Recent content by jwilson

I'm doing a 90 gal tech tank with a basement sump. It comes with two 1" megaflow drain assemblies. My plumbing options are: 1.) two standard Durso drains (1" bulkhead) into one 1.5" drain 2.) same as 1) but with their own individual drains 3.) convert one megaflow into a submerged siphon drain...

IMHO anything electric such as lights, heaters, power heads, etc. should be plugged into GFCI. Another safe feature is to have a grounding probe - it's thought to help alleviate any stray electrical current that can lead to fish problems. Another reason is that without one it's "possible"...

Nothing personal but that's just really dangerous advice. As BJ said, a bad connection, or accidentally knocking the lights into the water if they're not suspended, could KILL somebody.

Thanks. I'm going to interpret BJs comment as - the Home Depot ballast is cheap and causing the problem. You won't have the problem with the ballasts on your expensive lights. ;)

Thanks to all for the warm welcome.

Just to be clear - the question relates to my tank build. The example relates to an existing wiring of a simple Home Depot fluorescent fixture over my clothes washer. The wiring is such that the line voltage goes to the GFCI outlet and then the light is wired to the line load of the outlet...

Anyone know whether GFCI breakers are any less prone to false trips than GFCI Outlets? I have a fluorescent light wired into the same line as a gfci outlet in my basement and the thing has lots of false trips. I'm told it is because of the fluorescent light's ballast. The last thing I need...

Thanks all. Here is the current schematic for the layout. I'll be doing some clean up of the area and some of the electrical work tonight - just running the circuits for the power and overhead lighting in the basement work area.

Ha Ha Ha - you asked for it. I told you I'm just restarting so here are the pics ...of everything in storage still. Here is the tank (in the garage), the sump and skimmer station (the big box to the left is the lights), the fuge and QT tanks, ballasts, heaters, etc, and the RO/DI which is the...

Summary: I'm doing a 90 gal 1st floor tank with basement sump and support equipment. Pretty much all equipment has been purchased but the project had to be mothballed. Now I'm restarting it. My goal is to create a mixed reef tank. What I have: Tank - 90 gal Oceanic Reef Ready, center...

Hi ladies and gents. I wanted to say hello and tell you a bit about myself and my project. I'm a 50 year old kid that kept a SW tank about 30 years ago when this hobby was so different. I had pretty good success and loved every minute of it until I had to sell the tank after 6 years or so...