My tank has a constant electric current?

gotmesalty77 · Feb 3, 2020

So unused my non contact today and much to my shock it started to blink closer I got to my tank. I unplugged pretty much everything and it's still there am I crazy?

MTBake · Feb 3, 2020

Need to use a multimeter with one end plugged into ground to check for stray voltage. Plug in each piece of equipment one at a time to see which is leaching. I use a portable gfci to troubleshoot equipment. If the equipment doesn't trip the gfci, I dont worry about it. Probably not the best way...

@Brew12 Knows more about this than I do. Hope he chimes in soon.

Brew12 · Feb 3, 2020

gotmesalty77 said:
So unused my non contact today and much to my shock it started to blink closer I got to my tank. I unplugged pretty much everything and it's still there am I crazy?

MTBake said:
Need to use a multimeter with one end plugged into ground to check for stray voltage. Plug in each piece of equipment one at a time to see which is leaching. I use a portable gfci to troubleshoot equipment. If the equipment doesn't trip the gfci, I dont worry about it. Probably not the best way...

@Brew12 Knows more about this than I do. Hope he chimes in soon.

Thanks for the call out!

Those non contact voltage detectors are called widowmakers by electricians. They are known to give false positives and false negatives.

@MTBake is absolutely correct though. You very possibly have a failed piece of electrical equipment in your tank. The best way to troubleshoot, imo, is to install a ground probe into your system and use a portable GFCI like this one.

https://www.lowes.com/pd/Tower-Manufacturing-Shock-Buster-15-Amp-3-Wire-Grounding-Single-to-Single-Yellow-Gfci-Adapter/1000492081

I keep one in a drawer by my tank to make finding failed equipment easy. Just plug one device at a time into it and let it run for a few minutes.

gotmesalty77 · Feb 3, 2020

Brew12 said:
Thanks for the call out!

Those non contact voltage detectors are called widowmakers by electricians. They are known to give false positives and false negatives.

@MTBake is absolutely correct though. You very possibly have a failed piece of electrical equipment in your tank. The best way to troubleshoot, imo, is to install a ground probe into your system and use a portable GFCI like this one.

https://www.lowes.com/pd/Tower-Manufacturing-Shock-Buster-15-Amp-3-Wire-Grounding-Single-to-Single-Yellow-Gfci-Adapter/1000492081

I keep one in a drawer by my tank to make finding failed equipment easy. Just plug one device at a time into it and let it run for a few minutes.

Actually turns out I got a ton of gfci's at work. I do commercial hvac. I had my hands in the tank several t times before I noticed it in a cut on my hand

gotmesalty77 · Feb 3, 2020

gotmesalty77 said:
Actually turns out I got a ton of gfci's at work. I do commercial hvac. I had my hands in the tank several t times before I noticed it in a cut on my hand

Thank you very much a sir

MTBake · Feb 3, 2020

It takes a small very amount of amperage to feel current in a cut.

Adding a highly conductive media(saltwater) will make this effect more pronounced. Could even be the saltwater itself causing the sensation.

fishguy242 · Feb 3, 2020

hi after problem solved ,add ground probes to tank and sump stray voltage can harm fish besides being dangerous

drivingmecrazy · Feb 4, 2020

Agreed, add ground probes to the aquarium and install a gfci outlet.

Really need both to be safe. I realize there is some debate relating to ground probes and safety.

steallife904 · Feb 4, 2020

can you use this portable one full time? Wondering if I should get one to plug into the wall and then my apex into it? The plug is behind the tank, I do have the tank off the wall so a bit of room and to make sure water doesn't splash on it but not enough to remove the outlet to change with a gfci. should/could I use something like this?

rkpetersen · Feb 4, 2020

steallife904 said:
can you use this portable one full time? Wondering if I should get one to plug into the wall and then my apex into it? The plug is behind the tank, I do have the tank off the wall so a bit of room and to make sure water doesn't splash on it but not enough to remove the outlet to change with a gfci. should/could I use something like this?

They can be used, but will be more likely to trip in event of a power failure. Even a short one; the power might come right back on but the GFCI tripped so your tank still has no power. Can't really trust them as much as an installed GFCI. Also they only protect that one outlet, not all the outlets on a circuit as with an installed GFCI. If you use one, you should have your Apex on a UPS with the Power Monitoring function activated and configured to notify you if the power goes out. A less involved way of being notified of an unexpected GFCI trip is to just plug a loud battery-operated failed circuit alarm into the same outlet, but of course this will only work if you're home to hear it.

gotmesalty77 · Feb 4, 2020

drivingmecrazy said:
Agreed, add ground probes to the aquarium and install a gfci outlet.

Really need both to be safe. I realize there is some debate relating to ground probes and safety.

im pretty handy and have friends in the trade. can you give me a run down of what that entails?

gotmesalty77 · Feb 4, 2020

Someone today mentioned that everytank has small amound of current and that it would be enough to trip my non contact. Is this true? Also it checked everything with just non contact and the only thing it that was doing it was my m2 which i pulled and cleaned, but it changed nothing in terms of stray current when i turned it back on. Non contact started going off

drivingmecrazy · Feb 4, 2020

gotmesalty77 said:
im pretty handy and have friends in the trade. can you give me a run down of what that entails?

Sure,

I made my diy ground probe. You can see in one of my past post.

Or you can simply buy a $15.00 plug from Amazon.
As for as wiring a gfci you want to wire it to your first plug on your circuit.

Its not hard to do. Look up some youtube.
I had to unscrew about 6 outlets until I found my first plug.

Brew12 · Feb 5, 2020

gotmesalty77 said:
Someone today mentioned that everytank has small amound of current and that it would be enough to trip my non contact. Is this true? Also it checked everything with just non contact and the only thing it that was doing it was my m2 which i pulled and cleaned, but it changed nothing in terms of stray current when i turned it back on. Non contact started going off

Your non contact device cannot read current, only voltage. And yes, without a ground probe, most tanks have some voltage in them. It may or may not be enough to trigger a widowmaker.

gotmesalty77 · Feb 5, 2020

Brew12 said:
Your non contact device cannot read current, only voltage. And yes, without a ground probe, most tanks have some voltage in them. It may or may not be enough to trigger a widowmaker.

Thank you, only trade that i dont have any knowledge. I should it would help me in my career immensely