# Electrical wiring advice



## dean (6 Nov 2019)

Hi all 
So I’ve been setting up the discus system for a friend 
Yes the usual bare bottom boring tanks 
All 28 of them total of 2384 litres 
Each tank is going to have a 300 watt heater in it 
I know in uk I can wire 10 of these together onto a 13amp plug (max 3 kw) using 1.5 mm2 cable 

My question is how to make it neat, tidy, safe and be able to replace one heater easily if required 
But the worst bit is this 
Cheap as possible  he’s at the end of his budget and if he goes over it he won’t need to pay for a sex change his wife will do it for free 

There are 3 tiers to the system 
10 tanks on top and middle and 8 wider ones for growing out on the bottom 

So I’m thinking of putting each row on it’s own 13amp plug and using chocolate blocks every so often but can’t think of how to make it splash proof but easily accessible 

So over to you clever folk for your ideas  


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They are all 3ft long and are end on using industrial racking 
So from the front you are looking through what should be a side panel 


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## webworm (7 Nov 2019)

Personally I'd be looking at 2.5mm2 cable. Whilst in theory 10x300w is within the limit of a single 13A plug it's a bit close, blowing the fuse on a 13A plug will take 10 tanks heating off line. 
The other thing that you have to consider is what you're plugging the 13A plugs into ? If it's three sockets all on the ring main, you've got the potential to overload the circuit (UK Ring mains are rated at up to 30A), at this point risking taking power down to the whole installation.

I'd be looking at using some sort of IEC power strip, as you've already identified choc bloc isn't suitable for damp environments.


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## ian_m (7 Nov 2019)

No you don't have a heater in each tank, that would be completely silly, cost a lot and be extremely difficult to wire up safely. As you are probably not having a filter per tank (I assume) and will probably have a "monster" filtration system somewhere (especially with discus ) you just need one big heater for the whole system.

Something like this, a single 3KW flow heater.
https://www.divapor.com/spares/bath...whirlpool-bath-flow-type-heater-230v-50hz.php

Possibly there are aquarium suitable ones.

Try going round local fish shops and see how they heat their water, they will usually have one or two 3KW in line heaters heating the water to all their tanks. Advantages of two in parallel is increased reliability. Remember to include enough valves and pipe work so heater can easily be isolated and removed for cleaning/maintenance. Job done.


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## Edvet (7 Nov 2019)

Or heat the room sufficiently.


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## Oldguy (8 Nov 2019)

Edvet said:


> Or heat the room sufficiently.



Once long ago there was a LFS which used this method. My specs would always steam up when I went in. Several hundred tanks on steel racking. Alas no more. He temperature graded, coolest near the floor (hands & knees to look into these tanks, with wet knees from the squelchy carpet) and warmest at the top (short step ladder to look at these). Very healthy and varied stock.

You went there to buy fish, not to have a 'shopping experience'. Those were the days.


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## ian_m (8 Nov 2019)

Also if you heat the room, rather than the tanks you can obviously heat using the 1/4 the cost gas fired central heating system, if you have one.


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## Costa (17 Nov 2019)

You certainly don't need 300W heater in an 85L tank!


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## dean (17 Nov 2019)

As it’s in a sectioned part of a warehouse that is within the office block there is central heating but it’s obviously not on after usual business hours Hence they chose to use 300w heaters 
Yes could of used 100w but then they would potentially be on a lot longer and that can cause problems 

Electrician installed wall sockets to cope with the requirements 

We went with just extending the heaters cables and plugging them into 5 way extension leads 


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