Where to put controllers and such?

[dleblanc]

The products of course say not to put them below the water line, for somewhat obvious reasons, though a GFCI seems like a good mitigation. But that only works if you have some place to put them - say a tall canopy, or an equipment area.

So while putting electronics in the stand may be less than ideal, it seems like a lot of us end up with that. Anyone come up with interesting solutions to this dilemma?

 

[anderson_p_r]

Correct me if I'm wrong but doesn't GFCI only work on grounded plugs, not necessarily only polarized (three prong only, not two)? My understanding is that Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter only works when there is a short to ground?

 

[DMD123]

Correct me if I'm wrong but doesn't GFCI only work on grounded plugs, not necessarily only polarized (three prong only, not two)?  My understanding is that Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter only works when there is a short to ground?

http://home.howstuffworks.com/question117.htm
"A GFCI monitors the amount of current flowing from hot to neutral. If there is any imbalance, it trips the circuit. It is able to sense a mismatch as small as 4 or 5 milliamps, and it can react as quickly as one-thirtieth of a second."

 

[dleblanc]

Yes, I think a GFCI does only help if there's a ground, but in general if you dunk your extension cord into a flood, it will pop. In fact, I had this work nicely when I was filling a tank, spaced out, and didn't check it, and ended up with 5 gallons of water on the floor.

So there's going to be GFCI involved in the circuits. My main puzzle at the moment is that I have bought an expensive gizmo to monitor the tank, and the instructions say to mount the gizmo above the tank, not below, but I don't have many good options for that.

If I mount it to the canopy, then removing the canopy becomes a challenge, so that doesn't seem like a good plan. I could mount it to the wall, and it is in the basement, so my wife won't kill me if I do, but that's also non-optimal.

Seems like the many smart folks here might have encountered such a problem before, and might have some inventive ideas.

 

[pbmax]

http://home.howstuffworks.com/question117.htm
"A GFCI monitors the amount of current flowing from hot to neutral. If there is any imbalance, it trips the circuit. It is able to sense a mismatch as small as 4 or 5 milliamps, and it can react as quickly as one-thirtieth of a second."

 lus1: 

Anything that goes in a fish tank should be connected through a GFCI - either in the wall, a plug replacement, or a REAL GFCI powerstrip.

 

[dleblanc]

Indeed - step 1, run cord from wall to GFCI. Step 2, plug other stuff into GFCI. The question is how best to mount other stuff, and where?

 

[pbmax]

If I mount it to the canopy, then removing the canopy becomes a challenge, so that doesn't seem like a good plan. I could mount it to the wall, and it is in the basement, so my wife won't kill me if I do, but that's also non-optimal.

Seems like the many smart folks here might have encountered such a problem before, and might have some inventive ideas.

I think they most likely say this for liability reasons; I just make sure I have a GFCI and leave it at that - everything goes underneath.

If you don't mount it to the wall, or the hood, or hang it from the ceiling (or to a shelf above the tank), or something like that, then you're kind of running out of options for stuff above the waterline.  :|

 

[ShortyKiloGyrl]

If its not entirely too heavy you could always do a removeable mount of some sort on the canopy? Vecro, slide bracket or such that would allow the device to be removed easily to allow the canopy to still be functioning.

 

[dleblanc]

Yep, that's exactly the sort of idea I was looking for - Velcro is a good idea, now to sort out if the wiring is long enough, and where it can go. There's really two pieces that should be up - one is the display, and it isn't that big - Velcro is a great plan there. The other is where all sorts of wires plug in, and that will be a bit more interesting, but it doesn't need to be accessible all the time.

 

[zach_discus]

If your talking about a reefkeeper of apex type unit in the stand is fine. I had both of mine mounted that way with no problems.

 

[Betty]

I remember back in the old days when I first started fishkeeping, I had a long narrow shelf that was made to hang on the rim of the tank, kind of like a hang on back filter, only it was a shelf and it sat above the water level on the outside.  I kept an air pump and other various things on it.  I wish that I still had that thing.