The GFI recepticle is new and its a dedicated circuit for this aquarium. The GFI can be reset with no problem, which leads me to believe there is no fault but the problem has to do with very high resistance and/ or surges. At work we use a heat gun sometimes and have found we can only use it on low or it will trip the GFI. Also the longer the heat gun is used the more likely it will trip the GFI. Heat gun(hair dryer) is basically just a resistance coil. Most my problems with tripping my GFI happen later in the day. Later in the day there is a lot of heat built up in the lighting fixture. High heat can increase the resistance of circuits. The 2 ballasts for the 4 T5 lights are in the light fixture and probably get really hot by the end of the day.
Let me give you a little more information. the light fixture is a Hamilton 4ft fixture with 2 250MH with 2 remote electronic ballasts, 4 55watt T5 lights on 2 ballast located in the fixture, it has 2 led moon lights, and 2 fans.
So I have a 2 plug GFI recepticle to try and run my aquarium on. Because of this I must use 3 power strips(possible problem right here). One runs all the pumps, heater, fans(for the light fixture), and LEDs. So that leaves one open plug on the GFI recepticle and two sets of lights that need to be run on different timers(I would like them to be on different timers). So I tried plugging one power strip into the wall on a timer and plugged the other power strip into the pump power strip on a timer. This didn't work. It usually makes the GFI trip after about 30 mins of all the lights running. This is just to much for the GFI. So I took the power strip that controls the MHs and plugged that into another outlet. This sucks because now I have lost the protection of the GFI. And it still doesn't completely solve the problem. Now late in the day the GFI recepticle will sometimes start clicking, like it wants to trip but doesn't quite make it. Very distressing noise. Then when the T5 cut off at the end of the day they trip the GFI. The GFI can be reset and the T5s restarted but turn them off again and they trip the GFI.
I think my first problem is I'm trying to run too much off my one GFI. I also wondering if there is a problem with my T5s or the power strip they are connected to. I believe some power strips will send power surges and noise(electrical noise filter) to the ground, which will cause the GFI to trip. So I'm not quite sure what needs to be done. I'll call my light manufacture and see if they have any sugguestions. They do say there lights must be ran on a GFI. I suppose I could also buy a GFI power strip to expand the number of GFI recepticles. I would also like to get a controller like the Neptune aqua jr. Which could allow me to start each light individually thus reducing large surges. But I'm not sure what the cause off my problem or problems are. So here I am searching for more information and other peoples experience with this issue.
Thanks for your replys.
Brian
