The rockwork looks incredible! I'm hoping I can find some nice shelf pieces as well when the time comes.

What a great build! The full tank shots are amazing with how you've done the rockwork. Thanks for sharing with us.

It's Not My Fault
 

So I'm sitting here looking at my fancy schmancy new tank and decided that it would really suck if it exploded. Thus I decided to install a GFCI. I know I should have done this at the start, and I intended to but for some reason it fell off my radar. Okay, so there are a lot of options. Buy a GFCI outlet and replace the main one in the wall with the GFCI. Or do I buy one of those GFCI powerbars ?? Lucky for me my dad had a GFCI outlet kicking around that he wasn't using. I was going to replace the wall receptacle with it but then decide that it would be nice to maybe leave the wall the way it is, and run a line under my tank and maybe use a GFCI powerbar instead.. Well, then it hit me. Why not make my own!

I ran out and picked up some supplies. A cable and a 3 prong plug, outdoor electrical box and weather proof cover.

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1249813653

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1249813707

It was quite easy actually, and everything came with instructions.

First I stripped one end of my waterproof wire for the plug.

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1249813776

Then openned up the plug and inserted the appropriate wires into their respective slots.

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1249813813http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1249813839http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1249813856

So now we have a plug.

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1249813881

I siliconed the base of the plug (where the wire inserts into it) for good measure.

Next I ran the other end of my cable into the electrical box where my receptacle will go.

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1249813928

Insert said receptacle and attach the wires as per the instructions from the receptacle.

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1249813960

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1249813983

Screw in the receptacle.

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1249814011

Now we put on the weatherproof box.

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1249814035

Attach the cover to said weatherproof box.

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1249814059

Voila! one GFCI power outlet. Not quite a powerbar but anything I plug into it, including a power bar or two will be GFCI'ed. Incidentally I have two powerbars that I will be plugging into it.

I plugged it in to make sure it worked of course. Orange light means it has tripped. It comes this way. Press the reset button to reset/untrip it.

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1249814087

Plugged my 'fuge light into it and we have power!

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1249814131

The whole process was actually quite simple and didn't take very long at all, except for having to pause after each step to take those darn pictures.

Clever!

Just remember that it's in your best interest to not run everything on that GFCI in case it trips...leave at least a powerhead or two off of it.

Agreed! That's why I decided not to install the GFCI into the wall. This way I still have the wall receptacle to use for non-GFCI'ed (backup) stuff like you said. I am going to install a weatherbox over the non-GFCI wall receptacal as well.

Hey Kien, where did you get your DJ-8 thing? Did you have to order it? Id like to get one.

Sorry, I have no idea what a DJ-8 is but if you are referring to my GFCI thing-a-Ma-jig, all parts came from Rona.

I meant one of these things as your power strip. I thought I saw one in your system, I could be wrong and havent looked back to verify:

http://askville.amazon.com/SimilarQu...eq=Power+strip

I think that power strip must be in someone elses build because it isn't in mine :-)

I will be using a Profilux digital 6 socket and 4 socket powerstrip once I get my Profilux controller up and running. Right now everything is just plugged into a regular powerbar.