# Preventing electrocution and stray tank voltage



## fishstein (Dec 12, 2005)

I'd like to make my tank 100% safe from shock and stray voltage. Never had an incident, but better safe than sorry. I have 2 devices, a heater and a circulation pump, that run inside my tank.

To totally eliminate the risk of electrocution and stray voltage to people and fish, I thought of using a ground probe and GFCI, explained below. Are both of these measures helpful together? The GFCI would not remove stray voltage from the tank, so I thought of using the ground probe as well. Would the ground probe itself offer enough protection from shock without the GFCI?

Also, can anyone recommend a good dependable inline GFCI (with small cord attached for max flexibility in use)?

To protect against stray voltage in the aquarium, there are ground probes like these that can go into your tank:

http://www.thatpetplace.com/pet/prod/209659/product.web
http://www.thatpetplace.com/pet/prod/217584/product.web

Also, I want to use an inline GFCI, or ground fault circuit interrupter. These can be mounted in your outlet, or you can purchase one that plugs into the outlet and has a small flexible plug into which your aquarium equipment can plug into:

Portable Type: Where permanent GFCls are not practical, portable GFCls may be used One type contains the GFCI circuitry in a plastic enclosure with plug blades in the back and receptacle slots in the f rant. It can be plugged into a receptacle, then, the electrical product is plugged into the GFCI. Another type of portable GFCI is an extension cord combined with a GFCI. It adds flexibility in using receptacles that are not protected by GFCls.
http://www.doityourself.com/stry/gfci


----------



## Muirner (Jan 9, 2007)

i installed a GFI outlet in my tank when i built my hood, and i run all my electronics through it.


----------



## fishstein (Dec 12, 2005)

By in your tank, you mean in your stand under the tank? Do you run multi-outlets through a single GFCI? And is the GFCI of the portable type, a GFCI with a little extension cord and plug?


----------



## greenfish (Mar 7, 2005)

I use this GFCI:
Tower_Inline_GFCI_Cord_Set_with_Single_Connector_(18_inch)

A lot of GFCI's don't reset if there is a power failure. This one will reset if power is restored. This is a great feature if you have a five minute power failure that happens to trip your GFCI. Otherwise the power to your tank could be off all day.


----------



## Muirner (Jan 9, 2007)

Mine is built in the canopy of my tank. Check out my link in my sig. The shop lights are wired into one plug that gets plugged into a timer on a GFI, and my night lights are on a timer plugged into the GFI, together the gfi has one power out plug, and that's wired into a surge strip, then into my wall which runs down into the main fuse pannel.


----------



## fishstein (Dec 12, 2005)

Hi Greenfish - nice unit, the reset feature is very important when traveling. Plan to pick it up.


----------



## fishstein (Dec 12, 2005)

Hi Muirner, shouldn't the GFCI be plugged directly into the wall outlet, power strip into the GFCI, and then the appliances into the power strip?

Is safety compromised at all by plugging the GFCI into a power strip, in other words, by not having the GFCI plugged directly into the wall outlet? 

Also, would you recommend adding a probe to also remove stray voltage?


----------



## hoppycalif (Apr 7, 2005)

The important thing with a GFCI is to have a good ground connection. This means it needs to plug into a source of power that is a three wire connection, with one of those being the ground. Then, if you wire it in correctly it will protect everything connected down stream from ground faults. I have never used a ground probe in an aquarium, but I can see the theoretical reason to do so.


----------



## fishstein (Dec 12, 2005)

It would seem then that it's a safer bet to plug the GFCI into a 3 prong wall outlet with a ground and have everything flow from that.


----------



## greenfish (Mar 7, 2005)

fishstein said:


> It would seem then that it's a safer bet to plug the GFCI into a 3 prong wall outlet with a ground and have everything flow from that.


That is how mine is. I have a power strip plugged into it.


----------



## hoppycalif (Apr 7, 2005)

I have my electric power box mounted in my tank stand, with a good three wire connection to plug into a three wire wall outlet. The box has the power coming in to the GFCI and from there thru the connections provided for that purpose to 4 electrical outlets, each of them being 2 three wire outlets. So, I have a good ground connection all the way to the wall outlet.


