Jestersix

Peter's Garage Tank

That is a lot of voltage. A few volts is fine, but I would say that is way too high. Personally, I would swap out the equipment,...which is what I have done in the past. There is a lot of controversy with using a grounding electrode, and I am of the belief that you should not use one. Basically, with a grounding electrode, al the stray voltage is till going through the tank to get to the grounding electrode.
 
So you measured it correctly at 41 volt AC (black on the ground and red in tank water)? I'm amazed that it's causing the sensation. Anything supposedly below 50v is supposedly just capacitively coupled AC. It's just a signal and not power until 50 volt.

I tested mine just awhile ago since you mentioned it and I'm at 1.7 volt in the office tank, which is well below the indicator of voltage in the tank.
 
Ibn said:
So you measured it correctly at 41 volt AC (black on the ground and red in tank water)? I'm amazed that it's causing the sensation. Anything supposedly below 50v is supposedly just capacitively coupled AC. It's just a signal and not power until 50 volt.

I tested mine just awhile ago since you mentioned it and I'm at 1.7 volt in the office tank, which is well below the indicator of voltage in the tank.
Click to expand...
50 volts, is that right? I can't remember for sure, but I had the same experience, with tingling in the hand and it turned out to be a bad heater. IIRC, the voltage was in the 20s or 30s.
 
From one of the postings on RC:

Stray voltage of any magnitude is not harmful. Voltage does nothing. It is current that does something, and is what can be potentially dangerous. Without a path to ground, there is no current flow.

The voltage in the tank, can be read with the meter, because a current flows through the meter to ground, due to the voltage potential in the tank. Remove the grounded test probe, you get no reading = no current flow. Current does the work, not the voltage.

Anything under 40VAC, is considered "low voltage," as in most cases the current flow caused by this potential, would be harmless. Getting above 50VAC, as kcress indicates is "high voltage" and the potential for injury or death is present, if that voltage is given a path to ground.

Saltwater, due to its ionic nature, will always show some potential (voltage) between the water and ground. The potential may be too small to measure, or you may read 12VAC, or so. Also, inductive loads (pumps) can impress a voltage in the water--due to the magnetic fields, yet not be damaged or malfunctioning. However, if you are reading something above 40VAC, it is cause for further investigation.

To be on the safe side, I would actually remove the grounding probe from the tank and then plug in your equipment one by one and figure out what the actual cause is. All the grounding probe does is create a continuous electrical current in the tank, which isn't a good thing (imagine a continuous electrical current going through the tank and subjecting your fish and other organisms to it).
 
So as I plug each item (pumps and heater) in one at a time I get a reading on the meter. So I guess this is due to the magnetic fields created by the submerged powerheads and pumps? It seems to have tapered off and is now at 23vac. My meter also picks up the ionic voltage at approx. 5-8 vac.? I don't see one item that is causing a spike, it seems to be a combination. Even the brand new powerhead I bought last week shows voltage when plugged in. With grounding the water is down to .002 but I am guessing with what lbn posted, I am better to remove the ground and let the voltage not find a ground. I will be dropping it in before I stick my arm into the water though.
 
I'm looking at wiring for the outlet you're using being not grounded.
I'm no electrician and maybe this doesn't make sense, but it's worth checking It out.
 
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Coral reefer said:
I'm looking at wiring for the outlet you're using being not grounded.
I'm no electrician and maybe this doesn't make sense, but it's worth checking It out.
Click to expand...
The problem is that all of the cords to the equipment are just basic 2 pronged polarized. Not a single one has the third grounding prong. Does newer equipment make use of a grounded plug?? I did check and the outlet is wired correctly and grounded. The power then goes through 2 gfci protected power strips. No wonder the mandarin was attacking the other, she was all hoped up on alternating current:eek:
 
Got off work early and decided to work on cleaning up the tank. As I look at everybody elses tanks, they are all spotless and I guess ours is not. But at least everything is growing. And it is a work in progress. The skimmer has been unplugged for about 12 days ( so I pulled it out) and without having done a water change in almost a month the phosphates have gone down and the nitrates are unchanged. KH and calcium look good. I have been adding 40ml of Phyto Feast, Rotifers, Tisbe pods and Tigger pods for about 10 days. All of the corals look happy, and the Mandarin is feasting. Did a little rockscaping on the left side of the tank and even though we have been killing a lot of Vermatids, the tank looked like an elephant spewed in it :eek: Pulled the big rocks out, killed more Vermatids (some of these guys have to be at least 10 years old). Yesterday I was reading Coral Reefers post about taking corals off the frag plugs and gluing them onto the rocks and thought "that's what we need to do - Thanks Mike! Got a bunch of Montis, birdsnests, Joker Favia and others glued in. We had 3 polyps of Liams Clove and one by one the have all released from the frag plug, perhaps we will have a surprise colony of them in the future? A couple of frags were covered in hair algae so I set them in front of the Sea Hare and within 10 minutes they were clean - amazing. Perhaps I will get to the other side of the tank tomorrow. The tank needs more "pop" but I guess this is a game of patience and our tank is still really young.
Cheers!!


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Have the day off today so working a bit on the tanks and pondering getting another fish while on the LFS tour tomorrow. The possible candidates are:
- Yellow Coris - I hear they will help with Vermatids
- Leopard Wrasse - Pretty, but hard to raise?
- Six Line - Never got a chance to enjoy the other one we had for 2 days
- Mandarin - as much as I want a pair, I have not bee able to confirm whether I currently have a female or male

Our tank is top-less so I guess any of these fish could bail.
Any recommendations??
 
If you're aiming to keep your mandarin and maybe add another, you should steer clear of wrasses, particularly six line, leopard and coris as they hunt all day for copepods and amphipods. If you want to get wrasses then maybe the flasher/flame variety?

Why not get a fish that's doesn't compete with your mandarin? If you really want a working fish, then I really like my coris. Leopard can by more finicky and sensitive. I've heard too many stories about aggressive 6-lines to be a fan.


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Any wrasses and you roll the dice for fish jerkey without lid.

I have a pair of mandarins and a six line. So far it seems like the mandarins are finding enough to eat. But I do have a very well seeded fuge to produce pods.
 
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