Guarding against electrical shock: What steps do you take?

[DeniseAndy]

Two times and one gave me quite the shock. Had to sit down a while afterwards. Both from some weird wiring on my lights. I touched the reflectors and zap! My tanks all have ground probes, but each time I did this it tripped the circuit instead. Big ouch. Thanks goodness for GCFI

 

[Sunny in Miami]

Multiple times, all due to crappy Hydor Korallia pumps.

Then I'll make sure to unplug that pump from now on before messing with my tank. Thankyou for your post.

 

[burningmime]

Reading all these made me realize just how lucky I've been. Gotta start being more careful.

 

[Screwgunner]

Smoke detectors went of at 2 am I jumped up and ran to the livingroom where the wall behind my tank was on fire. Hit it with fire extinguisher. The 6 way plug that was plugged in caught on fire.

 

[E.intheC]

I’ve had issues with cheap heaters. One exploded in my sump, and a few others leaked voltage. I’ve also had an issue with a Koralia pump.

A few things to mitigate the risks-
-I replace all heaters 1x per year, and never buy used.
-The fewer power cords in the tank, the better. I love vortechs for this reason. I run carbon passively in the sump rather than using a pump.
-Buy quality equipment. It’s not worth risking your life or the tanks inhabitants to save a few bucks on a knock off powerhead or return pump etc.
-Make drip loops for your power cords and keep your power strips (good quality, metal by the way) up and out of the sump area.
-Take a few minutes to regularly inspect your tank and equipment. You’ll catch things sooner and it’s usually easier to fix problems than if you wait.

 

[snorklr]

around 55 yrs ago or so my first salt tank was a molded plastic 10 gallon on the bottom of a stand with a 20 high...it also had a molded plastic full hood ...the edge of which wrapped down over the tank...the spray from the airstone kept the inside of the hood wet, which proceded to run down the edge of the hood and drip on the extension cords on the carpet...end result was flames, charred carpet and a melted spot on the back of the tank...been so long i no longer remember if i heard it sizzling or smelled smoke and i dont recall if the breaker even tripped...i suppose if it kept burning the tank may have melted and put it out but fortunately it was during the day and i was there to deal with it...obviously back before gfi's or smoke detectors

 

[Sebastiancrab]

I got shocked last week and bought a Hyper Tough Analogue Multimeter at Walmart. My grounding probe had fallen out of my tank and my external cord GFCI kicked in. I traced it down to my fairly new Finnex controller. The sensor cord was defective. It fell under their 180 day warranty and they are sending a new one. I am disappointed that Finnex does not have a longer warranty period and they are not restarting my date. I am very lucky! I bought the probe and GFCI equipment because of postings on R2R! @revhtree

 

[AlexG]

In my early years of the hobby I was shocked several times at home tanks and at the LFS I worked at. One time I reacted quickly when water was overflowing on a heater controller that was starting to internally arc I grabbed the controller to move it out of the water and unplug it before I even thought about being shocked. I quickly realized that was a mistake and I was feeling that shock for a few days. I was also luck as that device was not plugged into a GFCI. In the years since that incident I learned a lot about protecting electrical circuits. In my last system and my new system I run all circuits with GFCI and AFCI protection. I also mount all outlets above the water line of the tanks on walls, mounting boards, or the ceiling. Any outlets that are in the splash zone are equipped with outdoor outlet covers incase of a random splash of saltwater.

 

[dlaird76]

Oh the timing. Yesterday 4 of my fished died and a shrimp over night for seemingly no reason.

I really want to hear the stories of finding stray voltage. I tested my tank and am getting .8 volts in the tank. 3 of the other fish are acting and look normal. The mandrin, female clown and Mel wrasse. And corals look to be the same as before.

I'm having a hard time figuring out what could kill a tang, clownfish, 2 firefish and a shrimp over night but the others are fine.

My only thought is stray voltage. How do the fish act when stray voltage is coming in? How fast is the death? It would depend on the amount of voltage right? If it's a slow leak could it stress them out over time and kill them off all at once? I've been able to test the water when the last fire fish was swimming all crazy and there was no voltage at that time.

