Electrical Ground for Aquarium?

[+Daniel]

Okay, so my Tunze Wavebox recently stopped working. I took it apart, tried to give the propeller a little assistance, but no luck! Frustrated, I just let it sit in the tank for a few days. Today, as I was working in my aquarium, I felt an electrical shock sharply in one of my fingers. As it turns out, I cut the nail on that finger a little short and so I was getting a shock through only that finger. I noticed that if I put only that finger in I felt the shock, but if I added my other fingers, the shock became very faint (but still there). I started unplugging all my equipment, starting with my Tunze pumps (2 x 6025 pumps). The shock was still there. I then removed my wavebox, and voila! No shock. I could put my finger in the water alone and still feel nothing.

After my fish frowned at my excitement, I began trying different combinations of my pumps to see which ones gave me the shock. As it turns out, if any one of my pumps or Wavebox are plugged in, I felt the shock. I then took the Wavebox out of the tank and put it in a bucket with FW. No shock with the wavebox off (as expected), but I did feel a shock, albeit less obvious than in the SW, with it on-- interestingly, the Wavebox began WORKING. The propeller was spinning and sure enough, I had some wave action. I then added one of the 6025 pumps into the bucket, plugged it in-- and after a few seconds-- silence. The Wavebox stopped working. I then turned of the 6025 pump and after a few minutes... the Wavebox was working normally, but I could still feel the shock.

So I'm not entirely sure why there is current leaking into my tank. The 6025's are on AC current and the Wavebox is on DC current. It seems like there's some sort of interference going on, but it's not completely evident to me what's happening. Will someone kindly illuminate what's going on and how I can get all my pumps working together in harmony? None of the Tunze equipment is grounded. Should I try to ground my aquarium?

Daniel

[subsea]

Dave, all equipment in water should be grounded. I try to use GRI. Even with a sensative Fluke Meter, your cut finger detected voltage. If you had good insulated shoes and were not touching anything else, you would have never felt the tingle. Unless you are qualified to more indepth diagnostics, I would install a GRI circuit. If the circuit does not trip when you plug the offending object, then no problem. If the offending equipment were to get worse, the GFI would be in place to protect you and yours. Electricity and water are a formula for disastor. Do not play games with this combination.

Stay cool,

Pat

[johnoburns]

Daniel,

Just to clear up any confusion, I believe Pat is referring to a GFCI (Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter). They are outlets typically found around water areas like kitchens and baths.

Pat has some great advise here. Something every reefer must have is a GFCI outlet to protect humans, fish, corals, and all those other critters. You can literally loose an entire tank or worse without them. I've seen two posts, just this year, on ARC where people have come home to almost everything being dead. Make sure to read the directions carefully before installing. Follow them exactly and you should have no problems. They are cheap, about $10 at Walmart, Home Depot, Lowes... and take about 10 min to install.

John

[caferacermike]

But as well as that, if you are experiencing that tiny little stray voltage try adding one of those simple titanium ground probes. They are a tiny little rod that has a plug on it that only plugs into the ground receptacle. It will ensure that any little stray voltage heads to your plug and not to you.

Now with that said, it only takes 6 milliamperes, or 0.006 amps, to screw up the regular heartbeat. 6 milliamps can easily cause a heart to beat backwards. It can take months to figure out if that is what is causing you to feel sick all the time. I worked with an electrician that was once lightly shocked and he laughed it off. After a few weeks he really began to slide downhill. He went to the doctors office a few times and was not diagnosed with his irregular heartbeat. A couple of weeks later he went in to see another specialist and it was determined that his heart had been beating backwards for a few weeks. They had to use electric shock therapy to stop his heart and then restart it the right way. It was a huge mess as it turned out that his blood was full of toxins from not being processed correctly through his organs. For 6 milliamps to do that kind of harm it must travel through the heart. What helped you in your situation was that you only had the one hand in the tank and your other hand was not touching a ground, had it been and your ability to write this post might have been jeopardized.

I have no idea what a GRI is, we've never mentioned them in the trades. We speak of ground fault circuit interrupters for sure. I do believe that Subsea may have accidentally typed "GRI" instead of GFI. If I am incorrect I would like to learn what a GRI is.

[subsea]

Ground Fault Interrupter or Ground Fault Circuit Interupter.

I liked the comment about the titanium probe. Stray voltage is a hard diognostic challenge. At one time, I had stray voltage frim the ground circuit through the titanium groud probe into the tank. In that particular case, a previous lightening bolt had created a path between neutral and ground and caused leakage into the tank. Use qualified electricians to do yearly stray voltage test on your home electrical system.

Pardon the Senior moment on GRI.

Have a blessed day, because it is a choice.

Pat

[+Daniel]

I do have a GFCI that is properly installed. I test it regularly and it works as it's supposed to work.

I'll try to find a titanium grounding probe and see if that fixes things.

I don't feel sick, so I'm hoping my heart is okay

[subsea]

As I implied, the sensitivity of the nerve endings is much more accurate at detecting stray voltage than $1000 Fluke volt meters. Trust your GFCI and forget about the tingle. Unless you got off on it. Sory I don't know you that well.

Pat

[+Daniel]

I guess my main reason for posting is that I'm wondering if this stray voltage is enough to knock my pumps offline. As I described from my nonscientific observations, it seems like this is possible. As a result, is this an abnormal observation and should I replace my pumps, or is this something that is common with most ungrounded equipment?

[+Mitch]

Not sure if you have seen this product before, but I just ran into:

Coralife Titanium Ground Probe

http://www.marinedepot.com/Coralife_Titanium_Ground_Probe_(Removes_Stray_Voltage)_GFCI_Extension_Cords_Grounding_Probes_Surge_Protectors_for_Saltwater_Aquariums-Coralife-ES00934-FIMIGF-vi.html

[subsea]

The titanium ground probe is not an end all to the complexity of the problem. Due to many things, the ground is not always clear and safe. With terms like common and ground used interchangeablely it is difficult to get technical in discribing a ground fault. Too many people read a little bit and think they know a lot. As I previously described, the ground circuit on my home was compromised because of a lightening bolt strike several years previously. Just because you do not get shocked does not mean that the potential is not a clear and present danger. Do not become a DOA statistic. Leave the electricity to the qualified electricians.

Your brother in arms,

Pat C

[Zarathustra2]

something i have found extremely useful lately is one of those 3 prong test plugs. They cost about 8 bucks and will diagnose most of the common issues you will run into or at least let you know that there is a problem there. Just mentioning it as they will test for a bad ground or (if you get a GFCI version) if you have an open ground fault.

[russell]

THANK YOU!!!!!!! I just read this and got a test probe out of the garage to test my tank for electricity. I have it, Current in my tank. I have a new tank and just started adding fish and lost all of them (3). Couldnt figure out what it was till now. Water was perfect ,conditions just right. I'm going tomorrow to buy one of those plugs. THANK YOU again for letting me know I wasnt crazy!

[+Daniel]

In your case, since you were losing fish, it sounds like you had a lot of current leaking into the tank. I talked with Roger at Tunze (and had him test my equipment), but the discharge was too small to be picked up by his sensors...my cut finger was just super special, I guess.