Sparks in the Tank!

[tropicana]

Have you ever had one of your powerheads start shooting sparks all over the place? I woke up 2 days ago and my Powerhead 802 was sparking right where the cord went into the powerhead! It was bubbling and sizzling, I never thought I could move so fast to unplug something! Well I guess I might have figured out what killed my Sailfin tang last weekend! In the market for Korali #4 now :) Im glad it didnt kill everything though! I think its time to ground the tank lol. Imagine if I stuck my hand in there!!!!!

[jrsatx20]

if u were wearing shoes it wouldn't have done anything. my qt tank was for some reason was live with voltage. everytime i would stick my hand in it would give me a jolt. now i just wear my crocs n no jolt. n nothing has died including me.

[tropicana]

From what I understand, your fish will start to have the Corrosion above their eyes over time with the voltage in the tank! I am trying to get all of my pumps external and have Koralis!

[cpreefguy]

I have had my fair share of shocks, it's not fun.
The worst one was when I worked at FA and the calcium reactor pump became disconnected and was shooting water everywhere. I was standing in ~1" of water and I unplugged the pump. The (what seemed like an eternity) of electrocution that came after that let me know that was a mistake.
Throw that pump away!

[Bill S]

Mag pumps - even external - add voltage to the water. Not much, but if you have enough pumps (like on my 215), you WILL be able to feel it. I was up to 16 volts. I added a grounding probe.

[ratboy]

Shoes are not enough to prevent a good shock but should always be worn when working on a tank. All you need is a little saltwater to get on you and you touch that to a ground and you get lit up! Add a ground probe but make sure its on a GCFI outlet or it wont save you and actually makes matters worse (circuit may not trip breaker IIRC). If your house doesnt have GCFI's and you dont feel comfortable changing out an outlet with one, you an buy a plug in GCFI for like 15$ at homedepot. One more thing, electrocution = death so anyone responding with experience at the most got a nasty shock.

[second_decimal]

From what I understand, your fish will start to have the Corrosion above their eyes over time with the voltage in the tank! I am trying to get all of my pumps external and have Koralis!

the only powerheads that i know of that do have motors on the outside of the tank are tunze and ecotech. the only pumps i would consider for external application are eheim. those things are super quiet compared to other external units.

[BA]

thats what i did for my tank, we took out all the outlets and added GCFI around my 375, and a couple times i have noticed one was tripped, then would find the problem and take the faulty pump out, probly saved me shockings and fish being stressed

[bigmoe21]

i was getting shock almost everyday sometimes even with my shoes on..it was like a fight with my fish tank to see if i could handle the shock :-) it sucks getting shocked...but then i threw out my heater and ive only got shocked maybe one time since.

[ratboy]

If you add a GCFI to your home, adding a single GCFI at the beginning of a circuit will protect all circuits following. Having separate ones is nice though so everything doesnt shut down when 1 device starts leaking voltage.

[mathias]

got a probe very good thing to have :) now here is a good question... will a probe in the sump protect the whole tank?

[ratboy]

answered with another question... Can a heater in the sump shock you in the main tank?