Tank contains Voltage

kkgaskin90 · Jul 11, 2015

Now that I've tested my tank, I've found that all my equipment is putting off voltage. The Tang has HLLE and of course I'd like to stop that. I asked for advice elsewhere (FB) and got everything from "It's normal, feed Nori" to "replace all your equipment" to "add a ground probe with a GFCI/no GFCI". So, needless to say, I'm utterly confused. Can someone please help me out?

scardall · Jul 11, 2015

If you have stray Voltage in your tank(Usually it's AC) You have a piece of equipment causing it. Here's how to nail it down. Take one piece of equipment off line at a time and mea. from water to know ground. When the mea. Voltage goes away you have found your source. I had this problem and it turned out to be a power head. (It was still working too) Now Lateral line disease can also be caused by a vitamin deficiency as well. (improve diet and or add Vitamin/trace elements to you tank) I hope this helps. :)

kkgaskin90 · Jul 11, 2015

Thank you. I did individually test equipment and got the numbers listed above. I have been soaking food in Vita-Chem

redfishbluefish · Jul 11, 2015

Interesting numbers!

With nothing plugged in, you're getting 1 volt??? Mystery voltage.

I could understand the Gyre and maybe the pumps.....induced voltage.

The JBJ ATO, the only thing that's in the water is the float switch. I've got to believe that it's supplied with DC volts. AC float switches are disgustingly expensive.

Accordingly, some numbers just don't add up. Is this a quality multimeter?

redfishbluefish · Jul 11, 2015

Another thought.....back voltage from your ground. Using the multimeter set to AC volts, put one probe in the ground plug and the second probe in the longer slotted plug. You should have zero volts. If you have voltage, you've got some funky wiring in your house.

kkgaskin90 · Jul 11, 2015

redfishbluefish said:
Interesting numbers!

With nothing plugged in, you're getting 1 volt??? Mystery voltage.

I could understand the Gyre and maybe the pumps.....induced voltage.

The JBJ ATO, the only thing that's in the water is the float switch. I've got to believe that it's supplied with DC volts. AC float switches are disgustingly expensive.

Accordingly, some numbers just don't add up. Is this a quality multimeter?

Yes. It's an Amprobe AM-510 my husband uses for work. Reviews are great and looks to cost around $40. Im so confused. I think he made a mistake measuring the voltage the first time. Here are the numbers I just got:

Additionally, our house was struck by lightning April 15. I'm going to check the outlet as you suggested because now concerned...

kkgaskin90 · Jul 11, 2015

Are the probes in the correct holes?

kkgaskin90 · Jul 11, 2015

Probes are not long enough to get in the outlet

redfishbluefish · Jul 11, 2015

redfishbluefish · Jul 11, 2015

kkgaskin90 said:
Probes are not long enough to get in the outlet

What??? The other ends should look something like this:

And would easily fit in a plug hole.

scardall · Jul 11, 2015

I was concerned with the 1V mea. with nothing plugged in. Did you miss something small? Now I'm confused. I added all Voltages up to to 12.1V.(parallel/series circuit is likely why you mea. 8V) Is there a ground path some where? Salt is a great conductor as glass is an insulator. darn??? Good luck here.

kkgaskin90 · Jul 11, 2015

I did forget a thermometer.

kkgaskin90 · Jul 11, 2015

Everything off and thermometer removed I got 0.5V
Turned everything on and ensured a good connection with the ground and got 14V. I think my ground was bad earlier as 14V makes more sense than 8V.

redfishbluefish · Jul 11, 2015

kkgaskin90 said:
I did forget a thermometer.

Can't guarantee, but I believe the plastic part on the end of the probe pulls off to expose the longer metal probe end.

kkgaskin90 · Jul 11, 2015

redfishbluefish said:
Can't guarantee, but I believe the plastic part on the end of the probe pulls off to expose the longer metal probe end.

Yup. Sure does. That's embarrassing.

kkgaskin90 · Jul 11, 2015

Ok, confirmed 0.5V to outlet when I pulled off plastic sleeve. 14V in tank.

thenanoreef · Jul 13, 2015

With stray voltage from almost ever piece of equipment, I'm going to go out on a limb and say its to expensive to replace it all. Therefore, go out and buy a $12 grounding probe. I did after a year of mysterious fish deaths only a few days after I got the fish! I got one of these probes and none of my fish have died since. Sure its only masking the problem, not actually preventing it, but I've got fish that are alive and happy.

thenanoreef