Acceptable Levels of Stray Voltage

[Atomikk]

(was posted in the General sub-forum, but received low responses)
Hey everyone,

By now we have all felt a jolt or two from touching our tank's water while having bare feet. This is due to stray voltage leaking out of pump's housing, or at least that is what I am lead to believe.

The bigger question is, what are acceptable levels of this stray voltage? Or if no one can answer this, what are your readings using the multimeter? This way we can on average determine what levels are ok.

Some people say that they have zero, but has anyone tested recently?

This should be interesting!

 

[Reef obcession]

my wet room is like an electric chair if there's water on the floor and you touch something. I will be re doing all the electrical work but I believe its all coming from the pumps and DJ power strip.

 

[Dustin1300]

Id be curious to see what is acceptable, as zero is optimal but not sure the 'threshold' for fish/coral:bounce3:

Sent from my Droid using Tapatalk

 

[Allmost]

being an electrical engineer, AC power is not good for anything lol
although it may accelerate calcification !

Titanium ground probe connected to the same power bar which is fused will not only pull out all electrical currents, it will also shut off pumps if current is released into the tank.

 

[Atomikk]

Like I said, this is going to be interesting.

As a note, today I found out that my return pump was breached and was leaking lots of AC current into my water. But overall, I still get some residual current from pumps (small and large). I believe that small amounts are ok, or acceptable by our inhabitants. Large amounts will kill corals and fish.

 

[Allmost]

Like I said, this is going to be interesting.

As a note, today I found out that my return pump was breached and was leaking lots of AC current into my water. But overall, I still get some residual current from pumps (small and large). I believe that small amounts are ok, or acceptable by our inhabitants. Large amounts will kill corals and fish.

ure 120V pump leacking AC current to ure tank ? u know what that would do right ? it would separate H from O in H2o.


Korallia shafts leacked current back in the days, and that was the fault of a metalic shaft rotating in a megnetic field which made small DC current across tha tank.

 

[harlequin tusk]

Has Korallia fixed that problem? And how do you tell if your Korallia is one of the older ones that leaks current? Anyone know?

 

[Crazy Cracker]

While we're on the topic, my sump was reading .2 - .3 volts, so I added a grounding probe a few weeks ago.

After the addition of the grounding probe, Im still showing the same .2 - .3 volts as before, however, I know for certain that it is connected to a good ground.

Is this typical? Is my volt meter just reading the same stray voltage even though it's grounded now?

I was expecting it to read zero after the addition of the grounding probe, so this struck me as odd.

 

[Allmost]

While we're on the topic, my sump was reading .2 - .3 volts, so I added a grounding probe a few weeks ago.

After the addition of the grounding probe, Im still showing the same .2 - .3 volts as before, however, I know for certain that it is connected to a good ground.

Is this typical? Is my volt meter just reading the same stray voltage even though it's grounded now?

I was expecting it to read zero after the addition of the grounding probe, so this struck me as odd.

0.3 VOLTS ? volt is product of current I times by resistance of the medium R. most likely the 0.3 V u see there is caused by the noise that ure pump makes (electrical noise) making ure volt meter read it wrong. it is not correct to measure volts, u need to measure the current flowing I in amps.

 

[Allmost]

Has Korallia fixed that problem? And how do you tell if your Korallia is one of the older ones that leaks current? Anyone know?

yea new generation has a none-metalic shaft on it now.

I made my LFS change all mine

 

[ibnozn]

Never thought about using a multimeter. Thanks! Think I'll try it when I get home. I have some older Koralias that I use intermittently so I'll check them too.

Are there experiences where small amounts of stray current have damaged tank inhabitants? Back in my FW days I'd have glass heaters fry such that I could literally see arcing going on inside them but it never seemed to harm any fish. It probably never continued more than a day or so though.

 

[Allmost]

Never thought about using a multimeter. Thanks! Think I'll try it when I get home. I have some older Koralias that I use intermittently so I'll check them too.

Are there experiences where small amounts of stray current have damaged tank inhabitants? Back in my FW days I'd have glass heaters fry such that I could literally see arcing going on inside them but it never seemed to harm any fish. It probably never continued more than a day or so though.

I broke a heater in the tank and nothing no bad effects ! so not sure

but saltwater is alot more conductive ... so I have no Idea lol

it would make it harder for fish to breathe, and release some oxygen from the water, but that's all I can think of.

 

[Conlius]

<--electrical engineer by degree as well. Network engineer by job

I have had multiple heaters and power heads leak serious amounts of current into the tank...enough that when I touched the water I jumped. It just made all my fish hide for a while...once unplugged they came right out.

 

[Conlius]

Never thought about using a multimeter. Thanks! Think I'll try it when I get home. I have some older Koralias that I use intermittently so I'll check them too.

Are there experiences where small amounts of stray current have damaged tank inhabitants? Back in my FW days I'd have glass heaters fry such that I could literally see arcing going on inside them but it never seemed to harm any fish. It probably never continued more than a day or so though.

Pure H2O isn't conductive. It's everything else in the water that is conductive (heavy metals, bacteria, etc...)...but you aren't talking about that much in freshwater. Saltwater is waaaay more conductive.

 

[Wzrdbear]

I had a "leaking" powerhead that would give me a jolt when i touched the water, and the fish seemed aggitated, the corals were as well....replaced the powerhead and got a titanium ground probe that went in the water. Everything seemed much much happier. Getting shocked is not fun or safe at all....i always use a ground probe now...just make sure that the circuit you are plugging the probe into is properly grounded.

As far as acceptable levels i would say "0"

 

[Mike31154]

Here's some info, have a read and draw your conclusions, but GFCI device is recommended for your protection and anyone else thinking of sticking a body part into the water with electrical components doing their thing.

http://angel-strike.com/aquarium/GFI&TechnicalDetails.html

http://angel-strike.com/aquarium/GroundingProbes.html

 

[Rickyrooz1]

I had a stray voltage problem, after installing a grounding probe in my sump the problem went away.

 

[Mike31154]

It's unlikely the grounding probe made the problem go away. It's still there, but being shunted to ground through your grounding probe. Check your submersed equipment and correct the problem by replacing/repairing the offending piece of gear.