Red Slime Gone due to 41.5 VAC Stray Voltage

[saltwaterbob]

That is right I have been battling red slime algea in a 65gallon tank for 8 months on and off. The cleaners who shampood the carpet got water in the outlet blew every bulb in the apartment including the insulation resistance of the new lighting system. This was not a problem before the cleaners came. The tank showed all corals closed bristle star barely moving. I saw this before with a yellow tang that had HLLE and was so spoked out the corals were also closed. This tank did not have a ground probe. I measured 41.5 VAC with the red probe in the water and the black in the ground of the electriacl socket. Your house has 120vac in the outlets. The electrical shock cause the lighting system as well as a few other things to go bad. What a disaster. The stray voltage will travel thru the air on lighting systems. This may be a good experiment to rid of red slime algea. I know it was not anywhere for me to find after the 2 day of this high stray voltage. I cleaned it out completly. It is strange but it worked.

 

[pyro]

Hmmmm, creative idea. Could I just be due to the fact your lights have been out for a while though?
My dads trigger broke a heater once, same idea as your tank, only instead of flying voltage it was burning water.

 

[saltwaterbob]

The lights are on and working like normal the only thing was when you lift the lights off the glass top the 41.5 voltas on the meter goes to 2VAC this did not do this before the power spike. I put the old lighting back and the tank is doing fine.

 

[viper_930]

You do not use a GFCI on your power strip?

 

[saltwaterbob]

This stray voltage come thru the air and is present in the tank. A GFCI will only interupt the circuit in a overload condition and will trip close to the source instead of at you curcuit breaker box. This apartment has every bulb blown all breaker tripped and black smoke on the walls at the dimmer switches and where the bulbs were.

 

[dalerich]

I think the stray voltage is what is called electrical noise. This noise can be read on digital meters. A GFI only trips when current over about 4.5-7.0mA is detected on the ground line.
Over 7.0mA at 120Vac across your heart will pause your heart beat. Over time your paused heart beat may not restart on its own.
Electrical noise is the same noise created by cell tower, Am/Fm transmission towers, High current switching SCR loads, Frequency motor drives, and even electric blankets.
120 VAC with a air gap of about 1/2" at 15A of current is dead. You will not get stray voltage beyond that. The tank is a humid but I still think voltage would not get into the tank. It sounds as if the tank is grounded some how. Take your meter and measure resistance between ground on the plug and the tank water. If thier is a ground than you might be looking at a bad heater wire or pump wire or something. But IMO your meter was picking up noise.
hope this helps.

 

[crm13]

Good call. I agree. You get the same thing on a meter under the hood of a running car just holding one lead in midair while the other is connected (ground or hot). Different locations will give you differnent readings depending on the unit that is supplying the noise(alternator, coil pack, distributor, etc.) I might add also that the device is likely a pump or powerhead with a ground wire (motor noise.)