Stray voltage Questions.

[angelofish]

Where does the dial have to be on the meter? I thought I read it has to be on 250. If so I have about 25 in my tank with the equipment running. I narrowed it down to my lights. Is this enough to cause problems? I have a tang that twitches and darts around sometimes.I thought he was fighting his reflection.:notsure: Hes got some HLLE tooWhen I get my grounding probe will this eliminate all of the stray voltage? Can I put the probe in the HOB filter or it has to go in the tank?Please tell me the correct setting if I did it wrong. Thanks.Happy Easter.

 

[angelofish]

I just read here that it has to be on 120v.The meter Im using dosent have a 120 on the dial.:notsure:

 

[fishamajig]

then it wount be accurate. borrow a friends and try to go with a digital volt meter set it to read 120 v hold one side and put the other in the water you should get a good reading then.

 

[angelofish]

Even with the wrong setting is it safe to say I have some voltage in my tank.Will using a grounding probe bring the reading down to zero?

 

[chawawa]

take one lead and put it in the tank and the other lead into a good groung the round hole on your plug for ex. adn see what you get. HLLE is a sine of stray voltage.
now lets figure out your problem.
1) is your equipment pluged into a GFCI
2) are your lights on a timmer
a)if so is it a three prong timmer
b)do your lights have a three prong plug on them
if they have a ballast then they should cause the
ballast needs a ground to work properly.
let me know the ansures to this stuff and i can help from there

 

[angelofish]

1-I dont have the equipment plugged into a GFCI.
2-My lights are on a timer but not a 3 prong.
3-Both plugs on my aqualight are 3 pronged.
The needle didnt move with everything unplugged.Remember though my meter doesnt have a 120v setting.

 

[bailey52]

maybe a stupid question, but how does the voltage from the lights get into the tank? are there parts of the light that are actually touching the water?

 

[thegrog]

A grounding wire should be used no matter where the stray voltage is coming from. It is best to find the source and fix it, but a grounding wire will help your tank inhabitants.
I would go out and get a 3-prong timer for your lights and ground them out.
Lights can send stray voltage to a tank because the plastic can get coated with a thin layer of salt and this acts as a semi-conductor for the stray voltage. Many types of plastic also have chemical coatings that can conduct small amounts of electricity.
Ballasts for lighting units have lots of voltage and electricity in them and great care should be taken to be sure they are isolated. 3-pronged plugs, timers and GFCI plugs are a must!

 

[bailey52]

what if the lights, etc anything that can give the stray voltage.. is plugged into a power strip, that has a 3 prong plug that goes into the wall? does that work?

 

[reefraff]

You need anything with a three pronged plug plugged into a grounded cord, outlet, powerstip etc.
All a grounding probe will do is keep you from lighting up like an xmas tree if you are grounded and touch the water. You will have electrical current running from the bad componant to the grounding probe if you don't solve the problem first.

 

[bailey52]

so if everything in my tank is plugged into a power strip, and the power strip is plugged into the wall, and has 3 prongs, im ok?

 

[reefraff]

You are fine with every thing plugged into the power strip as long as it is plugged into a grounded outlet. You just need to make sure any appliance with a three pronged cord is plugged into a 3 hole receptical whether it is in the wall or on a power strip.

 

[angelofish]

After reading the replies I checked my powerstrip and it has a 3 prong plug.:notsure: Now Im stumped.

 

[chawawa]

make shure everything is 3 prong.
use your tester and stick one lead into the right slot on your recep. and to the round groung hole and make shure you are getting a good ground
by the way this realy wont work if you dont have a 120V tester you can get one fron radio shak for arround $10. all the cash you have spent we must start with the basics.

 

[fishamajig]

even if everything in the world was 3 prong you have to see if the bare copper wire in the recepticle is put to the green grounding screw . or it least be armor coated cable. If there is no ground wire established going back to the pannel i dont care how many prongs you got. go to home depot, pick up a ground test kit( it looks like a yellow plug with lights on the back) cheap only a couple of dollars. plug it into the outlet if it lights up right you got ground if it dosent call an electrician. :yes:

 

[reefraff]

If the lights(or anything else) are plugged into a timer that only has 2 prongs you don't have a ground. If the lights are still on the timer pull the timer and plug them directly into the power strip.

 

[angelofish]

Ok now Ive ordered my grounding probe a couple of days ago and I should have it tomorrow. I checked out my local True Value to buy a meter. None of the ones they sell from the cheapest to the most expensive and none have 120 anywhere on the dial. Now am I missing something here?:thinking:

 

[thomas712]

Originally posted by Bailey52
what if the lights, etc anything that can give the stray voltage.. is plugged into a power strip, that has a 3 prong plug that goes into the wall? does that work?
I think you still need to be careful here. Take the time to wipe off any salt creep or residue off of your lights, fixture or any wire that leads from the lighting. I used cable harnesses to slip my wiring into to protect from salt creep.
I have done maintenance on my tank once with my hands in the water, my cheek touched the metal flashing on my old light fixture and I became a path to ground, zzzap! right on my cheek. I could taste my gold crown the rest of the day. That was years ago before I made my own ground probe.
Thomas

 

[reefraff]

The voltage meter will probably read AC volts 200, 50, 10 or something like that. The 200 only means that is the highest the meter can read on that setting. The better meters will have several ranges for more accurate radings at lower voltages. A meter that reads the 200 volts AC range will be fine for checking your stuff.