stray voltage

[justy]

Quick question if I may?

Does stray voltage really have a negative effect on the growth and well being of sps?
And if so what level of voltage is deemed to start causing issues.
I understand that people will have a wide range of experiences and opinion, but can we say as a whole that it is a bad thing or has no effect at all?

Look forward to hearing peoples experiences on this.
Many thanks Justin

 

[crawlerman]

in my experience you will lose PE then STN. Stray voltage is bad.

 

[nozleman]

How do you check for stray voltage??

 

[Rickyrooz1]

I had a protein skimmer pump leaking a stray volt and it caused STN on my Valida. I also noticed no polyp extension as crawlerman stated. It did not affect the other corals or fish in my tank thankfully. As far as verifying a stray volt. I really noticed it when I had a small cut on my finger I would get shocked when putting my hands in the tank.

 

[Gone Tidepoolin]

Stray voltage

Stray voltage

A volt meter, put the probes in the water.
I would just buy a grounding probe/rod they are an inexpensive insurance plan!

 

[justy]

Thanks for your comments guys I think I may install a grounding probe just to be sure. I get about 40 volts. And I think it is induced voltage caused by the pumps spinning rather than faulty equipment leaking voltage into the water?

 

[karmann]

Personally I would find out which equipment is the root cause and replace it, I am still trying to wrap my head around grounding probes use in aquariums and would love to see a full write up about it. Is it being used as a safety measure to trip the GFCI ? Or drawing voltage away, if the later then what about current?
I am not saying they don't work but running a closed circuit in a tank of water just sounds odd.

 

[Pife]

Personally I would find out which equipment is the root cause and replace it, I am still trying to wrap my head around grounding probes use in aquariums and would love to see a full write up about it. Is it being used as a safety measure to trip the GFCI ? Or drawing voltage away, if the later then what about current?
I am not saying they don't work but running a closed circuit in a tank of water just sounds odd.

What do you mean by a closed circuit?

 

[karmann]

What do you mean by a closed circuit?

Current flow which is what you accomplish by adding these grounding probes.

 

[thepotoo]

I get about 40 volts. And I think it is induced voltage caused by the pumps spinning rather than faulty equipment leaking voltage into the water?

Unplug the pumps and check again with them off to confirm. That's way more than you should see - make sure the housing isn't cracked on any pumps.

 

[scar79]

Stray voltage can also lead to HLLE. A multimeter will tell you exactly, but you may also feel it as a stinging sensation through any small cuts (hang nails!) on your fingers.

I view grounding probes as a bandaid to a real problem which could then go unnoticed. There is the safety factor - and anybody correct me if I'm wrong - but if you've got enough voltage in the water to give you a really good shock, your GFI probably would have already tripped.

 

[Pife]

Current flow which is what you accomplish by adding these grounding probes.

Is this a joke ^? Be careful when responding to threads.



To measure your stray voltage in your tank set your meter to ac volts and put one lead to the ground of a receptacle and the other lead in the water. This will tell you what your stray voltage is.

 

[Pife]

A volt meter, put the probes in the water.
I would just buy a grounding probe/rod they are an inexpensive insurance plan!

Read above to give correct advice.

 

[Pife]

Stray voltage can also lead to HLLE. A multimeter will tell you exactly, but you may also feel it as a stinging sensation through any small cuts (hang nails!) on your fingers.

I view grounding probes as a bandaid to a real problem which could then go unnoticed. There is the safety factor - and anybody correct me if I'm wrong - but if you've got enough voltage in the water to give you a really good shock, your GFI probably would have already tripped.

Negative, voltage has nothing to do with tripping a gfci. It works off of a imbalance of current between the neutral and hot.

 

[karmann]

Is this a joke ^? Be careful when responding to threads.



To measure your stray voltage in your tank set your meter to ac volts and put one lead to the ground of a receptacle and the other lead in the water. This will tell you what your stray voltage is.

Interesting way to respond but since you invalidating with impunity please share your source because what you said doesn't make a lot of sense. Not once did I say anything about measuring stray voltage? Nor I ever called it "stray voltage" because the term is incorrect. Please go back read what I said before responding to posts.

 

[karmann]

Negative, voltage has nothing to do with tripping a gfci. It works off of a imbalance of current between the neutral and hot.

I am not even sure how to respond to this so I will just tell you what GFCI stands for "GROUND fault circuit interrupter" notice anything interesting in the name ? Perhaps the first word?

 

[Pife]

Interesting way to respond but since you invalidating with impunity please share your source because what you said doesn't make a lot of sense. Not once did I say anything about measuring stray voltage? Nor I ever called it "stray voltage" because the term is incorrect. Please go back read what I said before responding to posts.

First part was for you.

 

[Pife]

I am not even sure how to respond to this so I will just tell you what GFCI stands for "GROUND fault circuit interrupter" notice anything interesting in the name ? Perhaps the first word?

Indeed it does say ground in the title. Doesn't effect the way it works but what is the actual definition of a neutral? It is the grounded conductor.

This is also why I haven't ever got into a debate about electricity on the Internet.

 

[karmann]

Quoting from www.safeelectricity.org because I can’t find an electronic copy of the NEC code, I have it here but no way to scan it either so here it goes
https://www.safeelectricity.org/inf...y/317-ground-fault-circuit-interrupters-gfcis
Quote
What is a ground fault?
"According to the National Electrical Code, a “ground fault” is a conducting connection (whether intentional or accidental) between any electric conductor and any conducting material that is grounded or that may become grounded. Electricity always wants to find a path to the ground. In a ground fault, electricity has found a path to ground, but it is a path the electricity was never intended to be on, such as through a person’s body." ((or the ground probe in this instance))

How does a GFCI work?
The GFCI will “sense” the difference in the amount of electricity flowing into the circuit to that flowing out, even in amounts of current as small as 4 or 5 milliamps. The GFCI reacts quickly (less than one-tenth of a second) to trip or shut off the circuit.
End quote

Note what I have marked in bold above and my note in brackets. It is current not voltage and ground not neutral as you mentioned; also nowhere can you see a mention of sensing imbalance quoting you "It works off of a imbalance of current between the neutral and hot." It is the difference of current.
At any rate I am not trying to argue with you or with anyone else but since this involves serious safety hazard I feel obligated to respond. So to the original poster

Please don’t trust your family and your personal safety to the marketing department of a company trying to sell a product, In this case the ground probes or forum responses with imaginary ideas on electric theory heck don’t even trust me, research for yourself. That being said,
And as I and few others on this post stated before you need to find the source of the electric leak and replace the faulty device, this is the only way to fix this issue.

Now back to the ground probe, adding a ground probe without GFCI in the hope that it will fix this problem is a problem by itself. Introducing a conductor to provide a path for electricity in an aquarium without fixing the original issue in hopes that you will not shock or kill yourself when you touch the water creates an environment where the saltwater is constantly conducting electricity between the faulty device and the ground probe and now you can see why I said that does not make any sense.

Stay safe.

 

[Pife]

Quoting from www.safeelectricity.org because I can't find an electronic copy of the NEC code, I have it here but no way to scan it either so here it goes
https://www.safeelectricity.org/inf...y/317-ground-fault-circuit-interrupters-gfcis
Quote
What is a ground fault?
"According to the National Electrical Code, a "œground fault" is a conducting connection (whether intentional or accidental) between any electric conductor and any conducting material that is grounded or that may become grounded. Electricity always wants to find a path to the ground. In a ground fault, electricity has found a path to ground, but it is a path the electricity was never intended to be on, such as through a person's body." ((or the ground probe in this instance))

How does a GFCI work?
The GFCI will "œsense" the difference in the amount of electricity flowing into the circuit to that flowing out, even in amounts of current as small as 4 or 5 milliamps. The GFCI reacts quickly (less than one-tenth of a second) to trip or shut off the circuit.
End quote

I believe you don't understand what you posted.

I bolded and underlined the same statement that I said.
Hot is power going in and the neutral returns that power back to ground.


You literally do not have to hook up a ground wire to a GFCI.

Please pm me if you would like to continue this.