rogerwilco357
Active member
what damage can stray current have on a tank and the inhabitants? slight current not felt all the time and very minimal ...or does that even matter?
stray current
- Thread starter rogerwilco357
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rogerwilco357
Active member
anyone have this problem of is just me?
Oh no eventually pumps and such as they get older can and probably will leak current. Many animals such as tangs and angels are easily harmed eventually killed by this. Most LFSs sell grounding plugs. Their cheap all you do is place the prong just inside the back of the tank and plug into any wall socket with a ground. There is a small wire with an eye screw that you put behind the screw that holds the plate to the wall socket. Really easy to do and they run about $15 here for one with a titanium rod which is what you want. Should a piece of equipment ever malfunction and release a stronger current it will keep you from getting zapped thrown across the room from the jolt.
Tang Salad
Algae skeptic
You should find out which piece of equipment is leaking and replace it. It will only get worse, not better. (You can use a cheap multimeter to find it; one probe in the water, one probe to the screw on a wall outlet.)
Unless the malfunctioning equipment is your light fixture. And then you touch it and the water at the same time. In this case the grounding probe creates a risk that wasn't there before.
This is a debated, but likely not debatable, topic. Others will disagree, but my understanding is that grounding plugs should only ever be used with a GFCI.
rogerwilco357
Active member
well the tank is setup on ground fault circuit interrupters and the minimal stray current given off by pumps as i use vortechs so it must be my main pump or the gfo's small pump either way the stray current i felt was on my hand with a slight cut ..but with the other hand i can feel nothing ..i put the titanium rod in and grounded it to the cold water pipe and no more stray current ..it will handle just that stray current but not a short ..a short would set off the gfci i have seen this happen with water spray or mist over an electrical plug or so ..just wanted to know what it would do for the corals and fish are they grounded?
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