All Nova Extreme Pro Light fixture Owners I dont want to start a fire!!!!!

[lil.guppy]

It says that this item needs to go into a GFCI outlet. Is that true? I have one of those strip plug in things with the red button that you can plug in up to 6 or 7 outlets that I use on my aquariums. Can I plug it into one of theses strip things or does it HAVE to be a GFCI outlet.
Also, It says it has to be over a glass covered aquarium. I see alot of these over water in aquariums.

HELP!

[Ninong]

It says that this item needs to go into a GFCI outlet. Is that true?

ALL electrical equipment used on or near an aquarium should be plugged into GFCI outlets.

I have one of those strip plug in things with the red button that you can plug in up to 6 or 7 outlets that I use on my aquariums.

If you're talking about a GFCI power strip with a red reset button, that you can plug it into the same strip provided you aren't overloading the strip. If you're talking about a regular power strip with a red light to indicate that the power is on, then that won't work for ANY of your electrical equipment.

I assume you're talking about a GFCI strip but I'm confused because you don't seem to know what a GFCI outlet is. I suggest you google "GFCI" so that you can see if that's what you have or not.

Can I plug it into one of theses strip things or does it HAVE to be a GFCI outlet.

Is your "strip thing" a GFCI power strip or just a regular power strin? The drawback to plugging several different power cords into the same GFCI power strip (if that's what you have) is that if any one of them causes the GFCI to trip, then all of them will turn off instead of just the one that caused the problem. Of course, if your power strip itself gets wet, then of course all of them should turn off.

Also, It says it has to be over a glass covered aquarium. I see alot of these over water in aquariums.

HELP!

You will have to ask the manufacturer why they insist that this fixture must be used over a glass covered aquarium. If the light fixture comes with a glass or acrylic shield on the bottom of the fixture, then that would protect against lamps exploding into your aquarium as a result of water splashing on them. Another possibility could be that the manufacturer believes that the lamps emit too much UV radiation to be used without a glass cover over the aquarium. Glass, even regular glass, is an effective UV shield. For example, both Aqua-Medic and Giesemann insist that their metal halide fixtures must be mounted no closer than 30cm (12") above the surface of the tank. All of their fixtures come with tempered glass UV shields but they claim that HQI DE metal halide lamps should never be mounted any closer than 30cm above the surface of the water due to UV emissions. I asked them in an email if this requirement related only to light spread concerns and they told me it was because of UV radiation. Personally I think 8" would suffice but they say 12". Naturally ALL HQI DE metal halide lamps MUST always be used with a shield (such as tempered glass) but if you have a nice tempered glass shield, then I don't see any need for the 30cm distance requirement. Seems like 20cm should be enough. And heat is not the reason for the recommendation because I asked them about that and, besides, you could always run a chiller.

In any case, I'm sure the manufacturer of your fixture has a good reason for saying that it can only be used over glass covered aquariums. You should ask them to please explain. The vendor is probably clueless because they're not about to tell you anything that might harm sales. if you want to know the reason why, you will have to send an email to the manufacturer. If the vendor did not give you a very clear warning warning in advance that this fixture can only be sued over glass covered aquariums, then you should demand a full refund, including shipping costs if it was ordered online. Vendors must disclose all such restrictions in the ad copy.

As far as the GFCI goes, ALL of your equipment should be plugged into GFCI outlets.

[charlie]

Thanx for the help Ninong, did not have access last nite and it looks like we have been down all day.

[Reefland]

I'm no electrician, but isn't is true that as long as there is a GFCI outlet first on the circuit that all outlets are ok in the circuit?
Posted via Mobile Device

[Ninong]

There are power strips that are actually GFCI power strips. All of the power plugs that you plug into such a power strip are GFCI protected; however, they will all go out at the same time if one of them goes out for any reason or if the power strip itself goes out for any reason. The advantage of having separate GFCI outlets for separate power plugs is that when one of them goes out, the rest of the them are still running. In other words, if your skimmer trips, your return pump, power heads and lights will still be up and running. It could be a problem if ALL of your power cords go out at the same time and no one is home for the next 10 hours.

