Journal 75 Gallons of Bliss!

Well, hopefully it works out that way.. I am not convinced there wont be some “Blood, Toil, Tears, and Sweat” along the way. A common saying during WW2 in Europe was that the road home went through Berlin…


The stand is built and moved in to the bedroom. I have completed Spring cleaning the bedroom and rearranging furniture in the room.


I moved my 2 tier fish tank stand across the room. This frees up space by my recliner. Puts the CO2 tank between them so I dont need to route the hose in front of the door, and gives me much nicer access to my closet.
I like the extra room by the recliner. I feel much less cramped and it gives me better viewing of the 29 gallon across the room rather than next to me.

Thats my Grandfathers Grandfather clock. He built it in 1976. He passed 12 years ago at 96. I remember him building it. My parents gifted it to me as the chiming kept my mother awake. To me the chiming is soothing and drifts me off to sleep at night..



Power strips mounted on the cabinet side out of view. The strip closest to the front will power the Inkbird, canister filter and any other in tank electrical devices added. 1 switch to flip shuts off power to all in tank conductors before sticking my hands or tools in. And the lights will stay on…

All the wires will be coiled and have tie wraps to prevent wire spaghetti on the floor. And if I spill water on the floor I wont have to worry about it getting into the power strips..


I mounted a magnet strip on both doors. Now I just need to find the rest of my Aquascaping tools and maybe I can avoid misplacing them again…



Also nice storage for magnet scrapers too…


I bought some storage bins…

And filled them, organizing fish meds in one, equipment in another, testing supplies by themself, cleaning supplies in another. I just need to make some labels for the bins..

I have never been this organized in my life…

I am hoping Petco has a half off sale on tanks for March..

I plan to update this journal as I progress with the build…

 

[Mr.Shenanagins]

I did the little WiFi plugs too until I got the full WiFi power strip. What game changer. Goes on sale often on Amazon, Kasa WiFi power strip

 

[*Ci*]

I like the magnetic strips … great idea!

 

[Pepere]

I did the little WiFi plugs too until I got the full WiFi power strip. What game changer.

What advantages do you see from it?

For me there are only certain items I see wanting wifi timer control over. On the Aquarium I control CO2 solenoid with it. The other two are for an aircleaner in the room that turns on at times I am normally here, and the other being a space heater I like being able to turn on and off from my recliner.

I like the ability to unplug from the pwer strip and moce them elsewhere and repurpose them.

In the summer the space heater one controls a box fan set in my kitchen window. It creates flow through ventilation from my bedroom window through the kitchen and out.

Awfully nice when you wake up cold in the middle of the night to be able to turn off that fan without getting out of bed.

I just dont personally perceive the real benefit of a smart power strip so much…. But I am curious to get your perspective. My view could change…

 

[Pepere]

I like the magnetic strips … great idea!

I saw a George Farmer video where he was showing a commercial stand that had magnets inset in the door to hold aquascaping tools.

I figured that was easy enough to replicate..

 

[Kwyet]

I changed all of my set-ups to smart strips, even though I don’t always need every plug to be scheduled. It’s really nice to put each strip in its own “room” and be able to see at a glance everything that’s connected to one tank or pair of tanks, and control it easily from my phone.
I put magnetic strips inside the door on my 68 gallon too. It’s one of the best things I’ve done as far as keeping me from wasting time looking for things. I envy your organization with the power cords though! I have all of mine in small trash cans inside the stands just in case there’s a leak.

 

[Pepere]

I changed all of my set-ups to smart strips, even though I don’t always need every plug to be scheduled

On three tanks in my living space I use 2 wifi timers. Both of them to turn on CO2 solenoids. 1 tank in the bedroom, the other in the kitchen.

I dont want my air pumps on timers. I want those always on.

An argument could be made for the canister filters to be on wifi timers so that I could shut them off on my phone before feeding the fish and set the timer to turn back on after 15 minutes…. While I could do that I sort of doubt I would find myself actually doing it…I just feed in the far corner of the tank away from the intake. The fish have figured out when I feed them and they are waiting there when I walk up to the tank.

I cant see having the heaters on wifi plugs.

I could see having wavemakers on wifi plugs, I tried a few on my29 gallon tanks and hared them. Darn things were forever clogging with leaves…. I had to clean them daily.

I do have some Finnex Stingray lights in the basement on quarantine tanks on a power strip that is controlled by a wifi plug.

What else do people use wifi plugs for in aquariums?

