Voltage is a B****!!!!

[wt*jayjay]

soooo i figured out what killed my magnificent foxface after only his second day in qt last week...

i just got a radiata lion and a snowflake eel and as i was plugging in a skimmer to the qt just cuz they are both so messy and i noticed they started acting weird... and then i touched the water and got zapped! unplugged the skimmer and it went away. so i got out the volt meeter and the tank was reading 30+volts just from the heater and the canister filer and when i plugged the skimmer in it jumped to 45-50!!! no clue how the lion has lasted the last few days but ive got them both pulled out and they are currently being dripped into the main display tank... im praying they arent sick, but its better than me shocking them to death....

anyone have anymore info on leaking voltage?!?!?!

 

[rolo65]

Ground probe may help......pleanty of things we use leak voltage at some point....even in miniscule amounts......ground probes sometimes don't get it all out but will lower the stray voltage some....I had about 10v on my tank before the probe and 1.4v after....replaced the hydor heater and dropped more.....

 

[jennm]

Ground probe doesn't fix the problem, it just completes the circuit. Good safety device for the hobbyist, but doesn't really help the livestock

The only true fix is to repair or replace the defective equipment.

Jenn

 

[wt*jayjay]

grrrrrr lammeee..

and props to you jenn for telling me about this possibly happening when i saw you awhile back!

 

[jennm]

Unfortunately it's a common bugaboo with tanks - took me a while to learn about it in the first place, but now it's something I suggest checking for when the "right" puzzling symptoms occur in a tank.

Worth the few bucks' investment in a multimeter to check tanks from time to time.

Jenn

 

[kayakatl]

A tank will never have voltage until you complete a circuit. You can hold the hot end of a wire all day and never get "voltage" but if you touch a ground or a neutral you will feel that 120V. A ground probe actually does MORE damage by letting that current run through the tank. With that being said, if you do have voltage exposed to the tank it could still screw with the fish by causing an electrical field. Some fish (lateral line) will be seriously disoriented with even that field. Find the piece/ pieces of equipment that are causing this and remove them.

 

[brisco15]

Jason if you need to borrow anything let me know!I got plenty of stuff laying around to keep you going until you get new stuff!Good seeing you yesterday give me a call if you need anything.

 

[wt*jayjay]

well got a ground probe today and its down under 1volt now!

 

[johnr2604]

kayakATL;488397 wrote: A tank will never have voltage until you complete a circuit. You can hold the hot end of a wire all day and never get "voltage" but if you touch a ground or a neutral you will feel that 120V. A ground probe actually does MORE damage by letting that current run through the tank. With that being said, if you do have voltage exposed to the tank it could still screw with the fish by causing an electrical field. Some fish (lateral line) will be seriously disoriented with even that field. Find the piece/ pieces of equipment that are causing this and remove them.

Exactly :up: