Electric current in water

[AndyH5512]

I thought I had read on here that there is something you can use to detect electric current in water. Can anyone say what it is? TIA

 

[loyalrogue]

I don't know of an electrical meter for detecting voltage in your tank but most everyone I know uses a titanium ground rod in their tanks to eliminate any stray voltage that might be there.

Here's a sample one from Drs. Foster and Smith's website:
Linky - Titanium Ground Probe

 

[roka64]

I agree, go with the probe.

 

[AndyH5512]

Where are you placing these grounding rods, in the tank itself or the sump?

 

[SeeDemTails]

You must have gotten an electric eel in your LR!

 

[AndyH5512]

I was working on a tank yesterday, and the power strip went real bad. I never got any water on, though. Im not sure what happened. At any rate, when I went to start it up, I felt a small shock before I touched it. I immediately yanked it out of the wall at the plug. It had burned up upon closer inspection. All the fish, etc were fine. This is where my concern/interest comes from.

 

[austinsdad]

Where are you placing these grounding rods, in the tank itself or the sump?

I believe either will do since all the water is still "connected".

I've got mine in my overflow blox.

 

[afilter]

Hello,

I have heard the debate go on about that value of grounding probes and have thought about getting one myself. I stumbled on the below post on a local thread on found it very educational. The post is kind of long, but worth the read. After all with water and electricity we are talking life and death. Take time and read:

http://www.madisonreef.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1416

Your call on adding a probe or finding out what the real problem may be. A probe only diverts a problem that may exist and if we are overconfident it may be our undoing. IMO, nothing beats routine maintenance on our equipment and safety. Not to mentio the health of our aquariums with stray voltage running around. Even with a probe there is still electricity running through the water (and fish) if a problem does exist.

HTH,

 

[melosu58]

IMO, nothing beats routine maintenance on our equipment and safety. Not to mentio the health of our aquariums with stray voltage running around. Even with a probe there is still electricity running through the water (and fish) if a problem does exist.

Could not have said it better.

 

[AndyH5512]

Thanks for the post on the ground probes, etc. I will tell you guys, after reading it that- it is an eye opening experience. I felt that "tingle" as I got closer to the reset button on the power strip. At that point, I immediately yanked the power strip out of the wall at the plug. Scary stuff. I will get the GFCI checker ASAP, and I still will probably get a grounding probe as well. If it is out of sight in the sump, it cant really hurt.

 

[dskidmore]

I think it's a matter of safety. Sure you should upkeep your equiptment and not depend on the ground probe to make up for faulty equiptment, but if you did have a sudden failure, the ground probe could save your life when you reach in the water.

 

[afilter]

I think it's a matter of safety. Sure you should upkeep your equiptment and not depend on the ground probe to make up for faulty equiptment, but if you did have a sudden failure, the ground probe could save your life when you reach in the water.

Most definately, just do not assume because you have a probe that all is well. The problem may exist and you will not know until marine life starts to show signs of suffering/dieing or the probe fails. Then it is probably to late.

Unfortunately I think too many feel that if they have a ground probe the potential problem is solved.

Bottom line, a meter should probably be a part of the required list of aquarium equipment, and test often.

 

[abnmojo]

Well, I have a scary experience to tell here. A long time ago, I had as primary filtration on my 55 gallon salt tank a big canister filter. I still have it, in the garage, if anyone wants it.... lol. Anyway, the seal was not seated properly and when I plugged it in, it shot a stream of salt water 2 feet out and you guessed it, directly onto an electrical outlet.

Sparks, Smoke, scary stuff. I had to grab a broom handle and knock the plug out of the wall.

Quite frankly, saltwater is about 10000 times a better conductor of electricity than fresh water. I have never had any problems with a little bit of fresh water splashed on any electrical outlets, but I tell you, salt water is nothing to mess with.

A good rule of thumb is to buy the stupid grounding probe, and just toss those powerheads out once they are about 5 years old (for the cheap/mid priced ones). After that long, they are going to die soon anyway and most 'stray voltage' in a system can be traced to them if you have the time and equipment to check. I guess if you got some high dollar ones they would last longer, but I always get the cheap ones because I figure 2 X $35 powerheads in 10 years time is still cheaper than ONE $75 powerhead that would last that long.