dhindry

My Homemade fish food consists of cut up cooked muscles, shrimps cut up and some dried fish food. Cut it up into little pieces and then puree it if required. Add some Gelitene (sp) and some water to hold it all together then freeze it. Daniel

Now that you mention that Ira, the hand I had in the tank has a decent scratch on it Maybe thats why I felt it this time.

Skimmer pump is a no brand, it came with the skimmer but doesn't say a name on it. It doesn't matter what device is on as the current is pretty constant for each device. I would be curious to see if others have measured their tanks to see if there is any stray voltages floating around so to speak. Yes the skimmer is a venturi type. I wonder if it is more like a build up of static that bit me ?????? All the water rushing through the plastic pipes etc. Daniel

Ok Total AC Current flowing is about 1.2mA So I have no idea why I got a belt off it yesterday. I shall keep an eye on it and see what happens over time. Thanks Daniel

I have just found this item http://avdil.gtri.gatech.edu/RCM/RCM/Aquarium/GroundingProbes.html It explains some interesting things to consider.

This is only happening in my sump. Current doesn't seem to make it back to the main tank. In the sump there are two heaters, both look fine, no condensation that I can see. One small powerhead attached to the skimmer as this sits in the sump. And one laguna UP6 as the return pump. When I turn all the devices off at the wall, the voltage dissapears. If I have everything running and then unplug one at a time, I can't Identify which one is the culprit as they all seem to be leaking I just ran a little test and grounded the tank via a 100k resistor. This dropped the voltage in the tank to around 30 volts AC. I think my voltmeter may have a via high impedence. But this still shows that their is a voltage there. There has to be a current as I felt it when I touched it.

Adding a grounding probe might not work in this situation. I would think it would trip the rcd's I have as the fault current is now running straight to ground. At the moment say the tank is sitting at a potential of approx 70volts. Everything in the tank is at this potential. Adding a ground probe would then take this current away but everything in the current path now becomes a conductor. I would have thought this would cause damage to any fish that swam between the leaking device and the ground probe. Daniel

Uh oh whats gone wrong??? Being electrically concious of all my salt water and power I check all my electrical equipment in the tank weekly. Using my multimeter I measure the potential difference between the tank water and earth. Up untill yesterday it was below 1volt AC. I added rowaphos yesterday which is as I understand an Iron based product. As I am using a fluadized filter a little leaked into the tank causing the tank to go cloudy and a little orange. This evening I put my hand in the sump to move somthing and put my other hand on the stainless steel sink next to it. An Electric shock was the result. I measured the potential difference between the the tank and earth and it is now approx 60 volts AC!!!! The next step was to remove each electrical device one at a time to see what was the cause Each device is only contributing approx 11volts each. More so for the pumps. So I can't blame just one device for doing this. My thoughts are now.... Is the iron in the rowaphos that is suspended in the tank acting like a transformer around the AC devices inturn causing ac current to flow???? Has anyone else have this happen to them? Will earthing the tank/sump stop this problem???? Thanks Daniel

Yes I did see the box fish too. I had a female one but only lived for about six months. Pram pet shop has another nine yellow tangs in now if anyone is interested

I purchased a yellow tang too last weekend, was around $140 Very happy little fellow, settling in well.

Seariously isn't 22.5 degrees too cold? What temp do people have their tanks regulated at?

Ok, I'll go and hunt out some polystyrene. My sump is outside too, well its in the garage but thats pretty much a fridge. As for the temperature controller. Maybe I should build my own Daniel

I have a problem on my hands. Existing marine setup has approx 700 litres of water between two display tanks and a 200 litre sump. I had 600 watts of heaters, but the overnight temp dropped to around 2 degrees and is only still currently around 6 degrees. The tanks and the sump have all dropped to 22.5 degrees. Is adding another 300 watts of heating to make a total of 900 watts allright for 700 litres of water or do I still need more???? What can I use that is easy to get hold of to insulate the sump? Will polystyrene be ok? Thanks Daniel

Does anyone know of any fish that will eat my pulsing xenia? I have it in a seperate tank but want to put it in my main tank. The fish are as follows.... 1 Bicolor Angel Fish 1 Hippo Tang 1 blue damsal 2 false clown fish 1 Hermit Crab Another thing that I have growing on some of the rocks in the tank is a green algae that looks just like grass. Is this a good thing??? Thanks Daniel

Has anyone come accross 42" T5 bulbs? Time to upgrade the lighting on the Juwel tank. I know arcadia make a few sizes but alas not this size Daniel

Who is using what type of pump? I currently have a cheap 5000 LPH pump, and it is as noisy as hell. Can't stop the vibrating. You get what you pay for What type of pumps are available around 5000LPH + here in NZ? The quieter the better Either submersible or external. Thanks

It could also be possible there is a thermal cutout somewhere in the enclosure? Usually found as part of the Ballast.

Sounds like some bullying going on in the tank, its supprising what happens when the lights go off.

Can an electrical wholesaler get the below tubes, or something like them? I'm sure there is some out there that are cheaper than these. 1 - 38W Arcadia Marine White lamp 9500k 1 - 38W Arcadia Marine blue Actinic Daniel

You mean I have to spend more money? I will look at getting another two bulbs. I won't be able to go to t5's as the light fitting's are part of the tank lid. I don't think you can use t5's with a normal fluro ballast????

My most helpfull books so far would have to be The Conscientious Marine Aquarist - Robert M Fenner Clownfish; J Wilkeron

Currently have two fluro tubes... 1 - 38W Arcadia Marine White lamp 9500k 1 - 38W Arcadia Marine blue Actinic Both lamps have reflectors too {not that it makes much difference} Tank depth is approx 600mm Daniel

This is where it will stay at the moment. Am I correct in assuming that the leather corals prefer brighter light? The other afternoon when in direct sunlight for about two hours all the little bits came out and it looked beautiful. In the Display tank I have .... The above corals Two Ocellaris Clowns (Pair) One Hippo Tang One Bi Color Angel One Bluefin Damsel In my 200 litre tank there is .... (The Naughty Fish Tank) One Domino Damsel One Cinemon Clown Fish One Yellow Damsel Approx 60Kg of live rock distributed over both tanks and sump And a 100 Litre Sump with skimmer/heaters etc I don't belive in adding too much to a tank at once, so this is the way it will stay. The only other item I may look for soon is a small anenome. Only running Fluro lighting at present too.

Here is some pictures I have just taken. Can someone help identify what all these are? I'm guessing some sort of Mushroom??? Mushroom again? I know these are mushrooms This one loves the sunlight I'm guessing this is a finger coral that my Bi color is waiting to eat? And I know what sort of fish this is Thanks guys and girls

Hi Pomereef, I just had some ugly white pipes inside the tank that I wanted to disguise. No worries now, have used live rock and a few other items to hide it