How to check for a voltage leak ?

[AquaJohn]

I think I have or had some kind of voltage leak in my canopy. Its DIY all aluminum and holds several fans my led's and 2 48" t5's and misc other electrical dodads lol.

Some times I would get a tingle if my arm rubs the frame and my hand is in the water. Its not always and its not bad <yet> I am not even sure if its really a tingle or of its just from rubbing the metal but I want to be safe and not sorry.

This weekend I removed it from the tank to replace a led that went out and went over all the wires for nics or bad connections and did not find any.

Is there a way to test the monstrosity with a volt meter ? to see if there is in fact some extra voltage coming from something ?

I am not real worried about it nuking the tank its Isolated from that but I would prefer not to fry myself.

and if I find a leak is the best way to find to sorce to just plug in one thing at a time till it shows up and if so how do you fix it ?

As a safty I ran a few more wires to each section so I know its all connected to a ground now for sure and I have not felt the tingle after reinstalling to this AM.

[rchavez]

Yes! It is really easy. You will notice if you have a voltage leak. Fish will not swim, eat and eventually perish. Corals will not grow. Just buy an inexpensive volt meter from home depot and test.

Check out this link:

http://saltaquarium.about.com/od/aquariummaintenancecare/a/aastrayvoltage.htm

RC

[jestep]

Sorry for the extended digression. I have to disagree with a lot of the stray voltage theory.

First off I do not disagree that current flow through a tank causes death to just about any inhabitant. My main disagreement is that there is no current flow by simply introducing voltage into the water. Unless there is a path to ground, the voltage is essentially inert in how it reacts with tank inhabitants. If there is any path to ground and there is anything that resembles a short into the water, either a breaker or GCFI outlet will quickly trip. Almost all of the evidence and suggestions I've ever read on it, relating to HLLE and coral problems are anecdotal at best.

Rotating pumps will naturally induce a voltage in a conductor such as seawater, but again, without a clean path to ground, there is no current flow in the water.

Test on the AC setting, next largest above 120, and test an outlet hot to ground and it should read 120. As far as a multi meter, you should always test the meter on a known source, the outlet, then test the water to ground, and then test the meter again on the known source to validate it is still working. The last step is crucial especially for an analog meter. This is military standard testing procedure. A $10 home depot or lowes digital meter is cheap and plenty accurate for just testing if voltage is present. There's no reason to buy a fluke or other high grade meter for something like this. Also, it's common so see anywhere for 3 - 7 or 8 volts in the water due to induction from pumps. If something is shorted, you should measure a full 110/120 on the AC setting.

If you feel any tingle, you should be very careful and just assume that something is completely shorted into the tank. Most likely your feet are well insulated and you are not providing a good path to ground. Stand barefoot on concrete and touch the water and it's an entirely different story. I had a hard ground in one of my tanks for more than 18 months. Every so often I would feel a slight tingle when working in the tank, mostly if I was just brushing the water's surface. I never realized it was an actual short because it's a carpeted floor and I was always wearing shoes. I replaced the light fixture with a metal one, and shorted out the tank when my shoulder brushed it when working on the gravel bed. It was very apparent at that point, and I tested a full 120 in the water.

This argument almost always next leads to the grounding probe discussion. Referencing the above path to ground principle, a grounding probe now offers a very clear path to ground. So, any voltage that is induced by spinning pumps or shorted equipment creates current flow in the tank and will damage tank inhabitants. If the voltage is not enough to trip a GFCI or breaker, there's going to be a lot of coral damage and dead or stressed fish without any apparent reason. Because of this, a grounding probe can be far more damaging to a tank than not having one. They're mainly designed to protect a human from fully shorted equipment, not at all to protect livestock. And for this to work, they and all electrical equipment need to be plugged into the same circuit and it must have a GFCI. If there is a short, the GFCI pops immediately and every piece of electrical equipment shuts off. If you're not around and can diagnose and start the tank back up, you're going to end up with some loses or a complete tank crash. IMO, grounding probes aren't worth the risk. Get a meter and test the tank every month, of if you have any suspicion of shorted equipment.

[victoly]

HLLE is directly influenced by poor quality (lignite) carbon. It's not as prevalent these days because te quality of carbon on the market has improved drastically. There was an academic study on it, but I'm on my phone and it's a pain in the butt to search for it.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[AquaJohn]

My internet was down all day so I did not get a chance to read the posts and try and fix the problem.

I do not think its in the tank itself I think its in the canopy. I have stone flooring and am usualy bare foot when working in the tank. After reading I may start slipping on some rubber boots before sticking my hand in lol.

So to test I take the multi meter and test the outlet the lights are plugged into I assume an open port on the power strip is good enough and I dont have to un plug the lights. Then leave the one probe on the ground and place the other probe against the metal canopy to see if there is a short ? then place the same probe into the water to see if there is a short in the tank some place.anything over 8v is bad.

[jestep]

Yes, that would be the best way to test. 8V is just a baseline. I would expect to see 2 - 3V in most tanks. I've personally never seen above about 5, but I've heard of some people with very large pumps testing near 10V. You can't really get a half shorted piece of equipment, so if it's not 120, there's probably not a short into the tank. Also, if any of your equipment is DC, do a check of that as well. Some top off pumps and other miscellaneous equipment have DC adapters, and it would be worth testing for that as well if any of it is submerged.

[George Monnat Jr]

Is it the low-voltage lines to the LEDs or the 115Vac supply lines? If it's weak insulation, a standard 9V digital multi-meter (DMM) or voltmeter might not find it. You may need higher voltage to find the leak, closer to the voltage that normally runs through it.

[AquaJohn]

ok so touching the black probe to the ground and the red probe into the socket I got 122. On the canopy and lights with the black to ground and red touching in multiple areas the meter was at 0.

putting the red pobe in the tank resulted in 2 so that should mean I am not gona nuke myself right

Also I did not get any tingles so I hope that the new grounds and replacing the burned out led fixed the leak.

None of the eq is DC I looked at the tags on them to make sure. I also made sure everyting was on even the heaters.

Thanks for the help