Can stray voltage effect sps?

[OutColdCRNA]

Yesterday morning about 3am I was alerted by my apex that a safety sensor was tripped. I came out to check on the tank and one of my return pumps on my 65 gallon AIO had failed. I reached in the return section and felt an obvious shock. The pump was dead. Even after I shut the switch down the pump popped me for a minute. Long story short I hooked up a spare and started everything back up. Left about 6 hours later for a road trip with my kids. My sps looked pale before we left. Got back today and my setosa, mystic monti cap and an acro or two are looking pale.

Parameters:
Alk. 8.2 has been for as long as I can remember
Cal 450
Mag 1385
Nitrate 10 dose daily to 15
Phos 0.009 dose daily to 0.03

Started dosing trates and phos a few weeks ago for pale acros and the colors are coming back. Last dose was about 30 hours ago before the road trip.

Can the electrical voltage from the failed pump cause the sps in the tank to pale and almost bleach?!

 

[Reefer Matt]

I think it has the same effect on them as you. I suggest a gfci outlet, and a ground probe to prevent a reoccurrence.

 

[OutColdCRNA]

For sure. That was my mistake for not having at the very least a ground probe in the tank. Will be putting a gfci on this weekend. Thought I had changed it out before I set the tank up but found it in my electrical supplies in my work bench.

 

[exnisstech]

No. I've had 50 volts in a tank with no ill effects to any livestock. Jay H talked about this as being a red herring.
Just picture yourself suspended in air touching nothing at all. Stick your hand in the water and you'll feel nothing but water. Touch the hot wire in an outlet and not be grounded and you'll feel nothing. The corals are not grounded so stray voltage had no effect on them.
Let the stoning begin

 

[Reefer Matt]

For sure. That was my mistake for not having at the very least a ground probe in the tank. Will be putting a gfci on this weekend. Thought I had changed it out before I set the tank up but found it in my electrical supplies in my work bench.

I don't know if the leaking voltage affected the coral before you got shocked, as the path to ground may not have been present. But I have had weird things happen with induced voltage present that went away after I installed a ground probe. But it is only safe to install a probe with a gfci outlet.

You will probably get answers on both sides, but my previous comment was just for your safety, and to suggest coral don't like getting shocked either.

 

[OutColdCRNA]

Haha that’s what I always thought and have heard as well. That the corals and fish are uneffected by the voltage. Was surprising to see an obvious change in like a 5 hour period and only effects a few pieces.

 

[OutColdCRNA]

I don't know if the leaking voltage affected the coral before you got shocked, as the path to ground may not have been present. But I have had weird things happen with induced voltage present that went away after I installed a ground probe. But it is only safe to install a probe with a gfci outlet.

You will probably get answers on both sides, but my previous comment was just for your safety, and to suggest coral don't like getting shocked either.

That’s a valid point about completing the ground may have been some effect on them.

 

[radfly]

Like birds on a power line… no ill effect at all folks.

 

[gbroadbridge]

Yesterday morning about 3am I was alerted by my apex that a safety sensor was tripped. I came out to check on the tank and one of my return pumps on my 65 gallon AIO had failed. I reached in the return section and felt an obvious shock. The pump was dead. Even after I shut the switch down the pump popped me for a minute. Long story short I hooked up a spare and started everything back up. Left about 6 hours later for a road trip with my kids. My sps looked pale before we left. Got back today and my setosa, mystic monti cap and an acro or two are looking pale.

Parameters:
Alk. 8.2 has been for as long as I can remember
Cal 450
Mag 1385
Nitrate 10 dose daily to 15
Phos 0.009 dose daily to 0.03

Started dosing trates and phos a few weeks ago for pale acros and the colors are coming back. Last dose was about 30 hours ago before the road trip.

Can the electrical voltage from the failed pump cause the sps in the tank to pale and almost bleach?!

No it would not affect the coral unless they had one arm in the tank and another earthed on the outside like you did.

Without an earth path, it's the same as a bird sitting on powerlines. No effect at all.

ed: Opps I see someone else already used that analogy.

 

[cilyjr]

I had a situation many years ago where I had a broken heater leaking stray voltage. The voltage did nothing but the copper leads that were now having contact with the water began electrolysis which in turn leached copper ions into the water. That killed almost every invertebrate in the tank.

 

[Pod_01]

My sps looked pale before we left. Got back today and my setosa, mystic monti cap and an acro or two are looking pale.

Parameters:
Alk. 8.2 has been for as long as I can remember
Cal 450
Mag 1385
Nitrate 10 dose daily to 15
Phos 0.009 dose daily to 0.03

In my opinion your issue was ongoing before this since your sps looked pale prior to your pump issue.
I had similar issues with Setosa and other montiporas going pale when PO4 dropped below 0.05. From my experience these corals are sensitive to low PO4 and Alk above 7.5. It took me some time to make the connection and few dead monti. It might be just my tank but these days I run Alk at 7.

My suggestion would be to use reef roids or FM Coral Dust to feed the corals. Adding PO4 alone might not be enough. I like to mix some FM Coral dust in a cup of tank water, let it sit for 30 minutes and add it in.

On a side note here is my Setosa before I killed it by turning my tank into fresh water while being on vacation:

Just recently I managed to get a frag from reputable place, but it will take time for it to grow up:

Not the best picture…

Good luck,

 

[OutColdCRNA]

I do agree that the lower PO4 could be an issue. I just find it odd that acros had been coloring up and that the few pieces that paled out overnight coincided with the pump failure.

 

[thatmanMIKEson]

there's only a million reasons acropora do what they love to do ( mysteriouslydie), im almost certain I've lost some from to many pictures of them, its anyone's guess as to what it takes for an acro to croak in 5hrs in their own system, but more than likely its not stray voltage, not going pale first anyway and it would effect the entire tank over just one or two corals, or maybe the ones in close proximity, I'd say keep hunting for the culprit or just forget about it if most are still happy. I have a few that have shown minor signs a few weeks before then look good then all of a sudden they just start melting away

good luck, get that stray voltage problem figures out that's the important problem