Marine fish tank..to spur or not to spur

[CrazeUK]

Hi All I have a number of questions in this topic.

I have just set up a marine fish tank.

Due to its location (next to a stair well) i currently have no socket located for it. instead i am running an extension from my Kitchen to the area. Where i am consuming a maximum of approximatly 400watts of power at any one time.

However i do envisage this to go up to approximatly 600 watts as i add equiptment.

Ideally i would like to run a spur from an existing socket in the kitchen to the location of my tank and have 4 surge protected outlets.

1. is a spur the best way to go?
2. What thickness wire do i need?
3. can i run 4 sockets on a single spur?
5. how can i earth my tank? (the water incase of shock).
6. Can i do all the above my self or do i have to get a qualified lecy to do it?

thanks
me

 

[breezer]

is your cunsumers unit under the stairs?

i was just thinking if it is (mine is, and so are a lot of them) if you could add a spur from the socket cct?

surge protected sockets will cost a small fortune.

why not add 1 single socket, and buy one of the multi surge protected sockets sold for computers? (get them with up to 10 outlets)

from here
other suppliers of surge protected sockets are available

if your sockets have no RCD protection

you could always buy a plug in RCD adaptor

from here

other suppliers of plug in rcd adaptors are available

as for earthing the water, no need.

1) if it becomes live fish will be ok, as they are not earthed.
2) if you touch live water and earth RCD will trip
3) as its salt water (marine) it will corode any earth probe

 

[CrazeUK]

Hi breezer.
Thanks for your response.

The main fuse box is in another location. I do however have an alarm box of an alarm i no longer use down their.


Hence i was thinking i will run the spur from kitchen socket as they share the wall and would be a case of poking a whole strait through.

The idea of the surge protected sockets make good sense. So that is what i will do for surge protection.

Now the issue for the supply? Should i add to the ring? If so what thickness wire? or shall i spur and will 1.5mm wire do for the relatively small load (its the ONLY use for this socket)

 

[breezer]

so long as its not a spur from a spur you can spur from where you like.

How ever the cable size is dictated by the fuse protecting that cable.
although the load will be small if a fault should occur a small cable will overheat and possibly cause a fire before the fuse or MCB trips.

The cable size should be the same as the sockets are wired in, which is usually 2.5mm NOT 1.5mm

 

[Steve]

Amuse me. What part of your fish tank consumes 400 watts?

 

[wobbin]

That'll be the metal halide pendant fittings necessary to promote coral growth (indeed survival....)

Nice blue 10,000K lamps for best effect. Toasty.

Used to run a marine tank myself up until a few years ago until an anemone decided that the best place to live was the wier at the rear corner of the tank.

Once he was in there he unfortunately took a one way trip into the circulation pump and then came back into the tank - in pieces. Despite doing a big water change immediately when it was noticed I lost almost everything.

 

[macmini]

/me feels the need to ask why people use referrer links when posting to external sites?

Why is it allowed?

(Sorry to hi-jack the thread.)

 

[CrazeUK]

hey guys thanks for repsonses..

steve: Lol yes the lights would def be one source which range from 150watt to 400+. Also the heater is 300 watts alone (when its on).

I was refering to the total wattage of all the "appliances" working together.

Wobbin, sorry to hear about your tank man. I have heard nasty things about the nems.. Mine wa sdoing walkabouts today, deciding to sting everything in path! So i chased the clown away (he a vicious begger) and gently nudged it off with a toothbrush.. and kind of held it down into a new location where i hope he is happy.

Are you going to restart the tank? By the way what happens to LR when the nem dies..whoops going of on one.

Anyways i was just reading other spurring posts..


In //www.diynot.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=52497&highlight=
Adam_151 mentins two interesting and questioning things.

1. additional spur sockets from the kitchen have to be informed to building control - is this true?
2. A spur can feed a double or single socket, as long as it feeds only one appliance. - Because i will be running no less than 8 devices on my tank, through a surge protected mutli socket. does that mean a spur would be no use?

 

[CrazeUK]

Just a quick update. This plan went to pot. Eventually i got ill and the Mrs got angry lol.

So no marine tank.. Problem solved.. for another day!

 

[Taylortwocities]

FIVE years!!

That's some illness...

Chris Huhne was only "ill" for a couple of months

 

[CrazeUK]

Sorry i hadnt updated the thread in ages. I just came back to the forum for some stuff, so thought i would update.

I was ill for 3 years on and off. So finally had a year of no illness
Knowing me give it a month and i will be back in the dilemma!