der_wille_zur_macht
10/21/2004, 11:02 AM
Hello everyone-
I'm no electrician and therefore looking for advice on planning the lighting wiring for my next tank - a 120g room divider.
I'll have two MH bulbs over the tank - either 250w or 400w SE. The tank will be on the first floor of my house. I'd like to mount the ballasts in the basement below.
First obvious question - any problem with remote-mounting the ballasts? The run from the mounting point up to the hood will probably be about 15' - 20'.
Second (still obvious) question - what to use for cable over that run from the ballasts up to the lights? Regular old 12/3 like the stuff in my walls?
Third question - I'd like to have a quick-disconnect in the wiring, located in the stand below the tank - so I can unplug the harness to remove the hood, etc. My first thought was to run the wiring up to standard outlets and just wire standard 3-prong plugs on to the harnesses from the mogul sockets. Though, after more consideration, that seemed like a dangerous idea - I could label the sockets clearly, but there's still the chance that someone would plug something else in to them at some point in time.
So, does anyone have a reccomendation for something to use? My second thought was to use a plug with a different configuration (seems like there are a billion different types for washers, dryers, elecric ranges, etc) but I'm not sure if any of them would be suitable for this application.
Anyone have a suggestion?
I'm no electrician and therefore looking for advice on planning the lighting wiring for my next tank - a 120g room divider.
I'll have two MH bulbs over the tank - either 250w or 400w SE. The tank will be on the first floor of my house. I'd like to mount the ballasts in the basement below.
First obvious question - any problem with remote-mounting the ballasts? The run from the mounting point up to the hood will probably be about 15' - 20'.
Second (still obvious) question - what to use for cable over that run from the ballasts up to the lights? Regular old 12/3 like the stuff in my walls?
Third question - I'd like to have a quick-disconnect in the wiring, located in the stand below the tank - so I can unplug the harness to remove the hood, etc. My first thought was to run the wiring up to standard outlets and just wire standard 3-prong plugs on to the harnesses from the mogul sockets. Though, after more consideration, that seemed like a dangerous idea - I could label the sockets clearly, but there's still the chance that someone would plug something else in to them at some point in time.
So, does anyone have a reccomendation for something to use? My second thought was to use a plug with a different configuration (seems like there are a billion different types for washers, dryers, elecric ranges, etc) but I'm not sure if any of them would be suitable for this application.
Anyone have a suggestion?