Dary's tank!

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I don't even live in that house any more, but still, how do you explain the inverts not dying? Someone told me that the GFI wouldn't trip because it doesn't protect from that sort of situation. I don't remember the exact explanation though. This was a few years ago.
 
The clue may have been that arc welding you saw going on. That would without a doubt put metals (copper from the contacts) into the water. My guess is that had more to do with poisoning the corals, but not affecting the fish or inverts as badly. If your tank was leaking saltwater, I would be more inclined to think a ground was present. Had there been any significant current flowing the GFI would have tripped.
 
mr_X said:
I don't even live in that house any more, but still, how do you explain the inverts not dying? Someone told me that the GFI wouldn't trip because it doesn't protect from that sort of situation. I don't remember the exact explanation though. This was a few years ago.
Click to expand...

That's exactly what a GFI is designed to do, why they are in bathrooms and hot tubs by code. Somebody told you wrong ;-)
 
mr_X said:
I don't even live in that house any more, but still, how do you explain the inverts not dying? Someone told me that the GFI wouldn't trip because it doesn't protect from that sort of situation. I don't remember the exact explanation though. This was a few years ago.
Click to expand...


Hope this helps. Just a paragraph that explains it well, well at least for me it does.

"A GFCI monitors the amount of current flowing from hot to neutral. If there is any imbalance, it trips the circuit. It is able to sense a mismatch as small as 4 or 5 milliamps, and it can react as quickly as one-thirtieth of a second."


EDIT +1 for replacing GFCI, but since you don't live there anymore.....However you may want to test/double check the ones where you live now to be sure they are working. Most of them have "test" and "reset" buttons. If they don't "trip" (you'll hear a small click), then I would replace those that don't pass the test.
 
mr_X said:
It doesn't effect the fish. I'm not sure why, but they aren't bothered by it.
Click to expand...

It's the same reason a squirrel don't get fried on a 10k volt line. It has to be grounded.

Edit. Took time to reed the thread and it was explained in much more depth. I have heard that line workers on a high voltage line is actually able to feel it. Not get shocked but they can feel some kind if sensation. Might have a little something to do with the corals.
 
Gregcoyote said:
The clue may have been that arc welding you saw going on. That would without a doubt put metals (copper from the contacts) into the water. My guess is that had more to do with poisoning the corals, but not affecting the fish or inverts as badly. If your tank was leaking saltwater, I would be more inclined to think a ground was present. Had there been any significant current flowing the GFI would have tripped.
Click to expand...
The bleaching and browning happened instantly, before your eyes. not something that heavy metals poisoning would produce.
 
KAhner said:
It's the same reason a squirrel don't get fried on a 10k volt line. It has to be grounded.

Edit. Took time to reed the thread and it was explained in much more depth. I have heard that line workers on a high voltage line is actually able to feel it. Not get shocked but they can feel some kind if sensation. Might have a little something to do with the corals.
Click to expand...

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1507844

Interesting discussion. The flood of copper ions would be almost instant. They would disperse very rapidly. Just as fast as if you dosed the tank, maybe faster as this is pure copper being flashed into incandesence while mixing with your tank water. Still think it is likely cause. JIMO
 
mr_X said:
Copper? Again, what about the inverts? Sorry about the thread jack Dary!
Click to expand...

No problem., this is what this whole treads about... Carry on my boy., its getting pretty interesting
 
My only guess it was dose dependent. There just wasn't enough current flowing to kill anything like coral I don't think. Your tank bottom is a near perfect insulator and unless there was another grounding possibility, no current. Had you reached into the tank, the GFI would have popped, or you would have. Why the GFI wasn't affected is there wasn't anything wrong as far as it was concerned. It will remain a mystery. :)
 
As for the GFI not tripping, I tend to believe it was just a bad GFI. No matter what killed the corals, when the short happened, an imbalance was present in the electrical circuit. If working properly, the GFI should have tripped. Greg, what you are suggesting is very possible but in my mind, it was current. However, in an arcing situation like that, the currents (amparage) increases astronomically in an instant. This causes lots for metals and plastics to vaporize. It is definitely possible that the vaporized materials permeated the water column.

As said, it may remain a mystery for ever. :) The first thing I learned when studying electrical theory was that if they knew everything about electricity and how it acts they would call it electrical fact. LOL That sounds funny but is exactly true. They can not even prove the electricity exists. All they can do is prove the observable effects and summarize how it all works. Grant it they are 99.99999999% sure they are right but they just don't have the means to proof it.

And to Buffy, you are right about the line men feeling it. In the huge distribution lines that cross the country the voltages are so high that the only way they can safely work on them is to energize their bodies to the same potential as the line they are working on. There was a documentary on Discovery a few years ago that showed this very well. It followed GA Power line men doing line maintenance. A guy would sit on a platform attached on the outside of a helicopter. The chopper would fly close to the line and the guy would reach out with a wand and make contact with the line. Because the chopper (and people) were not at the same potential as the line, an arc would occur when making contact with the wand. But once the wand was in full contact, the chopper and people are then at the same potential as the line and could safely work on it. As the voltages encountered increase, insulating yourself against it becomes impractical so the better way is to just bring yourself to the same potential as the equipment you are working on.
 
Wow,..I just realized that it's been about a month since I've posted anything..., unfortunately ,.. Thru no ones fault but my own,..I've really been neglecting my tank lately and it's starting to show the signs of my poor management . In my own defense,..a lot has gone on,...tweaking my knee , having been bedridden with the flu which totally kicked my butt for a week or so and now trying to get my doggie taken care with the vet etc etc.
Yeah,..I know I still should have tried a little harder but I totally let things go...today I take " scruffy" in for a tooth extraction etc,..I think I'm more nervous than he is.
I'll do my pwc this morning and will try and get my tank back on track again,....soooo hard to get everything working right and soooo easy for it to slide in the other direction,..... I can't blame anyone but myself ,... Hopefully , the worst is behind me,..gotta take the reins again and try and get this thing righted,...
Hope everyone else is doing great,...got my fingers crossed!
 
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Sorry to hear about your knee and tank. I have a pretty beat up knee too, I know the feeling. Once you get things back under control I can't wait to see some new pics, your mushrooms, and everything in your tank for that matter, are great.
 
Thanks you guys... I spent the morning trying to scrape off a bunch of coraline algae off of the front viewing pane., this is the first acrylic tank ive owned and i have discovered that getting off that coraline algae is a real chore with a plastic scraper. , i used to like using a razor blade with my old glass tank ( sooo much easier ) .
After checking my tank's parameters for the first time in weeks, i have found that my calcium level was a little low and my nitrates were a little too high for my liking.., before i moved my picaso triggerfish to the refugium for safe keeping i had a ton of cheato in there which I'm sure helped to keep the nitrates in check., but since the trigger has been in there he has managed to totally wipe out every single blade of it.
Ill swing by the lfs this week and will try and add some more and hope for the best.
I also have one of my hammer corals that is slowly fading away , possibly from the elevated nitrates levels along with one of my monti's .
Now that I'm feeling better again hopefully i can keep a little closer tabs on whats going on in my tank
 
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