I electrocuted my tank

M

merek123

New member
Yesterday I came home from work to find all my sps bleached white. The plug for the led moon lights fell out and landed in the water. Shouldn't the GFCI have tripped? All my fish and acans seemed to handle it fine but the sps are white, zoos and palys closed and mushrooms and anemone shriveled. I did a partial water change,and added carbon filter bag to the sump. This morning most are showing partial polyp extention. Has any one seen or heard of this? What kind of outcome might I expect? Why did the GFCI not trip (It appears to be working fine)? Thanks, Merek:(
 
If just the plug landed in the tank how did it have electricity?

Is it possible there was copper covering the end of the plug and this leeched into your system. Copper is highly toxic to reef organisms.
 
I agree with Logzor, if it was copper your going to need to test for it / replace all your rock.
 
It was the side that plugs into the light(female). I thought of the copper thing and that's why I inserted carbon. I looked at the tip and it's not copper. I believe it might be brass( a blend of heavy metals one of which includes copper). I'm not well!
 
You can literally put that in your mouth and it wouldn't hurt you (you wouldn't even feel it). And no, it also would not trip the GFI.

I would look at other causes. What caused the plug to come out of the LED? Vibration, "help" from a roomate/family member, etc.
 
If it is for moonlights then it was DC current and not AC so all it should do is stop working. Water completely stops DC current from being able to flow, well fresh water does anyway, perhaps salt is different but I would think it would still just stop any flow of current.
 
It may have been when I fed the night before. The cord was sorta snug. It will be moved or removed so this never happens again. My wife only watch's (and complains of the expense) the tank and my 11month old daughter isn't tall enough, so I'm completly at fault here.
 
Your SPS looked perfectly fine and healthy the day before?
I don't believe enough copper could corrode and then solubilize into the water to cause any ill effect. And the current is negligible, it should kill your fish first, if it strong enough.
 
+1 i dought that little amount of electricity could do any harm. I would look into other causes. I've had a 300w heater blow up and not trip the GFI ( Faulty one) And everything was fine coral wise, I did get quite a shock though.
 
SPS was perfect and growing like weeds. Great color etc. and in one day all my SPS's (acro's, digi's, monti's, stylo etc.) turned stark white.
 
I know a guy whose heater cracked and shocked the heck out of his nano. (he was actually sitting in the same room and heard the pop and sizzle of the electrocution). Several of his corals survived, but all of the fish croaked dead immediately. He said they we're literally sinking to the bottom as he was running over to the tank. I would imaging that your problem has originated from something other than the electrical shock or you may have seen a similar outcome.
 
Just a personal peeve.

Electrocution means death by electricity. If anything survived, you didn't electrocute your tank.

I believe that shocked is the word that you intended.

/I'll go take my meds now.
 
the gfi works by detecting the loss of energy through ground. when its juicing your tank up its all accounted for. lol

the plug may have been zink plated, just as bad as copper. maybe worse. im not sure carbon pulls metals either, you may want to get one of those pads that absorb it.
 
While you should probably test for copper to be sure - I'd be surprised if enough copper would dissolve into a 120 gallon tank in that period of time to cause this kind of problem.

Just as a thought experiment - the detection limit of a Salifert copper test is 0.05 ppm (mg/L). In a 120 gallon tank, that would mean you would need to dissolve 23 mg of copper just to DETECT it. While 23 mg is not alot - it can be seen with the naked eye and would take the form of significant pitting of the metal. Like all solids, copper takes time to dissolve - and you won't get instantly high levels just because your tank comes into contact with copper for a short period of time. I think you should look for alternative explanations. Is there any evidence of a pH change? There's a SLIM possibility that you had a small amount of electrolysis occuring - which could cause the pH to crash as H+ is released.
 
Merek,
I'm absolutely, positively sure that electricity has nothing to do with it. For SPS to RTN/strip off their flesh in a 24-hour time span, something drastic has to happen. I would test for Alkalinity first. Do you have a doser? Perhaps it malfunctioned? What is your temp like? Maybe one of your pumps seized up and released tar into the water? I highly doubt the tiny electricity from that LED harness killed your tank. You need to look elsewhere IMO.

good luck
 
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