Electric current in tank

[the_chef_pierre]

Ok its reading 46. Not normal right?

 

[WVNed]

If you had a live electric cord in the water it would read 110 or so.
46 is high though.
Now unplug one thing at a time and take a reading. It will probably go down a bit as each one is unplugged.
If it goes down a lot when one thing is unplugged you might consider replacing it.

 

[Jacob patnode]

So my nassarius snail has been acting weird and now I probably figured out why. I put my hand into the water and felt a mild electric current coming from it. I don't know where it is coming from. I don't have any livestock in my tank yet, thank god, as it has only just finished cycling. Can someone try to help me figure out what to do? The only sources of electricity are my light (which is new and likely not the culprit), return pump, 2 circulators, heater, thermometer and ATO. Please help

Most likely the heater got cracked

 

[n2585722]

I would suggest unplugging everything and start plugging things back one at a time. If you have more than one thing causing your issue you will not find them unplugging things one at a time. Just start plugging the most important things back in first.

 

[the_chef_pierre]

Well as soon as I unplugged my high powered circulator the voltage dropped from 46 to around 1.8 or something, so I think I have found the culprit

 

[the_chef_pierre]

Thanks everyone for the help Now lets see if my snail comes back to life lol. I really appreciate all the help with this though. You guys on reef2reef are all amazing and always help me out when I need it. Great to be part of this community.

 

[Brew12]

Just because it is inducing a lot of voltage doesn't necessarily mean it is an issue. I would recommend getting one of these.

Plug your pump into it and see if it trips when you put your hand in the tank. If it trips, you know your pump is bad. If it doesn't, then it is likely that your voltage is induced and not an issue.

 

[the_chef_pierre]

Oh it wasnt the pump. It was the fluval sea circulator that was causing over 40 volts to go through the water

 

[Johnd651]

Oh it wasnt the pump. It was the fluval sea circulator that was causing over 40 volts to go through the water

Once you find it, inspect it well. Could be a leak around the sealed internals.

 

[Paul B]

It was induced voltage. If it were real electricity from a cracked heater or pump it would not be lower than 108 volts and you would know right away as soon as you stuck your hand in there.

Induced voltage won't hurt you but it may give your snail a little migraine

 

[Devisissy]

Ok its reading 46. Not normal right?

Hey sorry you ever got any further help on this. Did you ever figure it out? I get shocked sometimes when I first touch the water. I realized it was when I wear my slippers. No slippers no shock. LOL!

 

[fishguy242]

Get an ohm-meter and ground the neg. put the point of sale. into the water and slowly unplug things.

nice emt response time!!!

 

[Opus]

Glad you got it figured out. I actually used a klein non-contact voltage tester pen on my tank. Found my old maxijet was the problem.

 

[the_chef_pierre]

Thanks, yeah I'm glad I figured it out too. Definitely learnt a lot from having to deal with it and will be looking to have a friend install a GFCI at some point also