Alluminium

[Notturnia]

i need to know if AL (alluminium..) can generate troubles if in the water..

i have a chiller that has a heat-exchanger made in AL.. they told me it's salt-water proof and they sent to me also a certified document were it's tested it wont release AL in water.. BUT.. after i bought that (1 years ago) every time i try to keep shrips in tank they will die whitin some months..

so.. it may be a coincidence.. maybe the trouble is elsewhere.. but corals grow.. fishes are ok.. water test seems perfect... but after some weeks/month my shrimps start to move as they are sleeping.. then falls down from rocks.. and stand still like poisoned..

i hate to see them die.. but i cant find anything in water that can make this happen.. so now i thought about that..

someone knows something i miss ?

tnx

[lunatik_69]

Have you tested for copper?

[Notturnia]

no.. not tested for copper.. hm.. maybe a leaking pump ?? -.-' ?

[aquaboy]

using any cheaper pumps on system? usually the cause

[Notturnia]

aquaboy.. thinking about the koralia 4.. or the marea... but also the aquabee gave me some troubles in the past.. grrrrrr.. i want the new tank .. only magnetic drive pumps next time &/$%&(/

donno mate.. sometimes i feel electricity when i have hands in the tank.. so probably a pump is leaking.. but i have something like 12 in tank.. and wont check all them -.-

next tank will be leak-proof

[amcarrig]

You might want to install a ground probe in the tank if you feel electricity when you put your hands in the water. Stray voltage might just be the cause of your shrimp problem.

[Notturnia]

well.. the stray voltage cant be a trouble for the fishes inside the tank cause it act as a farady-cage.. only if you can touch the earth and the water you can "ground" it and feel the electricity.. it's like if you seat on a 380kV wire 30 meters over the ground.. you wont feel anything.. but if you will put a feet/hand on the structure that hold the wire you will understand that wasnt a wise thing as you are "grounding" the wire..

btw.. if you put a ground probe in your tank that wont do anything untill you have an electricity "leak" but when you have one you will have a bigger trouble then w/o the probe as you will have a .. (cant remember the name..) "pila" .. a torc (?) well you will make the leak to work in the pump and damage it faster and harder .. and you will also see the probe "consume" itself for galvanic effect..

so.. no.. i wont put a probe.. but i will try to find what stupid pump is damaged and launch it outside my house....

btw.. maybe i found something that was touching the water that seems to be copperplated... grumble..

[bmshehan]

I've heard nothing but good things about probes, and fish can feel the effects of stray voltage. I put one in my tank not too long ago, a lot of people have them. Heard of one guy that put one in his tank and his fish started acting funny. After some research he found out there was all sorts of stray voltage in his tank and the fish had gotten used to it. When he put the probe in the voltage left and they had to get used to a healthy voltage free tank!!!

[reef_guru]

i dont use any submersible pumps, for the reason of stray voltage when the motor breaks down. with the exception of a maxi-jet or tunze streams since they are dipped in plastic and sealed, even if they heat up the plastic prohibits any leaks back to the water.

if all your using is submersibles, disconnect all of them including the main pump. then just run the main pump, check the stray voltage. if there isnt any, take all the other pumps and get a bucket of water to put them in and check one by one then move on to the next pump.

depending on your lighting system and how its over your tank that will put stray voltage in the tank. so check that first.

basically anything that is electrical start with nothing and go one by one until the problem is found