Grounding equipments or tank

drernesto · Mar 1, 2017

Hello guys,

I'm redoing my electrical wiring & I'm confused with something:
Should I connect every ground wire of the equipment or just connect the tank to a ground probe?

Thanks!

Brew12 · Mar 1, 2017

drernesto said:
Hello guys,

I'm redoing my electrical wiring & I'm confused with something:
Should I connect every ground wire of the equipment or just connect the tank to a ground probe?

Thanks!

I'm not sure I understand your question. If you equipment needs a ground wire it should have a 3 prong plug. I always recommend using a ground probe also.

If I'm going down the wrong path, maybe a picture of what you are doing?

drernesto · Mar 1, 2017

Brew12 said:
I'm not sure I understand your question. If you equipment needs a ground wire it should have a 3 prong plug. I always recommend using a ground probe also.

If I'm going down the wrong path, maybe a picture of what you are doing?

I mean that if the pumps are submerged with water, should I ground them if they have a grounding wire? Or I can ground all the tank.
Thanks!

Brew12 · Mar 1, 2017

drernesto said:
I mean that if the pumps are submerged with water, should I ground them if they have a grounding wire? Or I can ground all the tank.
Thanks!

I've never seen a hobbyist level aquarium pump designed to have a separate grounding wire attached. Unfortunately, I am not familiar with the power distribution system in Lebanon to know what is commonly used. Let me do some research.

I can tell you that I would not use a copper ground wire that connects to the metal frame of a pump used in an aquarium with coral or inverts. I have never seen a pump that requires it but you would need to use something different if this is what you are looking at.

Salty1962 · Mar 1, 2017

I agree with @Brew12, I've never heard of a water pump needing a ground prong, they're typically 2 prong. Any piece of equipment that does have a ground prong should not have the ground prong removed. As an added level of protection I use a grounding probe in my tank. I got bit by a bad titanium heater one time and it's not fun! Always use a GFCI on your equipment to be even safer!

drernesto · Mar 6, 2017

All my pumps have a 3rd wire... this is weird... I have reef octopus water blaster pumps and all of them have a 3rd wire.
Even the reef octopus skimmer pump has. So i'm guessing they should be connected.
Thanks!

Brew12 · Mar 6, 2017

drernesto said:
All my pumps have a 3rd wire... this is weird... I have reef octopus water blaster pumps and all of them have a 3rd wire.
Even the reef octopus skimmer pump has. So i'm guessing they should be connected.
Thanks!

Okay, I think I know what you have going on. In the United States and many parts of Europe these pumps come with the plugs already attached. The often look like this.

Since other parts of the world use many different types of plugs I'm guessing that instead of trying to match the plug to each country (or part of each country) they sell it with no plug attached. If I am correct in this, then yes, you must connect all 3 of the wires for safe operation.

drernesto · Mar 7, 2017

well no, all the equipments comes with Euro plug in Lebanon.
Anyways I'm connecting all the wires

Thanks!

Brew12 said:
Okay, I think I know what you have going on. In the United States and many parts of Europe these pumps come with the plugs already attached. The often look like this.

Since other parts of the world use many different types of plugs I'm guessing that instead of trying to match the plug to each country (or part of each country) they sell it with no plug attached. If I am correct in this, then yes, you must connect all 3 of the wires for safe operation.

SteveSTL · Mar 7, 2017

Are you 110 or 220?

drernesto · Mar 7, 2017

SteveSTL said:
Are you 110 or 220?

220V

SteveSTL · Mar 8, 2017

OK, the European plugs have a 240 VAC, a Neutral/Common/Return and a ground. Generally the 240 is brown, the neutral is blue and the ground is green or green and yellow. If the equipment cord has all 3, then be sure to wire all three into the correct plug. Grounding probes are only to eliminate stray voltage from the tank and shouldn't be relied upon to save you.

Brew12 · Mar 8, 2017

SteveSTL said:
Grounding probes are only to eliminate stray voltage from the tank and shouldn't be relied upon to save you.

A properly installed and maintained ground probe will save you. I wouldn't rely on it as the only means of protection but it will remove all voltages from your tank water, not just stray voltage. You can run the worst case scenario through the proper equations or electrical modeling and you cannot come up with scenario that will allow a lethal, or even painful, electrical shock from your salt water.

drernesto · Mar 8, 2017

I wired everything and added a 30mA differential pressure switch so I think it's safe

Brew12 · Mar 8, 2017

drernesto said:
I wired everything and added a 30mA differential pressure switch so I think it's safe

Excellent decision! I prefer the European style Residual Current devices over the US GFCI devices. I think you will be in fine shape!

Sorry I couldn't have been more help! Unfortunately, I only have limited professional experience outside of the US.

drernesto · Mar 8, 2017

Brew12 said:
Excellent decision! I prefer the European style Residual Current devices over the US GFCI devices. I think you will be in fine shape!

Sorry I couldn't have been more help! Unfortunately, I only have limited professional experience outside of the US.

Thanks a lot for everything... well in Lebanon most of the apartments are not equipped with ground wires. I was lucky to have it [emoji16]

Engloid · Mar 10, 2017

My house used to NOT have any grounding. All outlets only had two prongs (and two wires inside the wall). After a catastrophic loss and a huge insurance claim, the house has been rewired. Everything is grounded now. On my old setup, I also took a piece of stainless steel TIG welding wire, bent it to hook over the edge of the tank, and then ran it to the copper plumbing where it enters the house.