Stray electric current and possible impact on SPS

[baileythed0g]

Has anyone ever done any research on stray electrical current in reef aquariums and it's impact on SPS?

I was tooling around my tank as usual when I lightly touched the surface of the water and got a slight shock of electricity that I wasn't expecting! I found that I could repeat this event by lightly tapping the water surface.

I've read about stray current and it's negative effects, so I immediately I purchased a grounding probe for the tank.

Even after installing this, I noticed that I would still receive a light shock with all of the equipment on. The grounding probe really didn't seem to help much. The sensation would increase in certain areas of the tank.

I theorized that perhaps I was accumulating a stray charge external to the tank and simply was experiencing a "static electiricity" discharge when touching the water. But my tank is set up in an unfinished basement with a concrete floor. So it's not like I'm walking on carpet or anything. ( I guess that doesn't prove anything really).

At any rate, I started a process of elimination, shutting down one thing after another in an attempt to see if this would change things.

This sensation went away when I shut off all of my maxijets (but left the main pump (Mag 9.5b), Skimmer (ASM G2 with Sedra) , and Sump pump (mag 3) on.


I'm certainly not an electrical engineer. Thoughts?

 

[Acronana06]

umm yeah TURN OFF THE MAXIJET figure out which one it is and take it outside and get the biggest hammer u can find and then put it outa its misery

 

[Shawnts106]

umm yeah TURN OFF THE MAXIJET figure out which one it is and take it outside and get the biggest hammer u can find and then put it outa its misery

haha... agreed!

 

[icliao]

I have been wondering that myself. Has any one experienced mysterious death of corals due to stray voltage. One of the reefer I know got a bad chiller that put out 170v in his tank. He almost got electricuted. He has some RTN and I wonder if there is anything to do with the "stray" voltage.

 

[fijiblue]

Im sure it depends on the power of the stray current, but I know there were studies done in Fiji with a constant low current to see if calcification was accelerated...didn't have a positive or negative affect on the corals.

In your case, though I would for sure find the faulty maxijet and give the boot:hammer:

 

[TacoKing]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8034487#post8034487 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Dr. JMadscientist
Im sure it depends on the power of the stray current, but I know there were studies done in Fiji with a constant low current to see if calcification was accelerated...didn't have a positive or negative affect on the corals.

In your case, though I would for sure find the faulty maxijet and give the boot:hammer:

Actually, low voltage is actually used to grow corals and revive reefs. Here's a link to a MSN article on it.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5770139/

 

[sodaman]

Interesting info TacoKing.

Electroshock Therapy for increasing coral growth, hmm?

 

[Orochimaru]

what's next, viagra?

anyway, I do have stray current in my tank too. If I walk barefoot and touch any water in tank or sump, I get a slight shock. Of course, wearing sandals help.

so I am tagging along for info.

 

[RichConley]

DO NOT USE A GROUNDING PROBE IF YOU DONT HAVE A GFCI.

Grounding proves (obviously) create a connection to ground. Before, you just had a potential charge on your tank..when you stick your hand in, you create a path to ground, and current flows through the tank for a second.

Now its constantly flowing through the tank because its always grounded. Grounding probes have 1 use: To set off the GFCI before you set it off yourself by sticking your hand in. If you're not running a GFCI on every piece of equipment, you shouldnt be using a probe.


(the constant path to ground and constantly flowing current also makes it more likely that the piece of equipment in question will pull excess current, and catch on fire)

 

[sfsuphysics]

Of course before you randomly destroy powerheads I'd check your outlet, a great many "stray voltage" issues with ANY electronic devices can usually be traced back to a the hot & neutral wires being reversed, especially if you've done a DIY job on the outlet. A plug tester will cost you a few bucks at most.

 

[rigleautomotive]

i have had the same problem when i ran power heads for flow on several tanks.it is one of the reasons i went closed loop with external pumps on all my reefs.the heat issue along with power heads not lasting long term was enough to switch to external pumps.IME power heads cause problems.

 

[Serioussnaps]

Well..i didnt read your post but just going on the topic title...stray voltage ....you shouldnt worry about the coral(not because it doesnt have negative effects) but because you should worry about yourself...

about 8 months ago i got the shock of my life...so badly that i called the fire department to come over and check the tank to see if it was safe...yes that bad...dont let it happen to you...it only takes one small mistake

start running a drip loop, possibly GFI's, take every precaution..its like sticking your palm on a burner(if you ever did this when you were a child)...you wont want to do it again

i suspect that if you have stray voltage that any pump/powerhead that isnt grounded is the source...correct it now

 

[Serioussnaps]

also, when pumps(particularly cheap pumps) are putting out stray voltage it is a sign that they are gonna blow..so if the stray voltage doesnt harm SPS then the toxins released when those babies blow will kill your SPS...replace the mj's with new mj's..i bet that will fix the voltage problem...

Also, you dont have any RIO products on your tank...this may include seio's...if you do you may want to look there and remove them(seio's arent as bad but they have the same makers so i say **** em)please heed this as you will find out like i did...the hard way...Rios put out some stray voltage for a period of time before they blow up in your tank and kill your livestock

 

[baileythed0g]

Good Advice

Good Advice

Thanks for the info everyone. This is really GOOD advice.

I did more investigations and discovered that all of my MJ's where contributing at least some additional current. (Some more than others). When using all of them in concert, the total voltage was noticeable.

The MJ's I'm using are getting a bit old and I'll seriously consider switching to a closed loop because the MJ's clutter up the tank and ...let's face it, they wear out.

To take this thread back to the reason why I posted in in the SPS forum, is that I also have an issue with poor PE and coloration. So the MJ's where an attempt to increase flow.

Now the coloration and PE issues could be related to water quality, lighing, etc (and we've all read discussions on those before). Nothing on those fronts seems amiss in my system. So, I was wondering if anyone knew of a relation between these things and the stray current I've discovered.

TacoKing's posted article seems to trash my hypothesis. But it's important to note that the charge supplied in the article appears to be much less. So if stray current can actually fortify a reef how much stray current is too much? (obviously more is not necessarily better) and how can an average Joe like myself measure this?

I think this topic has important ramifications for hobbyists and it might provide yet another explanation of why some hobbyists have resounding successes with SPS and others don't.