# Current Leakage



## awbowden (Mar 8, 2007)

So after my water change today, everytime I put my thumb into my tank I feel a pretty strong tingling. To the point where it hurts to keep it in. Guess something is leaking current into my tank. 

The only weird thing is, I tried all my electrical equip. one by one and I get the tingling happening when I have my tunze return pump plugged in or my Maxi-jet 900 which is connected to a phosban reactor. I never had this happen anytime earlier, so what are the odds that both of the would start leaking a current into my tank on the same day....

Fish and corals seem healthy but I guess I should replace these. I don't care about the maxi-jet but the return pump ain't cheap.

Does anyone know of other tests I could run to determine if this is the problem before I spend some dough?

Thanks!


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## ameekplec. (May 1, 2008)

A multimeter should tell you if you have leaking current. You can get one at Canadian tire for under $20.


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## awbowden (Mar 8, 2007)

Hey ya, I jst used mine to test it out.... odd readings, doesn't make much sense. Here's a breakdown, all the thing I've done are cumulative:

VAC 
50.0 when All equip running
46.5 when Unplugged Skimmer
39.4 when Unplugged Return Pump
19.1 when Unplugged Maxi-jet
16.4 when Unplugged MP10
3.3 when Unplugged Koralia

From that it seems the Maxi-jet was putting in ~20VAC, and the Koralia was putting in ~ 12VAC ... the heaviest offenders.

I then reversed the same unplugging process:


3.3 when nothing in
16.9 when plugged in Koralia
19.2 when plugged in MP10
39.8 when plugged in Maxi-jet
46.8 when plugged in Return Pump
50.0 when plugged in Skimmer

These confirm the previous results...Koralia and Maxi-Jet are the heaviest offenders. So one would think if I left the Koralia and Maxi-Jet unplugged the total tank voltage should drop by ~32VAC and be a reasonable level. But this is not the case...with only the Koralia and MJ unplugged I still read 47VAC???

So, I then measured the tank voltage and unplugging one component at a time and then plugging it back in before unplugging the next:

50.5 all running 
51.3 only unplugged skimmer
47.3 only unplugged pump
47.4 only unplugged maxi jet
50.0 only unplugged MP10
49.6 only unplugged Koralia
49.8 only unplugged Heater

Then, just for fun since nothing makes sense, I unplugged everything and plugged in only one component at a time:

VAC
12.5 MP10 only
24.8 Koralia only
43.0 Maxi Jet only
17.5 Skimmer Only
44.0 Return Pump Only
15.2 Heater Only


I also tried pulling my temp probe but this had no affect on results....

I dunno, this is above my head. My guess is the Tunze Silent Return Pump. During my water change I was messing around in the sump chamber with the return pump and MJ, don't want to buy another one buy may have to -- $$. Ill try my old return pump and see if I still get shocked. 

Bleh, what a stupid problem, can't believe the fish are still alive.

Thanks!


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## carmenh (Dec 20, 2009)

Did you check the heater? I had this problem a few months ago and it turned out to be my heater. It was a stealth...could have been worse, could have exploded


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## awbowden (Mar 8, 2007)

Ive unplugged the heater and gave it the old thumb test but still get a nice shock. I was originally hoping the heater was the issue as it is a stealth and I've had one fail on me as well.

I just don't understand why it seems to be a return pump/maxijet combo that gives out the worst shock...above my electrical knowledge.

Thanks!


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## Chromey (Sep 25, 2010)

Try a new power bar.

Electricity leaks just like RF.


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## ameekplec. (May 1, 2008)

awbowden said:


> Ive unplugged the heater and gave it the old thumb test but still get a nice shock. I was originally hoping the heater was the issue as it is a stealth and I've had one fail on me as well.
> 
> I just don't understand why it seems to be a return pump/maxijet combo that gives out the worst shock...above my electrical knowledge.
> 
> Thanks!


If the epoxy seal is compromised, it can easily leak - I had a maxijet seal fail once and the entire thing rusted into my tank.


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## poobar (Feb 20, 2011)

You must be loving the thought of putting your thumb in and now knowing if you are going to be shocked or not

The fact you are getting 3.3 volts when there is nothing plugged in to me highlights that your readings are not accurate, but it does look like you are getting closer to the culprit!


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## poobar (Feb 20, 2011)

Another thought.

Can you not take each one out and put them in there own container to test the voltage??

You might be getting residual capacitance from one of the other items that are turned off. This would totally eliminate them from the tank and give you a better idea.


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## Chris S (Dec 19, 2007)

The koralia and maxijets often have this problem, emitting stray voltage (sometimes even the brand new ones). If you decide to replace them, I'd suggest getting better quality water pumps. If you don't want to spend a lot of money, I'm hearing good things about the Aqueon's. Aside from that, Tunze/Ecotech =)

As for the Tunze, I've never heard of them leaking voltage, so I would see if you can replace it if it is under warranty =D


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## awbowden (Mar 8, 2007)

So I typed up a nice response but I timed out and lost what I wrote. I don't want to type it out again. Anyway as a quick recap, I put all the equip. one at a time into new salt water and tested the voltage, this is what I found:

nothing -- 0
pump -- 26V
maxijet -- 23V
other maxijet I use for mixing water -- 0V
heater -- 0V
Koralia -- 2.8V

So, it would seem that the pump and maxijet are the culprits. 

I then put my old honkin' return pump in my sump, put the 'good' maxijet in, put the heater back in. Turned everything back on, and I still got shocked!! Haha wtf. Read the tank voltage and it's about 40VAC. 

It seems like any combination of equipment puts some voltage into the tank and once it rises higher than ~30V it becomes enough to feel a shock. 

So, I got a higher quality power bar, a belkin with grounding and protection, built-in and LED indicators, etc. By using this I drop the in-tank voltage from 40V down to 1V. So this just provides a path to ground , not sure if that's really a good thing, but I no longer get shocked.

My head hurts...


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## awbowden (Mar 8, 2007)

Do most tanks have some type of voltage going on when ungrounded? My freshwater tank even has a reading of 50V...


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## Harry Muscle (Mar 21, 2007)

Has anyone suggested using a GFCI power bar to figure out what's causing the problem? They are very sensitive and will turn off with about 5mA of current leakage. Basically plug one item after another into the power bar and which ever trip the GFCI are the problem items. Or if you have a GFCI in your bathroom, just run an extension cord from there and test that way, no need to buy a GFCI power bar.

Hope that helps,
Harry


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