Power requirments

[blown63chevy]

Hi All,
Looking for a little help in setting up the power requirments for the new tank. I'll be running a seperate power source for the tank and want to make sure that it is adaquate for the equipment I'm running. Here is a list of all power equipment for the tank:

2 - 250 watt Metal Halide lamps w/ magnetic ballast
6 - 13 watt PC atinics
2 - fans
1 - Mag Drive 36 recirc pump (3600 GPH)
1 - Rio 2100 pump (for protien skimmer)
2 - 200 Watt heaters.
5 - light timmers

Was wondering if a single 20 amp or 30 amp circuit will work or should I run two 20 amp circuits instead, 1 for the lights, 1 for the rest of the equipment? Any help is appreciated.

On another note, with seting up my return pump, Mag Drive 36, is it safe to put in a ball valve to throttle back some of the return flow without damage to the pump or would it be better to have some of the flow go back into the sump so that there is minimal back presure on the pump? I'm trying to flow 2000 GPH thru the return to the tank. Thanks for any advice.
Ray

[reefcam]

Hey Ray,

Take all your equipment's wattage and divide by 120, and this will give you a rough estimate of what the power consumption will be. So your MH will require about 4.2A, but being it is a tar ballast and probably doesn't run efficiently I would say 5A. At least this is what my 250W MH consumes.

Your fans are probably going to take almost 1A.
PC Lights = .65A (but could be less depending on the ballast)
5 Timers = .5A

Then they recommend you only use 80% of any circuit rating, so now you are talking about 16A capacity for your 20A circuit, but I know I'm close to 90% of both my circuits.

If you can easily get 2 circuits to your tank I would. This leaves for other power hungry equipment down the road. I have 2 circuits to my 225g and now I wish I had 3. Oh well, next tank.

HTH
Jim

[Reefland]

If you can get 2 circuits I would put my pumps and heater(s) on one and the lights and other equipment on the other. This way you are not taking the chance of overloading the main circuit with your critical equipment, the circulation and heat.

[blown63chevy]

Thanks. I have to run a circuit to the room that my tank is going into as there is no outlets in there now. I don't have enough room in my current box to add three circuits but I can use two of them for the tank that I'm using for my garage/shop right now until I completely rewire the house. Looks like I'll be putting in two 20 amp circuits for the tank.
Ray

[reefcam]

If you are using a single 20A circuit, go with a twin 20A circuit.