----------



## Muirner (Jan 9, 2007)

my plug out of my GFI is a 3-prong plug that goes to a surge strip. I feel safe in this because the surge strip is on the Circut breaker for my room, the circuit breaker controls the strip, the GFI controls the tank and all components in it.


----------



## Squawkbert (Jan 3, 2007)

Practical prevention:

Pumps - keep an eye on the power cord, especially where it bends, where it goes into the pump housing. Is the insulation in good shape? 

Heaters - throw away glass heaters & get submersible ones (Visitherm Stealth or Titanium) - 99% of electrical safety hazards I've seen were the result of cracked or broken heaters. The other 1% - cracked insulation.


----------



## fishstein (Dec 12, 2005)

Moderator,

This thread should be made into a sticky. It's amazing how many aquarists and aquarium stores do not use a portable GFCI or GFCI outlet. It's important hobbyists know how to mitigate or prevent risk from shock.


----------



## ruki (Jul 4, 2006)

I use GFCI protection, but I take the divide and conquer approach. I don't want to put everything on one GFCI since if something trips it, it takes down everything.

For each aquarium rack, I put in a multi-box outlet on the frame with a few separate GFCIs. I run a seperate set of outlet strips (AKA power bus). One power bus is for lights, the other two are for heaters and pumps. Also, I add a surge suppressor on the lights power bus since electronic ballasts can get fried from voltage spikes from electrical work and thunderstorms.

This way if a bad light trips the GFCI, only the lights go out and I notice that right away. If a bad heater or pump trips the GFCI, I only lose half the non-lights stuff on a rack. When adjacent tanks alternate power buses, the tanks never get that cold if a GFCI trips since the tank next to it will send it some heat. In my larger tanks, I have two half-sized heaters with each heater going to a different power bus.

Where I live, the power is really spiky. Sometimes the microwave clock gets reset multiple times a week. It would be possible for a spike to trip a GFCI in the morning and after a late night of work, I wouldn't notice it until the next morning when I feed my fish. My goal is to have enough redundancy to avoid die offs for 24 hours.

Also, thunderstorms used to trip or fry my GFCIs and especially surge suppressors. The newer ones are better, but I still feel better when I'm at work and know a thunderstorm is over where I live.


----------



## hoppycalif (Apr 7, 2005)

I have had thunderstorms kill GFCI's too, and such storms are not at all common in the area of California where I live. That is definitely a weakness of GFCI's. Since my house rarely ever get cooler than 65 F, I don't need a heater, and all I have used is a low wattage one, just in case, but I don't even use that now. So, I would lose only the lights and filter if the power goes off.

Many years ago I lived in an area of Missouri where thunderstorms occurred many times during each summer. At that time everyone learned to disconnect all appliances when a storm approached. It took me several years to unlearn that. I still worry that lightning will fry my house wiring some day.


----------



## mikenas102 (Feb 8, 2006)

I was using a GFCI until I went out and got a UPS. I had the UPS plugged into the GFCI but if the power blinks out for a minute and comes back on, the GFCI gets tripped by the UPS. For some reason they are just not working together. I would like to use them both but I need to figure out a way to make it work.


----------



## ruki (Jul 4, 2006)

re: devices tripping GFCIs

I've seen this with some aquarium lights. The two-tube All Glass fluorescent fixture with magnetic ballasts sometimes trips the GFCI when they are switched off. It was about once every three months in the winter and about twice a month in the summer. I had two of these fixtures and both of them did it. I replaced the ballast with an electronic one and the problem went away. I believe the reason was that fluorescent lamps need to have a ground plane in relation to the field driving the tube. Sometimes, when this is shut off, some of this field is discharged through the plug. Another reason for me to dislike magnetic ballasts.

There might be a similar thing going on with the UPS. I'm very tempted to say that this particular UPS is defective, either in design or construction.


----------

