this off to work on my plumbing, I place a hunk of plywood over the sump & literally lay on it while turning off the cold water. I have experience some unpleasant 'tickles' while doing this in the past. Since the cold pipe water is the place where the entire house is grounded I shutter to think what might happen if the sump were to crack under my weight during this activity.  Does anyone think that GFCI's would help in this case?

I seem to recall that the discussions mentioned metal power bars as being preferable to plastic.  Does anyone know why this might be the case? Seems to me that the metal ones would just rust, especially in the vicinity of salt-water.

[dpatte]

The wiring in my fishroom uses GFCIs.

I actually have two independant circuits on my fusebox for my fishroom, and run both circuits around the walls (at the ceiling) of the rooms.

I have two lights over each tank and each light is on a different circuit. Where a tanks has two filters, or two heaters, each is on a differnet circuit. Adding this redundancy was minimal extra cost, but made me feel more secure if some circuit breaker blows needlessly when Im out of town or something.

As for GFCIs, its true - they will shut down everything downstream. But so do your house circuit breakers.

I added several GFCIs on each circuit, not really necessary due to the downstream idea, but with metal stands and water i figure the fastest to shut off might just save my life, so i should get several 'watching' the circuits in series.

[saltydog]

The idea of splitting the use of your 2 circuits for redundancy of lights & heaters is interesting. However,  from my experience with fish losses during the summer blackout, which occured when I was out of town, one could benefit from attention to filters (or, at least, air-stones) in a similar manner. Problems with water pollution & lack of oxygen are more life threatening.

The only protection against long-term black-outs would seem to be air-stones in all tanks with air pumps powered by batteries which are activated by the power outage.

[mole]

Just had a comment/question regarding blackouts...

I was planning to use an UPS to power some of my equipment to disregard at least the short blackouts.  

Do you think it's even worth it?
Does anyone else use UPSs?  
What equipment would be most essential to maintain safe/stable tank conditions during a power outage (order of priority, for example [air -> filter -> heat])?
Any idea whether computer equipment draws less or more power than fish equipment (would 60mins of PC/monitor be >60 or <60 mins of filter and/or air etc)?

[artw]

Air / Surface aggitation is the most important part of keeping fish alive during an outage.
Temperature if in winter.
Mine was out for 24hrs.  I just covered tanks with blankets to keep sunlight off and fish activity to a minimum they think it's still night time.
I didnt lose anything
But I did drain some water into a bucket and poured it back in the tank this simple procedure is enough to cause surface aggitation(gas exchange).

I would think the chance of getting a UPS that will keep fish tank(s) running for 24 hrs is highly unlikely and frankly a waste of money. Safe the UPS for your server or computer protection...

[saltydog]

FYI:
It is possible to buy GFCI circuit breakers which protect all outlets on the circuit. Some of these are rather expensive. My box is a Square D & the company charges $110 for such a breaker switch. If your breaker box is made by another company they are cheaper. You might be able to get one for half of this cost. If you are needing to buy breakers anyway for a sub-panel installation then you can deduct the cost of one regular breaker from this, so the total extra cost might be as little as $40.
Also, if your electrical panel is full & you need some more circuits for your fish room (or large tank) which is located near the electrical panel you do not need to install a sub-panel. Most manufacturers make a "space-saver" breaker which has 2 circuits occupying the same space as one "regular breaker". An electrician told me there is no difference with regards to reliability & safely.
Enjoy.

[saltydog]

If I am home during the next black-out here is how I intend to keep my livestock alive. I retained my last car battery which is still quite good & recharged it on a battery charger. Recently I bought a d/c to a/c inverter for about $40. When it happens, I plan to put the battery on a board in a central location & use it to power air pumps to aerate all of my tanks. Since I have a gas furnace &  a wood stove heat should not be a problem. I like Art's idea of covering the tanks to keep the fish less active (also reduces cooling effect from evaporation).

[Poustic]

I was planning to use an UPS to power some of my equipment to disregard at least the short blackouts.

I also thought about getting a UPS... most of the UPS sites provide a calculator that lets you determine how long they stay up under a given load.   Seems like it would be OK for short black-outs if you only connect small equipment to it (my Eheim is 20W, air pump is 6W), but bigger equipment such as heaters (300W) look like they would kill the UPS in no time.

I am leaning towards a battery-operated air pump that turns on automatically when power goes out, like this one.  A whole lot cheaper than putting only a filter or bubbler on a UPS, unless of course you already have one that you don't use.

I guess one should also be careful about what they plug into their UPS in terms of protection, i.e. if a ground fault trips your GFCI, but the UPS then kicks-in and keeps your faulty equipment ON.   :idea:  :shock: :idea:

Recently I bought a d/c to a/c inverter for about $40. When it happens, I plan to put the battery on a board in a central location & use it to power air pumps to aerate all of my tanks

I like the idea of having an inverter handy for emergencies... I guess you could also connect it directly to your car battery if it's really critical, right?   Some inverters even have a 12V plug.   Might even allow to plug-in the water heater for a while if black-outs last too long?

[Troy]

Hey guys, During my last power black out I used 2 battery-powered air pumps from Hagen (15 dollars each) a few extra feet of air-hose added to my 5 way air splitter brass valve and 2 D batteries need for each unit. I used 8 total over 36 hours. Before my power came back on. Total cost for my 8 tanks was in the 50-dollar range. That would not have covered the cost of my cichlids in one of my tanks.
Cheers..... Troy.  

http://www.hagen.com/canada/english/aquatic/product.cfm?CAT=1&SUBCAT=102&PROD_ID=01007900010101