To say if it's doable or not depends on the electrical installation you actually have. What is the gauge of the electric wires placed in the single AC outlet?
If this single outlet is the only one wired in the circuit, then figuring out what your upper limit might be is easy. If not consider disconnecting other outlets and keep this one as solo in the circuit. I rather use volts-amperes but you could use any variable you like as long as you use only one (e.g. don't add up watts/hour with watts).
How much energy is your system needing? The most accurate way of finding out would be using an ampere meter (usually a clip-on instrument, you place the hot wire inside the clip and read). You could also just use the data provided by the manufacturer of each piece of equipment if you trust them.
A 14 gauge cooper wire insulated for say 90 Celsius is likely to handle up to 30 amperes but for security reasons it usually goes with a 15 amp circuit braker. There are some losses that need to be addressed, like loss of voltage due to wire length, temperature, quality of connectors...
Consider adding up the wattage of all lamps, then the wattage of all pumps, the wattage of chiller/heater (if used) then the wattage of all airpumps and whatever other accessory that uses electricity. For safety reasons, I consider all my tanks as somewhat inefficient systems, with a 0.75 power factor. That is if I have 10W of lights, the actual energy I need to lit that lamp is 12.5W. In other words add 25% to all listed consumption.
The final number would let you know where you are standing.
If your numbers fall within reasonably safe range, then you could use as much strips as you need for wiring your tanks needs. Be certain to follow security guidelines to avoid or minimize fire risk.
Pepetj
Santo Domingo
thank you. I am having a hard time finding the actual or highest wattage of each of the pieces of equipment I listed above. Gut feel, would it be pushing it? I don't want my place to burn down either...
