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CapnMorgan 
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The Capn'
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 Topic: Almost Disaster!
Posted: April 10 2010 at 5:11pm |
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I awoke today and went down to check out the tank, only to find a mysterious buzzing noise. I checked it out and one of my heaters had gone nuts and was performing electrolysis on my water even plugged into a GCFI. Needless to say I was pretty ticked off. I unplugged it and removed it from the tank. Most of my corals were shriveled, my clams were clamped shut and fish were in hiding, my anemones didn't look so hot either. I was also delighted to find that my pH probe had gone haywire and caused my system to dose way to much kalk, so my alk was off the charts. After a large WC, and observation all day most everything has recovered or looks like it will. The only possible casualty is my large teardrop maxima clam. Which still doesn't look so good, but I'm hoping it will pull through. I plan on doing another WC to try and restore normalcy. So now that I've had my tank disaster I hope to go the next 2 weeks without incident so I can at least make it on the tour.
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Steve My Old 180G Mixed ReefCurrently: 120G Wavefront Mixed 29G Seahorse & Softies Running ReefAngel Plus x2 435-8
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tileman
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Posted: April 10 2010 at 5:18pm |
Steve, Sorry about that, but I'm glad you caught it in time. I got lucky that way also.
If I were you , I wouldn't even use a heater. My tank never goes below 75 degrees. I wish it would.
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Corey Price
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Posted: April 10 2010 at 5:43pm |
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Sorry to hear that. Hope everything goes better. I stopped running a heater, but I run one now since I have it on a controller. Heaters, even the best ones, tend to stick on as the microswitch wears out.
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CapnMorgan
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Posted: April 10 2010 at 7:30pm |
I have tried running without a heater but my temp started to move towards 70 degrees. So unfortunately it is a necessary evil. I had it hooked into my controller, so it didn't stick on so much as the wires had somehow come disconnected from the body of the heater and were electrifying my water. I had to go buy a new one from the aquarium so I didn't have to wait for shipping, but I paid through the nose for it. almost $20 more than online  . The curse of the over priced LFS strikes again.
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Steve My Old 180G Mixed ReefCurrently: 120G Wavefront Mixed 29G Seahorse & Softies Running ReefAngel Plus x2 435-8
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ClarkWGrizwald
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Posted: April 10 2010 at 8:03pm |
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do u have a ground probe? They r cheap security for sure.
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CapnMorgan
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Posted: April 10 2010 at 8:52pm |
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My only problem with ground probes is that if you install one once the water is electrified and you stick your arm in then so are you. My GCFI should have tripped but didn't so I replaced them, and wrote digital aquatics about the POS pH probe.
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Steve My Old 180G Mixed ReefCurrently: 120G Wavefront Mixed 29G Seahorse & Softies Running ReefAngel Plus x2 435-8
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xlr8r
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Posted: April 10 2010 at 9:57pm |
WOW Steve  . It would have been a crying shame to see any of that tank die off. I'm really glad that everything is recovering. Man I was all mad at loosing one fish, I can't imagine loosing eveything.
Hope all continues to go well!!
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ClarkWGrizwald
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Posted: April 10 2010 at 11:12pm |
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Its funny, most of the time the gfci's dont trip out. Im weird, id rather get zapped instead of my fish & inverts. Im glad everything is doing ok though. Ull know for sure if everything will make it by tomorrow. Typically after getting zapped ull know in the first 24 hours which ones 4 going to make it.
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Jasob
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Posted: April 11 2010 at 2:56am |
I agree with you on the ground probe. I'd rather have stray voltage in my tank with no ground for amps to start kicking in than one giant conductor next to the couch/kitchen table that I can't help but stick my arms into.
If you end up needing a safe haven for any corals I'd be happy to baby sit! (or any other help of course)
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Jason
Tooele, UT
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CapnMorgan
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Posted: April 11 2010 at 3:10am |
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Well I finished the second water change a couple hours ago and everything looks 100% better. My teardrop Maxima is still struggling a little but it looks like it'll make it. The corals all have good polyp extension, my anemones are inflated again, and everything is returning to normal.
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Steve My Old 180G Mixed ReefCurrently: 120G Wavefront Mixed 29G Seahorse & Softies Running ReefAngel Plus x2 435-8
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PhotoGlen
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Posted: April 11 2010 at 8:10am |
I am there for you as well, what ever you need. 
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I honestly think it is better to be a failure at something you love than to be a success at something you hate.
George Burns
Now two 29 gal. Biocubes
90 gal. with a 40 gal. sump
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Mark Peterson
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Posted: April 11 2010 at 12:49pm |
I'm sorry to read of your mishap.
I can see that a little education would be helpful here. I'm wondering if I should link this in my tips and how to's?
