Volt reading in tank water

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
Is the light plugged in to a grounded outlet? If it is your outlets may not be grounded correctly.

As far as the heater goes if it is charging your tank it would only do so when the heater is warming the water and would stop charging the tank when the water is at set temp.

Overall it is odd that the light is charging the tank, only thing I can think of is something isn't wired correctly and the light is feeding back through another circuit to charge the tank.
 
Could be your volt meter itself. Either it's not designed to work in water or electrolysis is happening when the probe is in the water. The jump in current when the light is on may be because the meter is detecting it from the fixture directly, not from the water.
 
Is this a salt or fresh water tank? Saltwater is a fairly good conductor of electricity, but freshwater isn't, unless it's high in dissolved solids. Electricity can do funny things, it can even be created in water by two dissimilar metals, for example copper and lead. The principles behind batteries. If you have an electrical appliance grounding to the water, it seems unlikely that you would see that small voltage, however, galvanic action would produce even less current. In short, check to make sure all connections are clean and secure inside the hood. If you still have currrent, replace the heater.
BTW, plastic will conduct static electricity, but enough static to be read on a voltmeter would probably kill you. (amps, not voltage gets you)
 
tcarswell;3060523; said:
Wow how weird... The light?! Is any part of the light shell touching the water? And no I dont think electrolysis would happen that quickly maybe one of your XP4s is stopped?
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Both are running. Ive been hearing a buzzing noise for a week now when i put the moonlighting on. Kinda like when it rains and after the power lines are buzzing.

I thought electrolysis is instantaneous? When I did it in school the it would bubble when it was given power. Idk. I know when the buzzing started the cloudiness came and I used accu-clear 3 times with no avail.
 
Wheat;3060558; said:
Could be your volt meter itself. Either it's not designed to work in water or electrolysis is happening when the probe is in the water. The jump in current when the light is on may be because the meter is detecting it from the fixture directly, not from the water.
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Even if the meter was reading falsely I was getting shocked when the light was plugged in and not shocked when it was unplugged.
 
Neophyte;3060552; said:
Is the light plugged in to a grounded outlet? If it is your outlets may not be grounded correctly.

As far as the heater goes if it is charging your tank it would only do so when the heater is warming the water and would stop charging the tank when the water is at set temp.

Overall it is odd that the light is charging the tank, only thing I can think of is something isn't wired correctly and the light is feeding back through another circuit to charge the tank.
Click to expand...

I can see that. I moved here a couple years ago and since then we've been doin renovations. It seems like the people that lived here before tried doin everything there selves and had no experience at anything.
 
It occurs to me that the ballast may be producing some stray voltage that is being grounded to the reflector, and could be conducted through water moisture to the tank. Is the ballast humming unusually or anything?
 
what kinda lighting is the moonlighting? Was it diy? How did you install it? metal or plastic reflector?
 
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