Almost lost all my fish!!!

[Derek B]

Well, I had been pretty busy lately and noticed yesterday evening when I got home that my tank lights were off. When I walked over to see what the deal was, nothing was on and all of my fish were on the bottom barely breathing.

What happened was the storms from Saturday night had tripped the GFCI without me knowing it. I left Sun. morning and didn't notice since the tanks is usually very quiet and it was too early for the lights to be on. Long story short, I got everything fired back up and changed about 10 gallons of water. All the fish perked up and they were swimming around like normal within 20 minutes. I did lose a Purple Pseudochromis. He was cool. That is my first near disaster I have experienced, so I am happy I didn't lose all of my fish. Phew!!!

[Derek B]

Another hour or so and I would have had major problems.

[matt]

I'm having an electrician re wire my new old house before moving in, and he suggested NOT using a GFCI circuit for the aquarium for this exact reason; he's run into it before. He said "Just make sure everything is grounded, use UL listed (i.e. quality) equipment, and don't do anything dumb" Well, I can cover two out of three.

Matt

[Derek B]

Matt,

Come to find out , it wasn't the storms, but an overflowed skimmer that got some of the plugs wet, because the same thing happened again yesterday. The GFI worked beautifully, preventing electricity from running through the tank. I would never run my tank without a GFI.

[TexasState]

You can run your tank w/out a GFCI and risk burning your house down. Or you can run your can with a GFCI and risk killing your livestock when the power is been shut off for too long. Your homeowner insurance might cover for the fire. Your homeowner insurance probably will not cover for a GFCI outlet tripping, killing livestock. Your homeowner insurance will not bring a dead, burn up childrens back to life.

I think the choice is clear cut. Get a GFCI to help prevent future house fire. You don't have to hook everythign up to the GFCI. You can leave one pump running on a non GFCI outlet.