Update on the electricity problem

[kevinsimons]

Oh great LR guru's - you were absolutely right - it was an electrical problem. Got the digital voltometer, and after learning that you set the dial at 200V (there is no 120 setting - the 200 setting is so if there's a spike you don't blow the meter), I very quickly identified the problem - the Stealth heater was leaking voltage (about 18 on the digital meter). Stealth heater indeed - the "stealth" factor cost several nice animals their lives... like everything in the tank, it's less than a year old.... The voltometer is now reading around 2.0 - 2.4 - it moves around alot. Even with everything powered off, I still get these readings. Is that normal?

It was a major disaster - I lost the mandarin goby, both engineer gobys, the royal gramma is missing, and the remaining two fish (maroon clown & yellow tang) are clearly distressed. If there's ANY good news here - its that the stressed clown has taken to hosting the pulsing xenia. IF he pulls through - that will be a nice thing to see him there. It's a big if.... strangely, all the corals, snails, and shrimp are seemingly unaffected.

SO - now what? I'm leaving for a one week vacation in 15 days - should I just leave well enough alone, see if anybody survives, and start slowly re-establishing fish populations when I return? Do I risk throwing the balance off by having such a reduced bioload in the tank?

As always - any and all advise very much appreciated!

[Bifferwine]

Ha! I suggested it first! Go me!

Kidding. Looks like you and I were having the same problem. I'm sorry to hear about your losses, that sucks big time. I get readings of up to 2.0 all the time also. I have a grounding probe in my tank to take care of that, but some on here disagree with that strategy.

I would leave your tank the way it is until you get back. And hope the remaining fish can recover. When you get back you can start re-stocking.

[kevinsimons]

Thanks, Biff - the LFS where I bought that heater was still selling them this afternoon when I went to buy a replacement - "But we don't recommend that brand"... at which point I wanted to haul off and hit the guy - THEN WHY ARE YOU STILL SELLING THEM????? (mind you, this is the store that I have absolutely zero trust in... ) I picked up a Sera brand - hopefully a bit more reliable? and, as a matter of course, I will now ALWAYS test for stray voltage during normal maintenance testing...

[RyanG]

Kevin can you tell us what the CRAP brand was so that we can all avoid it please?

[kevinsimons]

Ryan,
Visi-therm Stealth.
-k

[RyanG]

Sorry Kevin I must have overlooked that part in the original post my bad!

[Bifferwine]

Heaters are very sensitive and delicate, even the best brands can get micro-cracks in their bodies and start frying your tank.

Like you, I have been paranoid lately and checking my tank with my voltmeter on a daily basis. I know that your tank will be up and running and back in tip top form in no time, though. It's just awful to lose so many animals at the same time.

[fatman]

Electric motors with little bumps or cans on their sides have inductors in those cans. They take a lot of time to discharge without the motor running. They power up slow and discharge even slower. Also most equipment when still plugged in is still quite capable of leaking voltage, even when switched off. Electrical Engineering is a degree in it self and not an easy degree to obtain. That program field has a huge drop out rate at nearly all colleges. I hate having a heater (and it is a titanium with an outside controller) and submersible pumps for my needle wheel skimmers in my sumps. There are really no practicle replacements for them though.

[Altohombre]

a girl paranoid? no way!

[Bifferwine]

Really, it is something, coming from the girl that hadn't done a water change or tested parameters since September.