stray current in aquarium

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Brent

Jack Dempsey
MFK Member
Apr 19, 2005
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i had a small cut on my finger and felt a tingling sensation when i put myhand in the tank
my question is has anyone had problems with stray current i am bringing my multimeter home today to see if i can get a reading fish seem fine but it can't be good i have alot of equipment on this tank so it could be anything??
i know there are people who use ground probs to help this
if i get a reading i will just start to unplug things till i see whats causeing this i am a little concerned because i love my fish
and info appreciated
 
There was a post about this a little while ago, there was electrical current in the tank but because there was no ground or anywhere for it to go nothing happened until the person actually touched the water then they became the ground.
 
There is no current until you put your hand in the tank--the water and fish are just at a higher potential, which won't hurt them. You should still figure out what has shorted though...
 
grounding probe would be a good investment with your collection its probally a heater they were the cause of my issues before
 
thanks for the replys yeah my rays seerm to be breathing harder than normal and i cant figure out really why except for this and the water temp is higher now due to the weather i will update tonight
 
ive had the same prob in the past, and as Nic has stated, it prob is the heater, was moy source of probs
 
It sounds as if one of the ungrounded conductors (hot wires) feeding your light/heater/filter is making contact with the water in the tank. Depending on the resistance to ground between your tank water and the ground bus in your electrical panel, you may have any where from several microamps to several amps of alternating current flowing through your tank. The higher the resistance, the lower the current.

Note: it will take as many as 12 amps continuous current before the breaker or fuse operates to isolate the circuit. That is nearly 5000 X the amount of current that can kill or cripple you.

The reason that you were able to feel a tingle through your small cut is due to the fact that your skin even when wet offers some limited resistance. Your dermis and blood however are excellant conductors. Electrical contact with the blood puts your heart muscle at risk of permanent, cumulative damage. You became part of a circuit from the leaking hot wire, back to the ground bus in your panel, when you put your hand in the tank.

The likely culprit here is either a submersible heater or a drive coil for an impellor in a HOB filter. Flourescant lights can also be a hazard.

I highly recommend the use of GFI receptacles for all connected aquarium loads. They will shut of as soon as there is an imbalance between the hot and neutral conductor current, caused by a ground leak. If one trips, you unplug your cords, reset the receptacle and pug in your cords (rubber gloves are a good idea) one at a time to see which connected load causes the trip. Replace the faulty appliance.
 
Nic;1651059; said:
grounding probe would be a good investment with your collection its probally a heater they were the cause of my issues before
Click to expand...

Don't use a ground probe unless you also use GFI receptacles. It is not a safety device by itself. In fact it will guarantee current flow in the event of dielectric failure of your hot conductors, stressing the fish.

Remember it would take 5000 times the amount of lethal current to trip your breaker and isolate the hazard...
 
At the moment none of my tanks are GFIed nor do they have ground probes.

My worry is that if a GFI trips while I'm not at home I'll come home to a tank of dead fish!

I'd rather risk me getting zapped when I reach into the tank then lose an entire tank of fish. The fish won't like the current flow, but it won't kill them. The pumps turning off will kill them.
 
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