Electrocuted entire tank!!! - Death Toll Update

[bassman]

Originally Posted by Dave C

I wouldn't have thought the fish/coral would have received any shock at all since they aren't grounded. I imagine the breaker popped, the lights were out, same with all return pumps, current and heat and you're seeing the results of that outage. I bet they recover fine.

You would think so but the breaker didn't pop. Aside from that all my pumps, powerheads and heaters are on a separate breaker. Only my lights and cooling fans are on that breaker. The lights were on and the other fan was still running. Even the powerbar the two fans are plugged into didn't trip.

[bassman]

One other thing to note, is that the wire going to the fan slips onto two thin prongs. The connection is not very snug or tight. I can't remember for sure but I am 99% sure that the wire had come unplugged from the fan itself but both were fully submersed in the water. It's the same end you find on a cord that plugs a ghetto box in, two little pins.

Not sure if that means anything to you electrician types out there or not.

[bassman]

Death toll update:

5 snails
1 Blue sponge
1 Derasa Clam
1 Pulsing Xenia Colony

Other then that my other corals seem to be recovering, slowly.

I think I got lucky.

I was talking with an electrician at work yesterday and he isn't really sure how much of a shock the tank would have received. Being that the cord came detached from the fan as it fell into the tank and was dangling in the water the current probably wasn't very strong. The electricity would'nt have had a place to ground out. The fan was not drawing any electricity so it was probably a fairly mild voltage.


I am wondering if the copper leaking from the fan motor didn't do the most harm to the tank. Never mind anything else that would have leaked out of it, i.e. grease etc.


It looks like most of my critters and corals will be okay.
I am very bummed that I lost what I did but it could have been much, much worse.

[Myanth]

Glad to hear all is well.

I had a glass 300W heater break on me. With no grounding probe, it stayed that way for what I can estimate to be two days, until I zapped myself when doing a water change. No ill-effects to the tank at all. Other that a small heat mark on the bottom of my rubbermaid sump.

It probably is contaminant related rather than electricity.

My heater smelled terrible but it had brittle stars inside of it when I unplugged it. They didn't seem to mind.

As far as I know, which isn't far, electricity will not affect any living creature unless it is in the path to ground. As good a conductor as tissue is, it's not as good as water. I gave the electricity a path to ground out the back of my arm to the grounded light shade. Ouch. Until that point it was surrounded by insulators and was just shorting to itself. No breaker trip either.

Just a sore arm.

Might want to test for copper. It would give you a good idea of what you are up against.

Mike

[bassman]

Originally Posted by Myanth

Glad to hear all is well.

Thanks, I am happy too.

Originally Posted by Myanth

As far as I know, which isn't far, electricity will not affect any living creature unless it is in the path to ground. As good a conductor as tissue is, it's not as good as water.

Yah that is I thought.

Originally Posted by Myanth

Might want to test for copper. It would give you a good idea of what you are up against.

Good idea. I should do that tonight. I have already done 3 water changes of 10% each but it couldn't hurt to see what the levels are.

Thanks again.