GFCI stands for Ground Fault Circuit Interrupt. This unit is designed to open the circuit(cut the power) when it senses an unusually rapid increase of electricity, especially if it is going to "Ground". In this situation, where there was no grounding probe, the electricty did not quickly increase and flow to the Ground so the GFCI did not cut the power.
Unfortunately, in actual practice, these units do not always cut power when this kind of thing happens, simply because the amount of electricity flowing from one exposed wire to another through the saltwater is not enough of a change/increase to cause the sensor to notice that anything is wrong.
The key here is that the GFCI is more likely to notice a problem if the tank has a grounding probe. But therein lies a significant cause for alarm. If unrestricted current flows to the grounding probe and is not shut off by a faulty GFCI, the result can be even worse than your experience in this situation.
So my advice in this may sound just as crazy as my advice often does, because it sometimes flows counter to the popular, mainstream, fads. My advice is to go one of two directions; use a GFCI with a Grounding Probe or use neither.
I use neither. My reasons are many but have to do with all the combined experiences of many hobbyists over many years. But I do not leave it at that.
I take extemely special care with electrical equipment. Starting at the source, I ensure the wall outlet is properly wired with correct grounding and that saltwater cannot reach the wall, (thanks Shane ) or any electrical connection on its way to the equipment. Extension cord connections are kept out of harms way, even raised off the carpet and/or sealed with silicone, in case the carpet were to get soaked. I place electrical components outside the stand whenever possible. I'm known to hammer a long nail, angled up to the back of the stand where I hang lighting ballasts a little away from the side. The nail facing up discourages water from flowing along it to the ballast. A MH Ballast is too heavy so it goes on the floor set on something to keep it off the carpet and let cool air pass underneath it.
Inside the stand, power strips are fastened securely, preferably to the top or side with cords looped to avoid water running to the connections. Placing the powerstrip on the top leaves the plug openings facing down so water cannot easily run into them. It's also easy to grab a plug and pull it out fast when the powerstrip is solidly fastened and facing down. Extra wire is bundled with a zip-tie which makes the setup tidy and uncluttered.
When I make lighting fixtures I always ground the ballast.
I buy top quality heaters. They may be more expensive but this is where the "King of Cheap" does not cut corners. I have been very pleased with my experience with Ebo-Jeager and Stealth heaters. Stealth are an unbrakable ceramic and have an auto-shut-off when they get too hot such as when the water is drained and I forget to unplug the heater. This has happened more times than I would like to admit. 
Lastly, I notice if there is any kind of "buzz" each time I touch my hand to the water. If it seems more than usual, using a voltage meter, I check the ground voltage. Below 20 VAC is completely safe, but each tank is different. I've seen tanks with ground voltage a little over 40VAC that were just fine. Checking each piece of electrical equipment for how much voltage it is contributing to the reading is my next step and I replace any that appear defective. Old wires where the insulation has become hardened and then cracked when it was bent a new direction are big red flags for me.
This is some of what I can write about it.
I guess "that's all I have to say about that", for now 
Edited by Mark Peterson - April 11 2010 at 1:03pm
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Mark Peterson
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Posted: April 11 2010 at 12:54pm |
 CapnMorgan wrote:
My only problem with ground probes is that if you install one once the water is electrified and you stick your arm in then so are you. My GCFI should have tripped but didn't so I replaced them, and wrote digital aquatics about the POS pH probe. |
I hope you find my post above helped with your understanding of why a ground probe should be used in combination with a high quality GFCI.
The pH probe is a casualty of the electricity that was flowing to and through it. It is not the manufacturers problem.
Also, in case you didn't know, 70 degrees is not a problem for coral or fish. In fact, though growth slows down a little, in many ways it's better for our captive pets to be in the low 70's rather than the low 80's.
Edited by Mark Peterson - April 11 2010 at 12:57pm
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CapnMorgan
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Posted: April 11 2010 at 2:28pm |
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It was helpful, thanks Mark! The heater that went bad actually was a stealth heater, and it was less than 3 months old. I wrote marineland an email, and am interested to see how they respond to it. Needless to say I will NEVER buy another heater manufactured by them. I bought a 400w Hydor Theo, as I have had one of them on my Frag tank and it has worked flawlessly. I keep my tank at 75 degrees, so I don't really ever worry about it over heating.
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Steve My Old 180G Mixed ReefCurrently: 120G Wavefront Mixed 29G Seahorse & Softies Running ReefAngel Plus x2 435-8
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Mark Peterson
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Posted: April 11 2010 at 8:10pm |
 A recent thread here found their Stealth was giving extra ground voltage. A related problem showing that this issue definitely needs to be addressed by the manufacturer. Okay, so I must have just been lucky this time.
Edited by Mark Peterson - April 11 2010 at 8:11pm
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