Danger! High Voltage!

Well, probably not that high..

I recently bought a volt meter & have been learning how to use it. I decided to check my tanks last night, and oh my, the voltage seems high!
I have a 36g tank that is reading at 28.5v, and a 20g tank that is reading 32.4v!!
I unplugged everything & tested, and the 36 was 2.2v, and the 20 was at 1.5v. I tested each appliance one-by-one and they are all causing a voltage reading. The lowest, a Rio pump at 3.9v, and the highest is a heater at 11.0v.
I did a bit of reading on stray voltage, but couldn't decide what to do. Is this a lot of voltage to be going through a tank? Everything seems to be contributing to the voltage, and I can't just run out & replace everything. Would a grounding wire work? Has anybody ever done a DIY grounding wire? I'm thinking of just taking a grounded electrical cord, removing the hot/neutral plugs, and placing some exposed ground wire into the tank. Do any of you electricity buffs thing this is a good or bad idea? I'm hesitant to do anything with electricity, but can't afford to get a store bought ground probe right now. Any input would be greatly appreciated!!

 

i would just buy a titanium ground that are made for fish tanks. That way you know it is reef safe and you know that it is probably working.

http://www.marinedepot.com/Titanium...altwater_Aquariums-TAAM-TA1111-FIMIGF-vi.html

 

Not an electrical buff but copper is very bad for livestock. It will be deadly to coral, inverts, and is not exactly healthy for fish either. It would work other than that though.

 

From my understanding, fish do better when Cu is in the water.

 

LOL.


I really have no clue why your tanks would both be carrying such high voltage, let alone retain a rather high voltage when they're powered off.

 

Me neither, it seems very strange. I even tested the water with the power strips plugged in & turned on, thinking maybe somehow they were contributing to it, but it stayed the same as when there was no power on around them at all. The tanks aren't terribly near any large magnets or machines that produce much of a field. So I just don't know.

Thanks Stepho, I hadn't considered the copper wire leaching into the tank. Good thinking!

 

I had this same problem in our company tank... we put in a few new K4's and tested it at 43.3v. It electrocuted all of our livestock to death! We use a titanium grounding probe now to remove the charge, it tests at 0.1v now

 

whats the process for measuring your tank? so the meter is set on ac volt, where are you sticking the probes? one in the tank? on to ground/neutral or what?

 

I have it set to check volts of AC up to 200v. I stick the black probe into a ground socket, then put the tip of the red probe in the water. It jumps around a bit depending on where I move it in the tank, but doesn't seem to have a consistent pattern.

 

When testing be sure to use a good ground, not the neutral side of the plug. The neutral will have stray voltage. Put the other end in the water. Zero is of course the right reading