Electrical holocaust

B

billragan

New member
I awoke to a tank full of dead fish this morning. My tank has been set up about a year and half. Something shorted out and threw the breaker but not the ground fault outlet. The dead, and it looks like they passed away where they sleep, shrimp, hawkfish, six line, goby, and I think all the little hermit crabs. Two clown fish lived and I think the Hippo tang may make it. It seems the snails and corals lived as well.

My question is how can you check all the pumps and electrical things in the tank. I had a maxi jet that has been making noise for about a week. I took it out, as well as the heater. I put a back up heater that I use for water changes and turned the sytem back on and it seems to be running ok. Is there a way to prevent this in the future? Is there some kind of controller that could have prevented this?
Bill
 
The only back up system I know of is to keep putting your hands in the tank. If you get zapped hunt down the problem.

Good way to keep the tank clean. (something to do while keeping your hands in the tank) LOL
 
Sad situation, if you have a ground probe on the tank it will at least prevent an injury to you.

You can also get a DC audible alarm and use it for water spills or water level rises, this would at least let you know (if you are home) that the pump is not working or line issue - Home Depot $10.

Not sure why the fish would have died, 12 or so hours in still
water should have been OK.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7663123#post7663123 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by mcox33
The only back up system I know of is to keep putting your hands in the tank. If you get zapped hunt down the problem.

Good way to keep the tank clean. (something to do while keeping your hands in the tank) LOL
Click to expand...


There is no way I would do this. If something is shocking the fish to death I don't want any part of it.

I am not sure but I would say you could use a voltage multimeter and check the water to see if there is stray voltage.
 
I don't think the still water was the problem. The temperature only dropped to 76 from 78/79. The power to the tank was only off about 5 hours, I could tell by the light timers. I think the fish got shocked and the one's that couldn't take the jolt died. The tang was laying on the bottom of the tank near where he sleeps. He was gasping and I tought he would die but he's up and swam to a spot in the rocks. I was using a stealth heater that I think was the problem. They are suppose to shut of when out of the water but I plug it in out of the water and it got so hot you couldn't touch it in about a minute.
On the bright side goby is ok and I think the crabs are too.
 
I'm not big on the hand in the water method either. I'm sure it works, but I'm not ready to join the fish and shrimp yet. I checked with a voltage meter in the water and I don't seem to have any stray voltage. I hope the problem was the heater. Thanks
 
I would not think the fish could get shocked, sort of like a squirrel or bird on a power line, as long as the squirrel is not grounded, he is not jolted...........but I do not know, there is always the radio in the bath tub. The stray voltage will not affect the fish/coral immediately (although there are theories about LLD and other problems associated with stray voltage), you can feel it when you stick your hand in - (particularly if you have a cut) once again because the stray voltage finds a ground path through your body.

Use a ground probe if you do not have one already, sorry for your loss, good luck.
You can normally measure this voltage and a ground probe will eliminate it.
 
How does a ground probe work and where can I get one? When i did a water change about a week ago I had my hands it the tank I noticed that when my arms (wet) touched the housing for my Current light fixture I got a tingle. Could that have been stray voltage?
 
How do you pin down where the problem is? 1package I would think that fish could get shocked. Didn't people use to fish with an old crank phone by putting the wires in the water and catching the floating fish (hillbilly fishing)? But then, I'm no electrical expert.
 
you can fish like that, sounds abit risky to me....

id say the best way to hunt down your problem is unplugging things and checking with a volt meter.

before you unplug stuff, check your water with a meter. black lead to ground red to the water. set on volts AC. if that reads over a volt or so id be concerned.

lighting is notorious for spurious voltage. iv seen 5 volts in the air from a fluorescent light, theres no current with that sorta situation.

check the fixture that buzzed you, on and off. i got a nickle that says its the problem.

if i missed something or was dumb otherwise , please say so.
 
I checked the water and i have 0 volts with the meter. The light fixture that buzzed me is on. I was thinking that I grounded myself on the fixture that's why I got buzzed (from the stray voltage in the water). I might take a look inside the light fixture just to make sure. I'm hoping it was the heater, but I don't know how to check it without putting it in a bucket of water and using the votage meter. Thanks for the help!!
 
zero on the water is good...

the tank its self should be insulated. glass and plastics are not conductive. the only way to ground your self is if something touching the water is grounded or hot... same with the fixture that buzzed you.

check volts ac from the fixture to the water. if it reads high unplug the suspect heater and do it again.
 
Sounds to me like you already found the problem. If the stealth heater was putting out heat out of the water when it's not supposed to the there is the problem item. I just don't like those type of heaters that you can fully put under water. to many things can go wrong with them IMO.
 
Was your water cloudy after the outage? I had a pump go out on me the other day in my sump and "burn under water" releasing toxic crap into 2 of my coral tanks, heaters can do that also, on a day that I wasn't in that store. All my SPS in that system died (about 8) and my shrimp that were in the tanks also, all my softies shrank up to nothing and my LPS looked crappy also. I think I saved the majority by moving them to other tanks, but the weird thing is I had 4 baby blue tangs and they all lived. I had to do a complete water change on the system and all is testing fine now.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7663123#post7663123 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by mcox33
The only back up system I know of is to keep putting your hands in the tank. If you get zapped hunt down the problem.

Good way to keep the tank clean. (something to do while keeping your hands in the tank) LOL
Click to expand...
Besides being really dangerous you can have stray voltage without getting shocked ;)
We had a stray voltage problem that probably started ~4 months before we caught it. Enough current to irritate the tang and some corals but not enough to zap us. We had a 100% turn around after finding the problem and installing a grounding probe.
Was your water cloudy after the outage? I had a pump go out on me the other day in my sump and "burn under water" releasing toxic crap into 2 of my coral tanks, heaters can do that also, on a day that I wasn't in that store. All my SPS in that system died (about 8) and my shrimp that were in the tanks also, all my softies shrank up to nothing and my LPS looked crappy also. I think I saved the majority by moving them to other tanks, but the weird thing is I had 4 baby blue tangs and they all lived. I had to do a complete water change on the system and all is testing fine now.
Click to expand...
Crap Jim that bites At least I wasn't around when it happened.
 
as far as checkin the water to fixture, you already disassembled the setup... took out the suspect heater and all so its not as valid a test, but ... one meter lead to water the other to the part that you got bit by.

is there really a good way to heat a tank, most heaters involve electricity... there all risky... if its quality manufacturing and ul listed and what not, then they should all be about the same. i guess its pick your brand / model at your own risk...
 
after some googleing, one source i found claims 10v is the high end of safe ish, in a wet, saltwater wet situation , with people needing 2 - 10 mA of current to notice the electricity. compare this to a 9v battery on the tongue and id say its pretty close.
 
I'm hoping it was either the heater or powerhead I removed. I don't seem to have any stray voltage anymore. I had Jomars order me a ground probe today.

I haven't noticed any cloudy water or a film on the water, but some my softies don't look good. I had some Anthelia that was like a weed and it looks bad. Most polyps are closed (star, yellow,etc.). Xenia, sun coral and ricordea type musrooms look fine. The actinodiscus or smoother mushrooms don't look good, but I hope they will come back. It's wierd. I going to do a water change tommorow and add some carbon for a few days, just encase something leaked out.

Thanks for all the help
 
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