Stray voltage question

[jtomasi]

Is stray voltage a function of one piece of equipment malfunctioning or a small amount of stray voltage from multiple pieces of equipment? Or both?

I ask because I prefer multiple pumps with less flow, verses one or two larger pumps with more flow. Right now I run an extremely low nutrient system and once my tank has matured, I plan on running a ZV system. I currently have three cobalt1200 "pros" in my 65g display and would like to add two more. I have my rocks set up on frag plugs and eggcrate (pictured below) and arrange the pumps so no detritus accumulates anywhere in the tank, not rocks or bottom glass. Setup: On the bottom glass, two pumps near and far left side of the tank pointed to the far right side where I have a pumps intake 1cm from the bottom shooting detritus up towards my overflow (other two pumps will be mid tank on opposite sides on specific timers via reefangel controller). It probably looks ugly to most people and I don't want to get into the pros and cons of a BB system, but I don't mind the eggcrate look until my monti's and other sps start encrusting it.

 

[jtomasi]

PS. Purple rocks are from a 2ish year old 20g system I had running and the white rocks are new. Some rocks are from petco, some stolen from my brother, but most from the beaches of St. John, Aruba, Belize and Turks & Caicos I got on vacation..all bleached and cycled first of course!

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

Hey there! Are you saying you are experiencing stray voltage and you need to find out the source? If so just unplug one at a time until you find the source. Forgive me if I missed the question.

 

[jtomasi]

Thank you for taking the time to respond.

No stray voltage at all (that I can feel atleast). What I am concerned about is adding 2 or 3 more pumps. The posts I have seen thus far give similar advice as you, leading me to believe it is one piece malfunctioning. This is probably a terrible example, but what I was wondering is if someone had stray voltage say 10units, took a pump out, tested and got 5, took something else out, tested and got 2. Or something like that. I guess the root of the question is, does each piece of equipment in the aquarium give off a little stary voltage or stray voltage is really due to something malfunctioning.

I am always trying to reduce risk before adding or changing something to my system. Obviously that is a difficult task , but I don’t want to put myself in a position where something is “off” and I cant easily figure out why. (part of the reason I went BB with a DSB in my sump)

 

[ebushrow]

The stray voltage generally comes from 1 piece of equipment that is malfunctioning. There is no problem with what you are doing using more small power heads compared to a few large....however, they likely take more power to run them and if you do have stray voltage you have a larger task determining where it is coming from...not too mention the unsightly looks of power heads everywhere...but that is a personal preference. If you want to ensure there is no stray voltage, add a titanium grounding probe...just to be safe....stray voltage kills fish and corals and that can be expensive.

 

[jtomasi]

Thanks for your response. Makes me feel better about adding more. Yea, to your point, I don't like they way it will look at first and I do try and hide them as best as I can, however, I do not mind looking at them once they are fully encrusted in coralline or something else - I actually kind of like it.