fishgate
Active member
Well... was shocked... many times actually!
I was doing a water change just now and thought I felt a slight tingle. So I checked again and was more sure. So I got my multi-meter and checked voltage between my sump water and ground. It measured 37 volts A/C. Woah not good! So I unplugged my return pump. Checked again using the old hand in the water and hand on ground, got that tingle again. So I unplugged the heater. Still tingly. So what was left? uhh... nothing. hmmm.... I proceeded to unplug the ATO but I didn't think that could do this. Tingle test confirmed, NOT the ATO. What the.... I figured may as well pull the temp and pH probes. Check again, tingly still, 37 volts A/C still. Now this was getting very strange. Every single thing in the sump was now unplugged and most of it I removed from the sump so where was this errant voltage coming from? I looked at all the lines near the sump but nothing was in the water. Very peculiar! Finally, just for fun, I unplugged one of the Hydor circulation pumps in the main tank. Check and mate! Tingle stopped! So even though my return pump was off, the return line back to the tank was still primed and still created a water path from the tank down to the sump. Very interesting!
I think this explains my Urchin's strange behavior lately. He has been shedding a few spines and wedged himself between the tank and a pipe. The clown didn't seem to mind but the snails were also seeming to be out of water. Now I know the Clown was not grounded as well as the Urchin. But can they still be effected by voltage in the tank? I never measured from the tank to ground so I don't know how much voltage the DT was experiencing.
And also I guess I am not understanding why my GFI didn't pop. The Hydor was plugged into a power strip that was plugged into a GFI outlet. Should this have popped or no?
I was doing a water change just now and thought I felt a slight tingle. So I checked again and was more sure. So I got my multi-meter and checked voltage between my sump water and ground. It measured 37 volts A/C. Woah not good! So I unplugged my return pump. Checked again using the old hand in the water and hand on ground, got that tingle again. So I unplugged the heater. Still tingly. So what was left? uhh... nothing. hmmm.... I proceeded to unplug the ATO but I didn't think that could do this. Tingle test confirmed, NOT the ATO. What the.... I figured may as well pull the temp and pH probes. Check again, tingly still, 37 volts A/C still. Now this was getting very strange. Every single thing in the sump was now unplugged and most of it I removed from the sump so where was this errant voltage coming from? I looked at all the lines near the sump but nothing was in the water. Very peculiar! Finally, just for fun, I unplugged one of the Hydor circulation pumps in the main tank. Check and mate! Tingle stopped! So even though my return pump was off, the return line back to the tank was still primed and still created a water path from the tank down to the sump. Very interesting!
I think this explains my Urchin's strange behavior lately. He has been shedding a few spines and wedged himself between the tank and a pipe. The clown didn't seem to mind but the snails were also seeming to be out of water. Now I know the Clown was not grounded as well as the Urchin. But can they still be effected by voltage in the tank? I never measured from the tank to ground so I don't know how much voltage the DT was experiencing.
And also I guess I am not understanding why my GFI didn't pop. The Hydor was plugged into a power strip that was plugged into a GFI outlet. Should this have popped or no?
