I occasionally get stray currents from my marine aquarium. My outlets are old and do not have the 3rd grounding prong. I'm assuming I need to ground my aquarium. Is there a cheap way to do it? I have some galvanized (sp?) wire but it isn't insulated. Where should I run the ground to? Can I still use a screw in the outlet or should I run a wire outside? Any help is appreciated!
Grounding Marine Aquarium Questions??
- Thread starter Bgolfer88
- Start date
http://www.amazon.com/Titanium-Ground-Probe-ft-Wire/dp/B0002DKBEA
Your going to need a true ground though, ie, big copper rod pounded into the earth if you don't have a 3 prong outlet. Since it is 2 prong there is no ground to attach to so you need to find one.
http://www.cosjwt.com/index.php?a=16
[yt]0sLv4LLVPbA[/yt]
Your going to need a true ground though, ie, big copper rod pounded into the earth if you don't have a 3 prong outlet. Since it is 2 prong there is no ground to attach to so you need to find one.
http://www.cosjwt.com/index.php?a=16
[yt]0sLv4LLVPbA[/yt]
If you have stray currents in your aquarium you have equipment or lighting malfunctioning. Your tank's electrical equipment should be plugged into a GFCI (ground fault circuit interruptor)-protected receptacle. It's likely that if your voltage at the 120 volt outlets is steady and the neutral is held at zero volts that the system is grounded. Two-pronged receptacles indicate that the branch-circuit wiring to the outlets is ungrounded. This means there is a hot and neutral at the receptacle, but no equipment ground. You can have an equipment ground added for that receptacle. Have this done by a licensed electrical contractor. At the same time have the electrician install a GFCI receptacleto supply the tank.
To troubleshoot the faulty piece of equipment you may need to place a ground probe in the tank and connect to the ground socket of the GFCI receptacle. This will allow the leakage current a path back to ground so the gfci will trip when the fault shows itself.
One at a time, plug the different pieces of equipment into the GFCI receptacle. If it's a light, turn it on...if a heater, turn the thermostat up so the heating coil is energized...if a pump or other rotating equipment, make sure it's motor is turning. Typically, the problem is not going to be the light fixture unless it sits directly on the tank and creep has made a path from the water to the fixture. Mostly the problem winds up being a heater or faulty motor. When you plug the faulty equipment into the GFCI and it trips, killing the circuit at the receptacle, remove the faulty piece of equipment from service immediately and replace it.
Mark
Sorry, that is bad information. A GCFI should never be used for powering everything on the tank. One false trip while your away (and it happens often) and you wipe out your entire tank. I would never ever recommend a GFCI wall socket for an aquarium, major disaster waiting to happen. I recommend a UPS that has individual outlets protected by a GFCI, so if one piece of equipment trips, only that one outlet goes off, and resets itself, if it trips 3 times, it stays off and flashes a light letting you know there is a fault. Second, you will ALWAYS have stray voltage in an saltwater aquarium, it is the nature of saltwater. Even lights hanging above a tank will transfer voltage into the water, not even touching water.
To trouble shoot equipment correctly, pull out each piece of equipment one by one, put it in a bucket of saltwater, plug in, and test water for voltage. If it is under 10v, more than likely it is acting normal (since all equipment will leak some voltage, it just depends on what it leaks new vs leaks a year later, if there is a significant difference, time to replace, it if is 1-2v difference, not that big of a deal). Heck, just moving saltwater in a container will create some current, just water by itself.