When I set up my tank in my bedroom at my sister's house, I had an electrician convert two dual wall outlets to GFCI. I also had him drill a very small hole through the wall from the bedroom to the front porch and hook up to one of the outlets on the front porch so that I would have access to two different circuit breakers and not be overloading the one for the bedroom. Besides my tank, I had a TV, computer, etc. in the same room. All of the outlets on the front porch and the back porch were GFCI protected because they're outdoors. All of the outlets in the kitchen were GFCI protected and all of the outlets in all of the bathrooms were GFCI protected because that's just the way they build houses. Their house was built in 1997. But the outlets in the bedrooms, dining room, family room, etc., were not GFCI protected because they're not exposed to water.

I had two or three power strips mounted inside my tank stand (cabinet). Each power strip had six outlets. Those were just regular power strips but they were plugged into a GFCI wall outlet. If any one of the power plugs plugged into one of those power strips went out, then the entire power strip would trip the wall outlet GFCI and I would have to reset the wall outlet GFCI by pressing the red button. For that reason, I was careful to not put my return pump on one of those power strips. It was plugged into an outlet (looked like an ugly plain metal hox thingy) all by itself that was actually wired directly to the front porch outlet that was GFCI protected.

I was careful to not have both of the Sea-Swirls on the same power strip. And, since I had two separate light fixtures, I had them on different power strips, too. In other words, I was not going to lose everything at the same time. I might lose one light fixture and one Sea-Swirl but not both light fixtures and both Sea-Swirls. And, if the return pump ever happened to trip (which never happened), nothing else was going to trip with it. I would have had a problem in my tank if my return pump had ever tripped while I was away for several hours because both Sea-Swirls and the plumbed return in the corner overflow sompartment were all driven by the return pump. That never happened.

P.S. -- I may not have explained this correctly so if you're an electrician, feel free to correct me.

[scooterman]

I'm no electrician, but isn't is true that as long as there is a GFCI outlet first on the circuit that all outlets are ok in the circuit?
Posted via Mobile Device

Yes & No!

The typical GFCI for the home is used in bathrooms & outside outlets, in these cases they are wired in series & they are all protected downstream from the GFCI outlet. You can wire a GFCI outlet that is in series of the circuit but the Ground Fault protection can be bypassed to the next outlets. Another words, only that one outlet is protected.

The typical power strip you get is either a basic power strip with a built in breaker to protect the unit from overload. The second common power strip is the same unit with built in Surge protection but don't confuse that with a GFCI protection, these aren't the same. The surge protection is for equipment protection & the GFCI is for people protection. Now there is actual GFCI cords & outlet boxes they will be clearly labeled as so & will cost a considerable bit more, so be sure to find the proper unit for your protection.

I actually have one of these lights on my 34g Red Sea tank, 24" model with a 250W HQI MH & 4 T5's. Using equipment over water like we do they have to require the use of a GFCI to protect them legally & to protect yourself. If you don't have a GFCI outlet, you can add one easily If you have a little electrical savvy & only about $15. If not comfortable with playing with electricity then by all means get professional help, don't take chances that could cause a fire or a shock etc.

I have seen issues with lighting & GFCI's but these particular fixtures they specify using one & I've had no issues directly, my guess they designed the units with these in mind.

[Ninong]

All of my power strips were surge protection power strips; however, before I had the electrician come out and set me up with GFCI wall sockets to plug my power strips into, I had one of these GFCI power strips that I purchased from Marine Depot. It's only three outlets, so maybe I shouldn't call it a power strip. Anyway, that might be an option for lil.guppy to consider.

I ordered that thing before I even set up my tank. Then I decided that I needed a lot more GFCI-protected outlets, so I had an electrician come out to the house. I didn't want to fool around with that myself, especially since I wanted to drill through the wall so that I could tie into the GFCI outlet on the front porch because I was afraid I was overloading the breaker serving my room. He mounted a metal two-socket box inside my stand's cabinet that was wired to one of the front porch GFCI outlets that happened to be just on the otherside of the wall. I had the return pump and the metal halide light fixture plugged into that thing. That way I didn't have to worry about having my TV and computer and aquarium equipment, etc., all on at the same time in my room and possibly tripping the circuit breaker.