 

[Kwyet]

For myself:

Lights—because sometimes their internal schedules don’t turn on and off reliably, and some of my lights don’t have a schedule option.

Filters—so I can turn them off easily when doing maintenance. This actually was a huge help when I injured myself on a broken glass lily pipe a few weeks ago and needed to turn off the filter quickly and without risking electrocution from wet hands.

CO2–so I can check even from upstairs that it turned off as expected.

Heaters/Inkbird on a couple of tanks—not strictly necessary, but convenient during water changes.

Skimmer—so I can have it on a schedule not to run at night (when fish are more prone to find their way into it) or at feeding time, and easily turn it off for maintenance.

Water Transfer pump—one slot on each end of the room for use during maintenance. I use it to pump tank water to the bathroom and to refill from a 44 gallon Brute trash can.

I’m not trying to convince you though! This is just what I do and find convenient, to answer your question.

 

[Pepere]

I have the canister filters and inkbirds on their own power strip so I can shut them down with a simple switch before sticking my hands or tools into the tanks.

To my mind it is easier and quicker than taking my phone out of my pocket, hitting the start button, entering my passcode, opening the wifi app, entering each plug and turning them off and then repeating wjen done.

Simply flip off power strip, then flip it back on…

I cant forsee a reason I would want to turn them on or off remotely when I am not right in front of the tank…… but that could change I guess..

 

[Pepere]

I do however appreciate your input.

 

[JuJuFish]

I have my filters, Inkbird/heaters, and even nearby lamps plugged into my strips. Like kwyet, I like to be able to use my phone to check that things are on or off as they should be, especially if I’m out of town. I also have Alexa voice control for all the devices so I can turn them on or off without opening the cabinet or crawling around on the floor! Very handy if my hands are full or wet. I also have routines setup with Alexa so I can have her shut down the filters (and heaters - Oase thermo canisters) when I feed and then turn them back on automatically after 10 minutes. All luxuries but nice to have.

 

[Mr.Shenanagins]

I had similar thoughts to you, but this is my setup:

The whole “timer” thing is just an option. You can leave them on and switch on and off whenever. I like idea of just opening my app rather than pulling plugs and wondering what I’m pulling.

 

[Pepere]

I like idea of just opening my app rather than pulling plugs and wondering what I’m pulling.

The whole trying to figure out which plug to pull thing is specifically why I mounted multiple power strips, and plugged my heater and canister filter into the one easiest to get to.

Home Depot strips, plug fits in to wall at a right angle and offset vertically by 45 degrees to fit one in to each plug in wall socket.

Rated at 15 amps each, and each has 6 outlets with a switch.

$9.98 for a 2 pack.

Electricians in general hate daisy chaining power strips, ie one plugged in to another one, but by and large, we plug lots of devices in with our aquariums, but most of them have minimal electrical draw…

I set two power strips into the wall outlet and plug all of the remaining power strips into these two main power strips rather than daisy chaining one after another.

 

[BenB]

My tank is smaller, but I have everything in 1 strip except the light. This way, I can flip the switch on the strip and everything goes off for maintenance except for the light. CO2 is also on that strip, but it additionally has it's own smart plug for timing.

 

[*Ci*]

I use these powerbars, with individual switches
:
And for some things, these plugs that can go on and off with a remote:



These work well for filters and pumps I have in the crawlspace, using the remote upstairs, it works through the floor.
Unlike many, I hate my phone and never carry it around with me, so I’m better off with manual switches, rather than using an app!

 

[Mr.Shenanagins]

I say whatever works for ya, no best way, it’s all about preference

 

[Pepere]

I have appreciated hearing how people choose to use wifi power strips. I was wondering if I was missing something.

 

[*Ci*]

I have appreciated hearing how people choose to use wifi power strips. I was wondering if I was missing something.

Sorry for contributing to the derailment of your thread … now back to your bliss!

 

[Pepere]

Sorry for contributing to the derailment of your thread … now back to your bliss!

All replies are valued..

I woke up hopeful that I could visit Petco today to bring a new tank home being the first of the month…no such bliss…

At first I worried that I would have to wait until April, but looking up past history of half off sales, they seem to occur every other month, but do not typically start on the first and can last from a few weeks to sometimes 6 or so weeks…

So I guess I will be checking daily…

 

[Mr.Shenanagins]

Sometimes if you get the right manager, they will give you the discounted price even if it’s not during the sale. When I got my 40 thats what they did for me, but I’m sure YMMV.