Electrical shock in tank

Blacktank · Mar 16, 2017

I had to go out of town for work for a couple of days, I get a phone call from my wife telling me my Arrowhead crab didn't look well. When she got home from work that night, she found one tang dead and one not doing well. The Arrowhead looking comatous. On her own accord (thank goodness), she ran to the lfs, they had her get a water sample. When they checked it the ammonia, nitrates and nitrates were really high. They told her to do a water change and put in "bio spira". I have not added anything to the tank or had any problems or erregular readings for quite a while. I did not know how I could get a spike so sevier, so quickly.
I got home the next day (yesterday). I hurried and did another water change and then found a power head that was shorting out.
My question is, can a short cause all my if those problems? What do I need to do

now, and what else do I need to know? Ihave been trying to find answers, but not finding the real answers.
I have been following R2R for about 3 to 4 months regalurly, so fairly new. First time posting. I set up my 55 gallon soft coral and fish tank last August, but didn't start populating until the end of October. Any help would be much appreciated.

Kyle Rinker · Mar 16, 2017

The short answer is yes. In my experience that is entirely possible. I had a cord to a powerhead get chewed through by an urchin. The bare wire nuked the tank. I lost two-thirds of my corals but miraculously no other livestock. My nitrates went from less than five to over 40 overnight. It took multiple large water changes and the addition of some bottled nitrifying bacteria to get things back in order. The corals that did not die from that shock still looked horrible for about 6 weeks but eventually did recover.

Blacktank · Mar 16, 2017

Thank you. Should I do anything more than what I am doing?

Kyle Rinker · Mar 16, 2017

I am assuming you have already unplugged your shorted out pump. If not, unplug it and then remove it. Definitely don't ever stick your hands in the tank if there is a short and your tank is not grounded. Continue doing water changes until your values are where you want them. Adding a product like BioSpira is a good choice. Most likely you lost a great deal of your nitrifying bacteria in this ordeal.

What brand of power head did you use and how old is it (new, used)? New models from a reputable company can likely be replaced under warranty. Do you have anything in the tank that would have chewed through the cord?

GoVols · Mar 16, 2017

@Brew12
Anything that you can add to this thread?

Regards, GoVols

Brew12 · Mar 16, 2017

Run carbon ASAP and I would also run a copper absorbent like Poly Filter or Cuprisorb.

My biggest concern at this point would be the heat at the fault location leaching contaminants and the copper corroding in contact with the saltwater. Electricity flow will speed up this corrosion. Now that you have found and fixed the fault it is important to get these toxins out of the water.

Oh, and Welcome to Reef2Reef! I wish it were under better circumstances!

If you need or want any electrical recommendations, feel free to reach out. Good luck!

Brew12 · Mar 16, 2017

I just saw I didn't completely answer your post. Yes, this is very possible. With a relatively young tank your biological filter isn't very strong yet. Having a fish die can easily overwhelm the capability of your nitrifying bacteria causing an ammonia spike. Once your tank is a year old or so it is much less likely for this to occur.
Prime would have been a better product to add than Biospira. Biospira will help establish nitrifying bacteria in a new tank. Prime will immediately "lock up" the ammonia for 2 to 3 days making it non-toxic and giving your bacteria a chance to break it down. For a rapid ammonia spike this will help much more quickly.

p7willm · Mar 16, 2017

Having a person stick their hand in the tank and grounding it through them might be enough to kill. Get a GFCI to make the tank safer for people and also to stop things like this.

Brew12 · Mar 17, 2017

p7willm said:
Having a person stick their hand in the tank and grounding it through them might be enough to kill. Get a GFCI to make the tank safer for people and also to stop things like this.

A GFCI used in conjunction with a grounding probe is an even better idea!

Blacktank · Mar 17, 2017

Thanks, I did throw out the power did get some prime and

Blacktank · Mar 17, 2017

I did throw out the power head. Old for sure. I also used prime when I did the last water change. I will do another water change today, and of course use prime again

Blacktank · Mar 17, 2017

I will get some poly do or cuprisorb today. I do have carbon running through my filter.
Thank you so much for your help. I can't believe this happened but I know I have great community to turn to

Brew12 · Mar 17, 2017

Blacktank said:
I did throw out the power head. Old for sure. I also used prime when I did the last water change. I will do another water change today, and of course use prime again

Glad to help. You can add Prime directly to your tank to help with the ammonia spike. Using it on make up water is typically done to deal with Chlorine/Chloramine from city water treatment centers. You can use it in your display tank or quarantine tank to control ammonia. And, it is almost impossible to overdose. It is a great product to have on hand.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Mar 17, 2017

What is the ammonia now?

Blacktank · Mar 17, 2017

Good to know. I only use ro/di water. So I shouldn't need prime for the chlorine or chloramine.
My ammonia levels are under .05

GoVols · Mar 17, 2017

@Brew12

Do you have a picture (or link) of what a grounding probe looks like and how to install one on a reef?

Thanks, GoVols

Brew12 · Mar 17, 2017

Blacktank said:
Good to know. I only use ro/di water. So I shouldn't need prime for the chlorine or chloramine.
My ammonia levels are under .05

You are probably set for chlorine. Did you buy a ro/di unit that is designed to filter chloramine? If not, you should call your local water utility and see if they use it. Chloramine is more difficult for ro/di units to remove than chloride and since it is a dissolved gas you can have it and still show 0 on your TDS meter.

GoVols said:
@Brew12

Do you have a picture (or link) of what a grounding probe looks like and how to install one on a reef?

Thanks, GoVols

If you use a power strip on your aquarium you can very cheaply make it safe. Take the ground probe on the left and put the titanium probe in the tank water. Plug the receptacle end into any outlet. You should not need the ring terminal so you can just leave that hanging.
If you use a power strip to power your aquarium, you can plug the GFCI unit below into the wall and then plug the power strip into it. This will make your aquarium very safe at a total cost of under $30. Installation time takes under 5 minuts.

GoVols · Mar 17, 2017

Brew12 said:
You are probably set for chlorine. Did you buy a ro/di unit that is designed to filter chloramine? If not, you should call your local water utility and see if they use it. Chloramine is more difficult for ro/di units to remove than chloride and since it is a dissolved gas you can have it and still show 0 on your TDS meter.

If you use a power strip on your aquarium you can very cheaply make it safe. Take the ground probe on the left and put the titanium probe in the tank water. Plug the receptacle end into any outlet. You should not need the ring terminal so you can just leave that hanging.
If you use a power strip to power your aquarium, you can plug the GFCI unit below into the wall and then plug the power strip into it. This will make your aquarium very safe at a total cost of under $30. Installation time takes under 5 minuts.

Thank You!