A Cautionary Tale

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

I wanted to let folks know about a safety issue I had with my office aquarium yesterday. I have a Biocube 16 with a Hydor Koralia Nano 240 circulating pump. It has been in operation since 2019. I normally inspect/clean/adjust all equipment attached to it with each monthly water change. However, I was really busy, so for the last two months, I just did the water change.

I had noticed that the power cord for the Hydor pump had gotten "stiff", but that often happens with submerged cords.

Yesterday, I smelled a "hot" electrical smell. I soon found that the cord on the Hydor had split and shorted out, frying the plug due to current draw. See attached image.

I had just been feeding the tank and moving some things around two hours prior - luckily I didn't get shocked.

I'm going to have my electrician son install a GFCI on the circuit (should have done that before) and I'm going to be more proactive regarding equipment inspections!

Don't be like I was!

Jay

 

[sfin52]

I wanted to let folks know about a safety issue I had with my office aquarium yesterday. I have a Biocube 16 with a Hydor Koralia Nano 240 circulating pump. It has been in operation since 2019. I normally inspect/clean/adjust all equipment attached to it with each monthly water change. However, I was really busy, so for the last two months, I just did the water change.

I had noticed that the power cord for the Hydor pump had gotten "stiff", but that often happens with submerged cords.

Yesterday, I smelled a "hot" electrical smell. I soon found that the cord on the Hydor had split and shorted out, frying the plug due to current draw. See attached image.

I had just been feeding the tank and moving some things around two hours prior - luckily I didn't get shocked.

I'm going to have my electrician son install a GFCI on the circuit (should have done that before) and I'm going to be more proactive regarding equipment inspections!

Don't be like I was!

Jay

Lucky you where there when it happened

 

[Sophie"s mom]

I wanted to let folks know about a safety issue I had with my office aquarium yesterday. I have a Biocube 16 with a Hydor Koralia Nano 240 circulating pump. It has been in operation since 2019. I normally inspect/clean/adjust all equipment attached to it with each monthly water change. However, I was really busy, so for the last two months, I just did the water change.

I had noticed that the power cord for the Hydor pump had gotten "stiff", but that often happens with submerged cords.

Yesterday, I smelled a "hot" electrical smell. I soon found that the cord on the Hydor had split and shorted out, frying the plug due to current draw. See attached image.

I had just been feeding the tank and moving some things around two hours prior - luckily I didn't get shocked.

I'm going to have my electrician son install a GFCI on the circuit (should have done that before) and I'm going to be more proactive regarding equipment inspections!

Don't be like I was!

Jay

 

[Sophie"s mom]

I wanted to let folks know about a safety issue I had with my office aquarium yesterday. I have a Biocube 16 with a Hydor Koralia Nano 240 circulating pump. It has been in operation since 2019. I normally inspect/clean/adjust all equipment attached to it with each monthly water change. However, I was really busy, so for the last two months, I just did the water change.

I had noticed that the power cord for the Hydor pump had gotten "stiff", but that often happens with submerged cords.

Yesterday, I smelled a "hot" electrical smell. I soon found that the cord on the Hydor had split and shorted out, frying the plug due to current draw. See attached image.

I had just been feeding the tank and moving some things around two hours prior - luckily I didn't get shocked.

I'm going to have my electrician son install a GFCI on the circuit (should have done that before) and I'm going to be more proactive regarding equipment inspections!

Don't be like I was!

Jay

Thanks Jay, You know just this morning, I came into my living room, way before my tank lights come on, and I heard this humming coming from my tank. It took me a few minutes to narrow it down to my Hydor power head on the right side of my tank. Same thing, I have noticed it needing to be cleaned, but have been putting it off. I just unplugged it, and will deal with it when I get home from work. But again, thank you,

 

[exnisstech]

WOW. Every koralia I have ever used leaked electricity into the tank but I've never had that happen. Glad it didn't turn into a disaster.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Wow, I'm glad you are safe!

 

[Reefer Matt Verified Media Partner]

Good catch Jay! Yeah, I have all six of my tanks on a gfci with a ground probe as a precaution against that. I would rather my tank turn off than burn my house down. Glad you caught it in time!

