404 gallon - round 2.5

[Snappy]

Originally Posted by reefwars

What's going to run this beauty behind the scenes for equipment?


So now with a fresh start do you think you'll change anything in the way of maintenance or routine?

I will be recycling most of my existing equipment but may spice it up a bit but haven't decided on exactly what changes I will be making yet.
I will update things as they come up.

[Snappy]

Had a close call on Sunday when doing a water change in my prop tanks. When I put my hand straight into the water there was no issue but if I just lightly touched the surface I would get zapped with a pretty strong shock that actually hurt. I thought it was wierd and knew I must have a stray current issue but couldn't pin point it. A short time later my overflow alarm starting to beep so I went to investigate and noticed everything plugged into one of the power bars had no power so I unplugged it all and rigged up some power to get things going again. When I plugged the heater in it started to spark and there were literally flames in the sump water so I quickly unplugged it and saw the glass housing of the heater had broken in two and the element was electrifying the water. I then realized where the stray current had come from earlier - and with an obviously cracked heater glass I was very fortunate to not get electricuted so I believe the grounding probe did it's job. Neither me, the fish or corals in the tank suffered any damage so I feel blessed - I think it could have been ugly if I didn't have the grounding probe hooked into the system. They are definately worth the few bucks I spent on them!!

Lesson learned - don't use an old glass heater as a permanent solution because when - not if they eventually go it could get dangerous.

I will post a picture of the heater when I can but I am out of town this week and since the pix are still in my camera at home it will have to wait.

[kien]

Yikes!! Glad to hear everything is OK! I surprises me that they even still sell them considering the proliferation of titanium and polycarbonate heaters these days.

[Proteus]

Man. I here these story's and am glad it hasn't happened to me yet. I really need to upgrade my heaters

[Proteus]

Originally Posted by kien

Yikes!! Glad to hear everything is OK! I surprises me that they even still sell them considering the proliferation of titanium and polycarbonate heaters these days.

Kien do you know who stocks the poly heaters. I googled them and only came up with uk sites

[Snappy]

Originally Posted by kien

Yikes!! Glad to hear everything is OK! I surprises me that they even still sell them considering the proliferation of titanium and polycarbonate heaters these days.

As mentioned this was an old one I had kicking around from years gone by and used it in a pinch and then just left it going not really thinking about it. ( - amatuer hour)
That said it outlasted my titanium heater.

[kien]

Originally Posted by Proteus

Kien do you know who stocks the poly heaters. I googled them and only came up with uk sites

I have not yet seen them in aquaria but I've seen them in other applications. I'm just surprised that they haven't made their way to aquaria yet.

Originally Posted by Snappy

As mentioned this was an old one I had kicking around from years gone by and used it in a pinch and then just left it going not really thinking about it. ( - amatuer hour)
That said it outlasted my titanium heater.

newbies...

Ya, I have heard problems with the titantium heaters too. Mine seems to be trucking along though. Bottom line is, don't stick anything electrical in your tank. Or better yet, just don't run a tank. It's hazardous to your health.

[Snappy]

Originally Posted by kien

Bottom line is, don't stick anything electrical in your tank. Or better yet, just don't run a tank. It's hazardous to your health.

I think you might be on to something!! Let's all quit.