moonlight dangers!

kablamo

kablamo

Member
Ok, as many of you may have read, i finished my moonlights yesterday, well, this morning i woke up and the wood was drooping and the LED's were touching the water (just barely, so i turned them off and put the peice of wood they are mounted on upside down.
My wife thought it was much cuter when they are turned on and everything is working so she put it back, and when i woke up again not only the lights, but one of the circuit boards was touching the water! I checked it, and the circuit board was covered in green powder! Anyone know what this is, and whether or not it will kill my tank?
Know that my tank is still cycling and I'm not killing anything, just i need to know if whatever the by product of the current and the circuitboard and the water and what not will have a detrimental effect on my tank when it is ready to add life!
 
dragonboy

dragonboy

Active Member
Its probably corroded from the expose electronic board from the saltwater cause you know saltwater can eat up metal really quick.
 
kablamo

kablamo

Member
Yeah, but what exactly is the byproduct of the corrosion? You are right i'm sure, but will this make my water deadly?
thanks
 
dburr

dburr

Active Member
Copper. To much of that and you won't have a reef.
How are you mounting these? They should not droop at all. Are you useing cable staples?
 
belothsurf

belothsurf

Member
Hmmmm.........Many "moons" ago, I was an electrician in the Navy, so I have a little experience dealing with water and electricity.....:scared: (<---- me getting shocked). I'm cluless as to what the green powder is. Copper does turn green after exposed to water and air, but it takes a while, and doesn't produce a powder. But electricity and water can do weird things to metals ( now I'm trying to remember my college chemistry classes.....this is starting to hurt my head...). Anyway, I bet your water is still ok and probably not contaminated, but it might not be a bad idea to do a big water change once your tank is fully cycled, before you add any livestock, just to be on the safe side. And of course, do a BETTER job of securing your electrical components in your lighting hood. Not to mention your livestock, but that can KILL you and or someone in your family. So anyway......good luck :D
 
robchuck

robchuck

Active Member
For safety's sake, install either a GFCI outlet (ground fault circuit interrupter; it looks like one in the bathroom with the red and black buttons) or a portable GFCI (it looks like a short extension cord with a small box with buttons wired inline).
Basically, the GFCI will trip if an electrical object plugged into it comes in contact with water. A GFCI will SAVE YOUR LIFE if another electrical catastrophe happens with your hands in the water.
 
zap800

zap800

Member
you forgot one last thing he could do. i always preferred the gfci circut breaker. this will make all the sockets into a gfci interupt socket. they are expensive but i rather those then a single socket. the only downfall is they are alot more expensive then the socket. like 4xs the cost of one gfci socket. but, if there are alot of sockets this method might be better then to rewire all the sockets........................ remember any socket within 6ft of water must be some sort of a gound fault interupt.
 
salty cheese

salty cheese

Active Member

Originally posted by dburr
How are you mounting these? They should not droop at all. Are you useing cable staples?
Kablamo's set-up
 
kablamo

kablamo

Member
well, lucky me, my LFS is closing down so i bought 100 bucks worth of stuff for about 20 bucks. One Item was a hood, so theres no more need to worry about that, PS, i already have the red and black thing going on with my outlet so that's taken care of, i think the problem has been solved. Where can i get a test for copper?
 
dburr

dburr

Active Member
i always preferred the gfci circut breaker. this will make all the sockets into a gfci interupt socket. they are expensive but i rather those then a single socket. the only downfall is they are alot more expensive then the socket. like 4xs the cost of one gfci socket. but, if there are alot of sockets this method might be better then to rewire all the sockets........................ remember any socket within 6ft of water must be some sort of a gound fault interupt.
If you put the GFCI outlet as the first one in the circiut, they are all GFCI protected.
 
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