everything died!!!

[werndogz]

everything died today while I was at work! Before I left this morning I noticed that the temperature had gone up overnight by about 6 degrees, probably because I put the top back on the tank, but I don't know. I took the top back off and the tank cooled back down. Also the other day I put my hand in the water and got shocked, I wasn't sure so I tried it again and I got jolted again, so I tested the tank with a volt meter by sticking one probe in the ground of a socket and the other in the tank and got a reading around 80. All the corals and everything seemed to be fine though, but I went and bought a grounding probe anyway and it took the volts back down to zero. All my corals shrimp and crabs are dead, only the clowns and the snails and starfish are alive, but I think the starfish are going soon. what in the world happened?

[javajaws]

Probably a heater or powerhead gone bad. I'd do some serious testing of your equipment to see what's introducing the stray voltage and get rid of it immediately.

[jwoyshnar]

Grounding probe isnt a fix. You should have researched what was going.

[wes1333]

Pull a powerhead retest, heater retest, so on tell you find your problem.

[evo@32psi]

Grounding probe isnt a fix. You should have researched what was going.


I hate to say it but he is right.

[jcw]

A grounding probe won't save you if you have significant stray voltage.

Run a GCFI outlet or circuit breaker along with the grounding probe. And find that faulty equipment before someone dies.

[iwishtofish]

I'm sorry to hear of your losses. Anyhow, welcome to Reef Central, even if under unfortunate circumstances!

I hope you can find the problem and start rebuilding!

[unkel j]

IMO you may have killed things by installing the ground probe. In my tank
I have a little (very little) stray voltage but NO amperage. If I hook up a ground probe the voltage drops but amperage rises. Volts don't shock you amps do.

[sporto0]

IMO you may have killed things by installing the ground probe. In my tank
I have a little (very little) stray voltage but NO amperage. If I hook up a ground probe the voltage drops but amperage rises. Volts don't shock you amps do.

you should not have ANY stray voltage in your tank, grounding probes are used so that human beings don't get shocked to death, they do not add or lower amps! Holy Amperage Batman!
Here me now & believe me next week, please read up on important information like "electrical shock & the aquarium" before you listen to a post in a forum.

[Michael]

problem with having no ground probe is you become the path to ground when you put your hand in to do some husbandry etc and could be electrocuted, best to have a probe with a gfci and then you won't risk a shock, if the probe is wired properly the gfci would trip in any case and kill the supply before you could be exposed.

[unkel j]

you should not have ANY stray voltage in your tank, grounding probes are used so that human beings don't get shocked to death, they do not add or lower amps! Holy Amperage Batman!
Here me now & believe me next week, please read up on important information like "electrical shock & the aquarium" before you listen to a post in a forum.

I was wrong. I must have made a mistake last time I tested because I cant get the meter to read any amps now with or without the probe. I dont get shocked by puting my hand in the water so I assume that the stray voltage is not hurting anything but werndogz had something shorting out and actually sending current (not stray voltage) through the water.

[geaux xman]

one time i had plugged my return pump to an extension cord that didnt have a ground prong. that was the root of my stray voltage. it was around 6volts in the tank and i got a prett good jolt each time i touched the water. got that taken care of and added a grounding probe as well.

[sporto0]

I was wrong. I must have made a mistake last time I tested because I cant get the meter to read any amps now with or without the probe. I dont get shocked by puting my hand in the water so I assume that the stray voltage is not hurting anything but werndogz had something shorting out and actually sending current (not stray voltage) through the water.


I didn't mean to call you out, I just don't want anyone to injure themselves with electricity, if he has a stray voltage problem, then it can be isolated and eliminated by unplugging one piece of equiptment at a time until you find the culprit. In the mean time, a grounding probe will help you avoid being the grounding path as Michael stated above, thus keeping you from serious harm.

[werndogz]

well it's the next morning and everything is dead except for the clowns, snails, and button polyps and a few of my green star polyps. What really sucks is that a friend of my sisters just gave me about $300 worth of SPS and LPS corals and they were all doing great, now they are all dead. My tank was looking the best it ever had and now the worst. Oh well only up from here. Oh and I think I found the culprit if it is the electricity and not the temp increase that killed everything. I bought a UV sterilizer a few weeks ago and it came with a cheap pump/powerhead, I think thats what was shorting out.

[sporto0]

Sorry to hear that, hopefully you can restock & get over this mishap. You said your temp went up 6 degrees overnight, how high did it reach, 88-90 degrees? I don't think 6 degrees itself would do that but most certainly overheating could have. I hope you have found your stray voltage problem because thats an issue for your livestock as well as you. Good luck to you.

[werndogz]

k thanks.

[moondoggy4]

Also do not have a top on the tank Evaporation is a good thing it helps to cool the tank. Second recommendation if you are having a problem post a question here and hopefully someone will answer quickly, this might have saved you a lot of grief and your life. Glad you are OK. I had my sons 33 gallon tank crash 3 times. You can always start over. Heaters can be a huge problem in this hobby I would recommend either the Ebo Jager slash Eheim heaters or the Via Aqua titanium heaters.