Electrified Fish Tank

[Truck]

i have earthed all of my equipment for safety measures, becuase as you know water conducts electricty

 

[smegforbrains]

i have earthed all of my equipment for safety measures, becuase as you know water conducts electricty

A good idea, but how?


There are no earthing points on filters and heaters :?


I would quite happily earth a luminaire or reflector easily but I must admit to being baffled by your having earthed a filter (plastic casing?) and heater (plastic head and glass body?).

 

[minxfishy]

Ouch strange if everything is unplugged. Rubber is a good grounding material isnt it? Could be wrong, but thats the best I can think of at the moment.

rubber is one of the worst grounding materials..its a good insulator..
you need a metal wire that is connected to the ground

LMAO Well I know zip about electrics obviously, I was told in a thunder storm the safest place to be was in a car, cos of the rubber tyres (or am I wrong?)

So my being in my trainers whilst stomping around in water messing with electrics isnt a recommended idea then

Minx is stupid, she knows that

 

[fifefish]

he connected the live cable to the top pin as well as the live one.. even i know how to earth things..
i have an easier way to earth my tank..
its all connected to a gang lead with four ports and it on which only needs on plug to be earth..rather than earthing all off them

 

[KentBowker]

I had this problem today. I was giving away a heap of baby swordtails and when the third person came to get some fish I started getting pain and tingling in my hands when I touched the water so the fault probably just started occurring then. I worked out that it was the airstone light that was causing the electrocution. The fish seem fine. I was trying to look up if the fish would also be electrocuted in this situation. I am an electrician but it's a hard one. The tingling was only at the top of the water so if you stuck your whole hand in the tank then your wrist would only feel the pain. This is what I found out.

Electricity stays more on the surface of the water rather than penetrating it. That's because water is a reasonably good conductor, and a good conductor keeps most of the current on the surface. Below the surface the current is neutralised.

As I was taking fish out with the net there was the potential that they were getting zapped but even all the babies at the top of the tank were OK because they were still under the surface and not breaking the water. Also the current in the airstone light would not be very high at all.

If you don't have any of your items plugged in then it must be a capacitor discharing. Having the items plugged in but turned off can still have a current if faulty.

 

[fluttermoth]

Thanks for the post, Kent, but as this thread is 8 years old, the problem might have been sorted by now
 
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