Securely install electrical inside your stand

If you want to install some electrical items over open water, such as within the canopy or inside the aquarium stand, you probably have tried a few different options to run wires. It might hold for a while, but what about long term? These inexpensive sticky pads combined with some wood screws can be very trustworthy, and it will look like a nice clean install too.

You can find the sticky pads at Home Depot, as well as the wood screws. The first thing you want to determine is the length of the screw to avoid installing it too deeply, marring the surface of the cabinetry, or worse yet, making contact with your aquarium. My 400g is on a sheet of 3/4" plywood, so I used 3/4" wood screws.

The next step is affixing the sticky pad where you need to secure the wiring. I use these on the underside of my stand, directly beneath the aquarium. With the square glued in place, I used a drill to install the screw that will hold it there forever.

The sticky pad is designed so zipties to pass through it, or if you need something you can change more often, a twist-tie will suffice.  Here's the cord held in place with a small ziptie.

FInally to tidy it up, I trim off the excess of the ziptie tie so it looks cleaner.  It you cut it carefully, you'll avoid a sharp edge that could nick you later.

This part was larger and was somewhat heavy since it had three power supplies plugged into it. I used two sticky pads to cradle and keep the plug assembly up in a nice dry spot.

Once everything was done, I was able to test the cooling fans. They are controlled by the Apex controller, turning them on during the heat of the day.

In a future blog, I'll show you how I use these with fishing line to hold lights in place, and adjust their height as desired.