 

[PharmrJohn]

I gotta tell ya. I LOVE 'Don't be me' stories. Mainly because I have SO many myself and I have absolutely no qualms about sharing them. I'm glad you're OK. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Nano_Man]

We all should have a smoke alarm around our reefs. More for nighttime. I don’t know if anyone does a smoke alarm that notifies you of a fire by phone and leave a set of keys with a good neighbour for quick access.

 

[Sophie"s mom]

WOW. Every koralia I have ever used leaked electricity into the tank but I've never had that happen. Glad it didn't turn into a disaster.

So, what brand of power head do you currently use? I have 3 in my 90 gallon tank with a couple spares, but only 2 are Hydor. I have been contemplating getting some Tunze power heads, only because you can't go wrong with their equipment.

 

[exnisstech]

So, what brand of power head do you currently use? I have 3 in my 90 gallon tank with a couple spares, but only 2 are Hydor. I have been contemplating getting some Tunze power heads, only because you can't go wrong with their equipment.

I have 3 displays running. On those I'm running two nero 3s and two 5s along with 5 mp40s 2 mp10s and jebao gyre. In my stock tank in the basement I have an old tunze I believe it's a 6055. Tunze gets the vote for reliability. Mine is probably close to 8 years old. Nothing fancy with no app etc it just pumps and doesn't stop. It's just not as clean looking as I wanted when I started upgrading tanks.

 

[AnomMatty]

I wanted to let folks know about a safety issue I had with my office aquarium yesterday. I have a Biocube 16 with a Hydor Koralia Nano 240 circulating pump. It has been in operation since 2019. I normally inspect/clean/adjust all equipment attached to it with each monthly water change. However, I was really busy, so for the last two months, I just did the water change.

I had noticed that the power cord for the Hydor pump had gotten "stiff", but that often happens with submerged cords.

Yesterday, I smelled a "hot" electrical smell. I soon found that the cord on the Hydor had split and shorted out, frying the plug due to current draw. See attached image.

I had just been feeding the tank and moving some things around two hours prior - luckily I didn't get shocked.

I'm going to have my electrician son install a GFCI on the circuit (should have done that before) and I'm going to be more proactive regarding equipment inspections!

Don't be like I was!

Jay

Glad there wasn't any further damage than the cord.

As an alternative, you can get GCFI protected surge protectors fairly reasonably.

 

[A_Blind_Reefer]

Urchins love power head cords too!

 

[Uncle99]

GFCI will save the day!

 

[Dburr1014]

Good thing you were there.
Reminds me of the Rio pumps, remember those?
One night the lights were dimming in my house and I heard a rumbling noise, it was quite odd. I peaked at the tank and the Rio pump was literally boiling the water. Crazy times!

 

[Malum Argenteum]

Not saying a GFCI is a bad idea, but it looks like this was an overcurrent condition and so wouldn't necessarily have been protected by a GFCI (as you noted, there was no apparent leak to ground). Certainly a GFCI would be a good safety item, though.

It looks like the real problem here is that the power strip outlet couldn't handle as much current as the breaker allows, which would also be a good thing to correct.

 

[Beefyreefy]

I had this happen with a wave maker buried in the rock work in my DT. So at some point the coral had grown so much I could no longer check on the wave maker so I ignored it. The wire frayed and rather than short out in the socket, it either copper contaminated or electrocuted my tank. I came home to all my coral completely ticked off and even though I discovered the issue, I lost a solid 50% of my coral and fish over a 1 week period. I have a thread in my history about it but I don’t want to look at it lol. There’s pics of like 30lbs of coral skeletons I pulled out. Moral to the story is check any cords going into the tank.

 

[shakacuz]

ooooff! crisis adverted.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Interestingly - the replacement pump arrived today and they now supply them with a wrapped guard that installs right where my cord had split!

 

[shutterspeed1000]

I always hate to see burned power stips. What would have prevented this? The more I read, a GFI may have not tripped. Would an AFCI breaker stop this?