stray voltage in aquarium

saltywaters

Reefing newb
Ok so lastnight i was on here doing some questioning. I ran into a few people who came to a conclusion I might have stray voltage leaking back into my aquarium. So I tested this theory this morning. Upon my test I learned I do have some leaky volts. I plugged the ground wire into the wall jack and the hot wire into y sump. One by one i started pulling plugs and low and behold almost all of them triggered the meter. Could this be that my surge protectors are cheap and not what I should be using. How can I really determine what appliace is causing this.
Your help is highly needed.
 
Anything electric you put in your tank will leak some voltage. You need to plug one thing in at a time and measure each one. That will tell you which equipment is faulty. Even after you plug the grounding wire into your tank, you'll still have that voltage but, the rod will pull the current out to ground.
 
yeah i noticed that, but my issue is all of my appliances are causing the major spike in the needle. What do I replace all my appliances
 
What do you consider a major spike? I think when I measured mine I get something like 3-7 volts.
 
I had the same problem. Trust me it will start killing things!!. First thing you should do is get a grounding probe. That will solve the problem for now. Then you can pace yourself on replacing your equipment.The grounding probe helped me a bunch! I have still not replaced my pumps and everything is doing great.
 
The surge protectors aren't at fault here -- they are not supposed to stop stray voltage into your tank, they are just supposed to protect your equipment against power surges. Any time you have electrical equipment in contact with water, you are risking that it's leaking voltage into the tank.

You need to get a grounding probe. You can find them at most LFS. They cost $7 to $10.

As we discussed last night in chat, this problem is actually quite common. I had the same problem you did -- each piece of equipment in my tank was setting off 5 to 10 volts. Altogether, with everything on, I was measuring 50 to 70 volts in my tank.

This problem is more common with cheap or old pieces of equipment. If they are poorly made, they tend to have problems, and they get worn out over time and tend to leak voltage.

After you get the grounding probe, it should read zero in your tank.
 
Does any one know if petsmart sells grounding probes? I just tested my tank and it's at 49 volts ... Probably why my linkias died :grumble:
 
Damn, my smaller linkia is alive but barely ... Plus I added 10 peppermints the other day so who knows if they're surviving ... I guess I'll have to get it online. I'm thinking about moving the linkia to my 28g in the mean time but not sure if it'll stress him too much
 
My guess is the peppermints are gone by now. I dropped a banded coral shrimp in mine and it last about 6 hours. Lost a brittle star as well. I bought my grounding probe from foster and smith. Saved my tank. Thanks again BIFF!!!:D
 
It's weird, I have seen 2 of the peps, my serpent star, snails and crabs are all doing great ... The only things that SEEM to have the problem are the linkias.
 
Every thing acted fine for me as well, for 2 months or better( except the coral shrimp). Then something clicked and i lost 4 emeralds. 2 serpent stars 2 leather corals and flower pot coral. As well as a couple fish. I haven't had a problem since i got the probe.
 
so. i did the test a different way tonight, and it looks like it is my return pump. then i plugged everything in again and ran the test on the whole setup, and it didnt even spike the meter by even a volt. not sure what to think.
 
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