Just got zapped hard!

[FishyFishy!]

Originally Posted by Kellyscoral

Wow - that is a hazard of the hobby I had never considered! I am glad you are okay. I stick my hands in my water all the time without a second thought. while doing a water change on the weekend, I accidentally dumped a bunch of water on my power bar and it started hissing and spurting. If the toxins don't get us the electricity will!

LOL, yeah thats the last thing I was expecting when I dumped my hand in the water!! Now im totally scared to do that again without using a multi-meter first! haha

[FishyFishy!]

Well.... sure enough.......thats what I got zapped with!



Did the whole pull all the plugs one at a time, and found an obvious culperit....not a heater!! Slight cut in the return pump cord. Also melted my power bar a little bit. Glad this didnt turn into a fire.

[mike31154]

So the return pump is submerged? I'm in the "the fewer electrical cords in the water, the better" camp. I don't have a return pump on my sumpless set up, but once I upgrade to something with a sump, it will have an external pump. Haven't measured tank voltage in a long while, I have VorTechs as well, so no powerheads with cords in the tank. Heaters & skimmer feed powerhead are the only electrical components physically in the water & I make sure the cords on those items are above the surface.

[FishyFishy!]

Yup. Submerged pump. I prefer submerged over external myself, as most do (due to space under stands).

But this one was just an old small biocube one I always used as my ATO pump. It just circulates the water to keep it moving while I store the live rock. Lucky for me I have 5 more just like it lying around, so it was easy to rig up a replacement.

I checked the new pumps cord thoroughly lol

[mrhasan]

Damn that looks like a significant current! Glad you are alright. Always wear flip flops (the insulated ones) while working with water. Every hobbyist should have few pairs (one for the hobbyist and rest for the visitors) beside the tank; you never know when there's gonna be stray currents