Electric current in water?

[Niki_up]

i was doing a water change on one of my fish tanks today and when I touched the surface of the water I got a mini shock. immediately I unplugged my heaters and finished the water change.

Left my house for about an hour and came home to a dead bleeding heat tetra....went to scoop him out and got another little shock, no heaters in the tank at this time...

Anyone know if anything else could be causing the electric current in my tank?

80-90% water change and one filter cleaning (in tank water of course)

90g tank
2 x aquaclear 110 filters
2 x heaters
Light strip

Everyone seems to be acting normal?!? Except one bleeding heart looks to be hovering and not swimming much, might she be next?

 

[RD.]

https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/threads/stray-voltage-help.687099/

That should get you heading in the right direction. Unplug one device at a time until you find the issue.

 

[BIG-G]

If you have a volt ohm meter you can test for stray voltage.
If you don’t have one I would recommend you get one.
They are fairly cheap and come in handy for all kinds of jobs like this.
Most electrical equipment will bleed very small amounts of electricity in your aquarium.
Most of the time it’s harmless and very small amounts.
If you have a meter you can put one probe into the water the other to a ground and you should be able to see the amount of voltage.
Then unplug one device at a time until you see the voltage drop suddenly. The last thing you unplugged was the culprit.
Or you may even find that more than one device could be to blame.
Oh and you should be using GFCI outlets any where near water.

 

[RD.]

GFCI is always a good idea, but a stand alone GFCI will not always trip due to stray voltage/current, unless there is a path to 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, and can rectify it.

See post #23 (and beyond) of the following past discussion for more info.

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

 

[Niki_up]

GFCI is always a good idea, but a stand alone GFCI will not always trip due to stray voltage/current, unless there is a path to 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, and can rectify it.

See post #23 (and beyond) of the following past discussion for more info.

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

Thank you, looks like I have some reading to do!

I will be hunkering down tonight and reading both links

 

[Niki_up]

If you have a volt ohm meter you can test for stray voltage.
If you don’t have one I would recommend you get one.
They are fairly cheap and come in handy for all kinds of jobs like this.
Most electrical equipment will bleed very small amounts of electricity in your aquarium.
Most of the time it’s harmless and very small amounts.
If you have a meter you can put one probe into the water the other to a ground and you should be able to see the amount of voltage.
Then unplug one device at a time until you see the voltage drop suddenly. The last thing you unplugged was the culprit.
Or you may even find that more than one device could be to blame.
Oh and you should be using GFCI outlets any where near water.

Where would I purchase a ohm meter? Canadian tire? Home Depot? Walmart?

Is there anything specific I need to look for in the ohm meter for aquariums? Or any ohm Meter will get the job done?

 

[BIG-G]

I should have been more clear.
It’s a voltage electronic multimeter .
It will read voltage in AC or DC as well as continuity and ohm’s
You can pick up a cheap one at any Walmart for around 15 bucks

 

[BIG-G]

Here is what mine looks like. You can spend a few bucks or hundreds you would only need a cheaper one.

 

[Niki_up]

View attachment 1352954 Here is what mine looks like. You can spend a few bucks or hundreds you would only need a cheaper one.

Thank you!!!

When it comes to these kinds of tools I’m not very knowledgeable!

I’ll be picking one up at Walmart tomorrow.

 

[RD.]

It won't be $15 in Edmonton. In fact I don't even know if they sell them here in Walmart?

HD & Can Tire both carry meters, but not that cheap. I think the cheapest I have seen them at HD is $40 or so.