Someone may be able to correct me hear but I don't think the stray voltage would have killed your fish. Whilst there is no path to earth the voltage doesn't do anything. Much like how birds can sit on overhead power lines. Unless there is a path your Gfi/RCD should pic these up. I remember reading articles in the past and opinion seemed split on installing ground/earth probes I an aquarium? Can someone clarify?

 

[fishguy242]

Someone may be able to correct me hear but I don't think the stray voltage would have killed your fish. Whilst there is no path to earth the voltage doesn't do anything. Much like how birds can sit on overhead power lines. Unless there is a path your Gfi/RCD should pic these up. I remember reading articles in the past and opinion seemed split on installing ground/earth probes I an aquarium? Can someone clarify?

@Paul B ,@Brew12 ??

 

[ff2807]

I have my wife put her hand in first I really am going to miss her

 

[Brew12]

Someone may be able to correct me hear but I don't think the stray voltage would have killed your fish. Whilst there is no path to earth the voltage doesn't do anything. Much like how birds can sit on overhead power lines. Unless there is a path your Gfi/RCD should pic these up. I remember reading articles in the past and opinion seemed split on installing ground/earth probes I an aquarium? Can someone clarify?

The bird on a wire analogy doesn't apply in reef tanks. The reason a bird isn't shocked is because the air that surrounds it is an insulator.
Saltwater is much more conductive than the fish itself. Even with a path to ground, such as is provided by a ground probe, the vast majority of current will flow around a fish anyway. This is why you can't electrofish in saltwater, only fresh water. It's too difficult to shock a fish even with equipment specifically designed to do so.

It is very unlikely for electrical shock to kill a marine fish. Heating caused by, or toxins released by a failed electrical component are a more likely cause if there is an associated electrical fault.

 

[N.Sreefer]

Had a aquaclear heater that turned black and had a hole melt in the glass (underwater) and heated my tank up to 96f all while I was at school. When I got home my tank looked like an oil slick smelled awful (chemical smell) and everything was dead. Stuck my hand in to pull that heater out and nearly passed out from the shock it gave me (unplug first I'm a dummy!) That was back in 2006 and I didn't have much livestock in the tank but it was a harsh introduction to the hobby. I switched to jagers and haven't looked back at least when they crap out they don't melt.

 

[lapin]

My water change pump gave me a little tingle 2 weeks ago.
It is on a separate gfi than the rest of my tank.
I turn it on to drain water from the sump. I also change out socks at this time. So hand in water to pull out sock and I knew it was not a cut and salt.......
New pump required

 

[scardall]

Yes I have been electrocuted by a bad power head and I had a power strip, that shorted and did not trip the GFI. Resulting in a little fire but very little damage other than a scorched carpet and electrical cord ends melted. Got Very lucky.

 

[Colin_S]

i came close to putting my hands in a 200l bucket with a live exposed power cable in it !

i was making salt water and using a old return pump to mix it. the power cord was attached or at least looked like it. When i turned the power on the electrics tripped. So i re set it and tried again. This time i noticed oil like substance floating on the surface which i thought was odd so i pulled the cord of the return pump to get it out of the water and just the cable came out, it was live and i came so close to reaching in the bucket to grab the return pump but i didn't want to get my arms wet..

don't want to think of the shock that was waiting for me...

 

[Uncle99]

GFI both around tank and in fish room.
Had one trip once, not sure why.
Just like bathrooms.

 

[Doofus]

Once from stray voltage from a biocube return pump and once from plugging in a tunze ato with a wet hand.

 

[droxxie]

I had 2 Cobalt Aquatics Neo-Therm heaters zap me. (I don't use Cobalt heaters anymore after having this same experience twice!) Reached into my tanks and the moment I touched the water, bam! Fish and critters in the tanks both times were fine. No visible signs that the water was electrified. Scary.

 

[Uncle99]

Just a day ago I added the Ink-Bird WiFi Dual Probe Heat Controller for additional safety on my heaters.

Two coated temp probes now and two digital circuits.
If the temp on probe 1 differed from probe 2 by more than 3 degrees, it turns off the heaters and sends out both an audible alarm and push notification to my phone.

Nice update to the old 306.

Its like running two independent heat controllers at the same time, fab redundancy IMM for the safety of your valued livestock and potential reduction of fire hazards.