Electric Current in tank - where is it coming from?

[ShadowP]

And why did I become so adamant? Because as safe as this hobby is, electricity and water can be a deadly combination. What happens if its not fixed properly and proceeds to get worse, then add (God forbid) he ends up standing in some spilled water when he does a water change and happens to do something as simple as put his hand in the tank to deflect the water and not disturb anything. That current path is through the heart!

 

[Empyreal]

Ok thanks you have been a huge help

 

[Belly up]

Of course ShadowP is correct. When dealing with water and electricity is is always best to err on the side of safety! Please let us know what you find out.

 

[RD.]

Maybe I should post this again. lol

To be on the safe side in the future you might want to consider adding a GFCI receptacle, or breaker, upstream - as well as a grounding probe in your tank.

That is the ultimate safety set up with regards to stray voltage or current, and aquariums full of water.

 

[RD.]

The lights, filters, heaters, etc are all UL listed which means they themselves are designed to be properly grounded. No supplimrental dgrounding needed.

That would be incorrect. A two prong appliance such as a heater does not offer complete protection from stray voltage or amperage. Not even close. Malfunctioning heaters have exploded like pipe bombs, causing total blow outs of aquariums filled with water, shocked people, killed people, and burned houses to the ground.

I run a ground probe in all of my tanks, with all electrical appliances being ran through a GFCI protected power bar. If a piece of equipment leaks stray current, there is no risk to my fish, or myself, as the GFCI will kill the power source & I will immediately know that I have a problem somewhere, which I can then find and rectify.

For anyone who wants to read further, start with post #22.

http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/f...city-in-tank-how-to-test-for-it.458766/page-3


BTW - just for the record, I entered the electrical trade in 1981, and I'm pretty sure that I know what I'm talking about too.

 

[ShadowP]

Your comments are well noted and your concern is greatly appreciated and we all thank you for your concern.

Simply stated, electricity and water don't mix.

 

[RD.]

Shadow, I just read your comment sans the edit. You sir have no idea what the hell you are talking about.

And for those wondering, see quote below. You might want to think twice before placing your life in the hands of an a stranger on the internet. LOL Please read the links in the comment that I previously made, and then do your own homework on this subject.

I noted the upstream breaker and ground fault circuit isolation, and yes, I would agree with you for any other application of these wonderful safety devices, but they for the most part, protect the devices "downstream" from excess current which is with most GFCI rated at 15 amps.
If our would be aquarist became the current path due to the water change example given, and if the ground probe was for whatever reason having lost its ground, the GFCI or breaker (also usually rated at 15 amps) would never trip at anything less than the 15 ampere and our poor aquarist could easily recieve lethal levels of current through the heart..
Those safety features you mentioned will never break the circuit open at even 5 amps (unless you have a 5 amp breaker) but even then... standard breakers are "slow" blow and 5 amps is 40 times greater than what has been fully documented as the average minimal killing current through the heart of only 1/4 amp.

And that folks is NOT how a GFCI would work in any type of application, including an aquarium setting.

http://home.howstuffworks.com/question117.htm


Cheers

 

[ShadowP]

That would be incorrect. A two prong appliance such as a heater does not offer complete protection from stray voltage or amperage. Not even close. Malfunctioning heaters have exploded like pipe bombs, causing total blow outs of aquariums filled with water, shocked people, killed people, and burned houses to the ground.

I run a ground probe in all of my tanks, with all electrical appliances being ran through a GFCI protected power bar. If a piece of equipment leaks stray current, there is no risk to my fish, or myself, as the GFCI will kill the power source & I will immediately know that I have a problem somewhere, which I can then find and rectify.

For anyone who wants to read further, start with post #22.

http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/f...city-in-tank-how-to-test-for-it.458766/page-3


BTW - just for the record, I entered the electrical trade in 1981, and I'm pretty sure that I know what I'm talking about too.

BTW - just for the record, I entered the electrical trade in 1981, and I'm pretty sure that I know what I'm talking about too. [/QUOTE]

My comments were not meant to be interpreted as being against anything you had posted, but rather to refute the comments made by an OP who stated if he couldn't feel it with his uninjured hand, then it wasn't electricity causing it.
As stated, the setup you use is most effective. The problem is most people never even heard of a GFCI, and as such, don't even think to install or use one because they have no clue how beneficial they can be.
They're not expensive, but some people will even want to save those few extra dollars.
My comment was already quite lengthy. Probably should have started mine replying to yours with +1^^^,
but chose to start it under the one I disagreed with.
Sorry

 

[ShadowP]

Shadow, I just read your comment sans the edit. You sir have no idea what the hell you are talking about.

And for those wondering, see quote below. You might want to think twice before placing your life in the hands of an a stranger on the internet. LOL Please read the links in the comment that I previously made, and then do your own homework on this subject.




And that folks is NOT how a GFCI would work in any type of application, including an aquarium setting.

http://home.howstuffworks.com/question117.htm


Cheers

Also of note... I was referencing power station early design variants and not modern highly sensitive designs.
I can't prove or disprove my reference of what we had available in the military, but I did post as to what high current did to a connector cover plate in the resulting flash burn to one of my friends.
GFCI have come A LONG WAY since I first worked with any of the constant (at least once per day) false tripping models.
Kudos to your reccommending them. I hadn't considered using them at all due to all the early issues we had with them.

 

[BrookKeeper]

Can anyone tell me what the difference in benefits is between GFCI outlets and GFCI breakers, other than having to go to the breaker box to reset a tripped circuit?