Stray Voltage

schooleyosis · Nov 16, 2012

Ok everybody. The salty condo had a bit of stray voltage in the system so here is what I did to end it.

Tested the DT with a volt meter on AC. One end of the meter in the round (ground/earth) plug of an outlet and the other end of the meter in the tank. 26 volts!!!! Yikes. 33 volts with the heaters on. Unplugged several things and all attribute about 5 volts! Really? Yikes. I thought I had decent equipment...

Anyways. Went to HD and bought a ground 3-prong plug. Only attachment to the plug is to the round plug (ground). I decided to do it this way rather than directly to the outlet so that I can easily unplug it/move it if necessary. I'd like to unplug it from time to time and measure stray voltage just to see if I have a failing component and it is masking it. Basically just hook the ground probe eyelet to the plug and your done. Besides placing the titanium rod in the tank and plugging it in to a grounded outlet.

See pictures.

Hooked it into my powerstrip which goes to the GFI with the titanium ground probe in the overflow box and viola! 0.007 volts measured in the tank.

Fish update. Tang looks worse today from yesterday but is still eating well. Saw the fire shrimp cleaning the Tang so that gave me a little more relief. Now with no stray voltage, no hands in the tank till after the first of the year (goal to keep stress down. Been in there a lot since I've met all of you, lol), and a good diet it should hopefully show signs of getting better in the next day or two.

.

slapshot · Nov 16, 2012

The only problem is you now have changed stray voltage into stray current. Current kills not voltage. Here is a good read for you.

http://www.michiganreefers.com/foru...38-important-grounding-probe-information.html

schooleyosis · Nov 17, 2012

Man.... That's a good read. Now I'm stumped if I should run it or not...

bknapp · Nov 17, 2012

I would definitely pull it out until you know 100% either way. Did you find what was causing the stray voltage? I doubt any tank is 100% clear of stray voltage, I've never tested mine, kind of has me wondering...

schooleyosis · Nov 17, 2012

I unplugged it and will not run it after reading that other forum. All makes sense.

It seems as if every component I unplug takes about 5 volts out of the equation. I'd be curious what other peoples tanks have for stray voltage in them. I'd also like to know if there is any voltage potential in the oceans...?

Anyways, unplugged for now. Hopefully the Tang will get better between low stress, stability, and the aid of the fire shrimp.

Dowtish · Nov 17, 2012

You have to remember that saltwater is very conductive on it's own. So you are going to get a low reading on most all your equipment. What you need to worry about is if 1 piece of equipment is putting off 30-40 by itself. The meter that you are using? is it digital or analog?

schooleyosis · Nov 17, 2012

Understood. I'm using a mid-level automotive digital meter. Not cheap but not the most expensive. Highest voltage is 8 volts from a MJ1200. Everything else is like 5 volts per piece of equipment.

Dowtish · Nov 17, 2012

The really cheap anolog ones are actually more precise in this situation. I think they are $12 or so.

Typed from my phone, because I have nothing better to do.

schooleyosis · Nov 17, 2012

Really? I would not have thought that. Either way, the probe is removed. Luckily I didn't pay too much for the components to put it together. Just an interesting topic all the way around. I wish I had the answer to why my Tang is sick. Thought this was the answer!!!

gmoney243 · Nov 17, 2012

Your tang probly just has something he needs to be treated for.

Sent from my Vortex using Tapatalk 2

schooleyosis · Nov 17, 2012

And where do I start with that G??? There is probably no way I can catch it in my tank without tearing the tank apart. Then, if I do catch it, what do I treat it for?

gmoney243 · Nov 18, 2012

Yea u def gotta catch to treat. Would do a freshwater dip followed by some anti parasitic medicine in a qt for internal parasites if u can't see any external or don't see anything fall off during freshwater dip.

Sent from my Vortex using Tapatalk 2

gmoney243 · Nov 18, 2012

heres a good article on QT and treatments.

Reef Hobbyist Magazine Quarter 4 2012

schooleyosis · Nov 18, 2012

The weird thing is that it's been fine for the past 6 months that I've had it, now all of a sudden it comes down with something? That's the odd part... I am not going to attempt to catch it as that will stress the crap out of it and probably make it worse. It hasn't seemed to get worse over the past day and it's still eating like a pig so I'm going to try and just let nature take it's course and hopefully the Tang is healthy enough to pass it. I do consider it the most delicate fish in the system so far so it is a good indicator that something is/was off!

Thanks for sharing the article.

gmoney243 · Nov 18, 2012

i had a naso tang that was fine for 6 months ate the night before then next day was laid out so i tried to qt but he died. sometimes it happens i guess.

schooleyosis · Nov 19, 2012

Yeah I hear ya. I haven't killed anything yet. Yet being the key word. It appears that I won't be able to grow a Duncan coral as well but can grow everything else that I have tried.

Dowtish · Nov 19, 2012

The club does have an excellent fish trap that you can use. No need to break the tank down, but unless you have a proper hospital tank setup, I would just feed lots of nori seaweed and hope for the best.