I need to make changes...

[Picasso]

So, I almost burned down the house. This morning, I found one of my plug strips melted. The strip was mounted under my tank in the stand. The area around the plug strip was charred. There was ash all the way across the room and I can't seem to get the burnt electrical smell out. I have absolutely no idea why this happened and I have no idea why the fire didn't keep going. This scares the hell out of me. There was a second plug strip next to the melted out one and it was fine. I had a freshwater flood a few weeks ago that I'm still dealing with and now this? Seriously thinking about throwing in the towel here. When I think about the electrical thing.... what the heck? why did that happen? My tank now is full of aiptasia and I kill it with aiptasia-x at least 3 times a week, I think some water that had splashed under the stand is now mold, my tank is now growing hair algae..... why do I do this? Seems like I just haven't gotten things under control since I moved up to the 55 gallon. ugh...tired of this.....

C

 

[Jmck]

wow, thats a very unusual thing to have happen. Dont be discouraged with the 55, go through the normal routines of lights out and so forth to remove nitrates and get them under control.

We all have bad times here, and you know you can make it better :)

 

[Bifferwine]

Any chance some saltwater could have splashed on the power strip? I have had the same thing happen to a couple of mine (the worst thing that happened was I caused a fire INSIDE THE WALL of our old house, and it knocked the power out in the house, and the electrician took part of the wall off next to my tank and DAMN it was all melted and black and gooey!). If you get saltwater on the plug, that can cause the sparking and melting.

 

[PRC]

Sounds more like a surge than a fire.


Picasso, I notice you're in Wisconsin..You had some rough weather there in the last couple of days...Any chance you took a power surge from the storm?

Also, make sure you're using surge protectors not just power strips...There's a difference.

 

[yote]

Catherine,You need one of these.Electrical Overload Protection: 8-Outlet Power Center
Or at the very least,all the plugs on your tank need to be in GFCI outlets.

As for the aiptasia and algae.Every one of us is going to have that fight at some point.Its just part of the hobby.And we cant always expect for it to be smooth sailing.If it was,we wouldnt appreciate the times when everything in the tank goes perfect.
And your just like the rest of us.You do it because you LOVE it and you love those seahorses.:D

 

[SeaBee]

GFI anyone???

They also make an undertank fire surpression thing, the store I work at sells one. I always wondered what that would be for, now I know. YOu should get one Katherine, help you rest easy.

 

[Bifferwine]

Yeah, all my current tank stuff is hooked up to a GFI that a friend installed in my tank outlets. It's also connected to a switch in the wall, so if I ever need to shut everything down immediately, I just need to flip the switch.

 

[PRC]

GFI (actually GFCI) isn't protecting you from power surges....it's protecting you from getting you or your fish electrocuted if something falls in the water...That's why you see them in bathrooms or anywhere that is near water.

Don't be mistaken and think that a GFCI will protect you from a power surge such as a lightning strike etc. because it won't. That's not what they're designed for.

There is also a huge difference between a power strip and a surge protector. Most people make a big mistake by purchasing power strips instead of surge protectors. If you have $8.00 surge protectors near your tank, you probably bought power strips, not surge protectors....Most surge protectors start at roughly $20 and go up.

Everyday me or my technicians go to homes where people have (what they think) are surge protectors hooked up to thousands of dollars worth of AV gear..it cracks us up. Guys got a $4,000 AV receiver and he's got a $4. powerstrip protecting it. Or so he thinks.

Lastly, you dont have to buy the most expensive surge protector at the store...The only signficant difference between the $80 unit and the $40. unit is that the $80 unit comes with a specific amount of insurance for your equipment. For example, if a surge gets through their unit, they'll pay you up to X amount of dollars to replace whatever was damaged...The middle of the road units don't have the insurance...

Now go to the store and go get surge protectors.

 

[Toolman]

Time to check the batteries in the smoke detector… Anybody ever experiment with putting one in the cabinet. A GFI can give you a false sense of confidence anybody else ever get shocked by on? And keep the pennies out of the fuse box.

 

[Toolman]

GFI (actually GFCI) isn't protecting you from power surges....it's protecting you from getting you or your fish electrocuted if something falls in the water...That's why you see them in bathrooms or anywhere that is near water.

Don't be mistaken and think that a GFCI will protect you from a power surge such as a lightning strike etc. because it won't. That's not what they're designed for.

There is also a huge difference between a power strip and a surge protector. Most people make a big mistake by purchasing power strips instead of surge protectors. If you have $8.00 surge protectors near your tank, you probably bought power strips, not surge protectors....Most surge protectors start at roughly $20 and go up.

Everyday me or my technicians go to homes where people have (what they think) are surge protectors hooked up to thousands of dollars worth of AV gear..it cracks us up. Guys got a $4,000 AV receiver and he's got a $4. powerstrip protecting it. Or so he thinks.

Lastly, you dont have to buy the most expensive surge protector at the store...The only signficant difference between the $80 unit and the $40. unit is that the $80 unit comes with a specific amount of insurance for your equipment. For example, if a surge gets through their unit, they'll pay you up to X amount of dollars to replace whatever was damaged...The middle of the road units don't have the insurance...

Now go to the store and go get surge protectors.

how many Joules? Thanks for the TV help Great call best $500.00 I have spent.:mrgreen:

 

[PRC]

If you're going with a small surge protector (3 or 4 outlets) you'll generally find them at about 1000-1200 joules. Larger protectors (8-10 outlets) should typically have a 3600 joules rating.

 

[Toolman]

If you're going with a small surge protector (3 or 4 outlets) you'll generally find them at about 1000-1200 joules. Larger protectors (8-10 outlets) should typically have a 3600 joules rating.

Thought that was important to add because I am looking at a 6 outlet at my desk it's rating is 245 Joules the numbers are important. How about the formula for computing amp load we all know volts but how many pay attention to amps?

 

[bjohanson1234]

+1 PRC On the GFI.

Just to further expand on how GFCI's work, they compair the amount of current on the Hot wire to the current on the neutral wire. If these are different, it shuts off. It means that there is another path for the electricity to go through. So if the water happened to spash across the hot and neutral of the plug, and not into the ground plug, it would start to short out and arc causing the power strip to melt away.

 

[Bifferwine]

I use two of these for all my tank stuff, and they are plugged into a GFCI:

Belkin 10 Outlet Metal Surge Protector - F9D1001-15-DP at The Home Depot

 

[Picasso]

We got new surge protectors and called the electrician to come put in a GFI outlet. We'll see what else he can recommend. It is frustrating.

Thanks so much for your help.

C

 

[PRC]

We got new surge protectors and called the electrician to come put in a GFI outlet. We'll see what else he can recommend. It is frustrating.

Thanks so much for your help.

C

I'll bet once the electrician gets to your home, he's going to find that you took a power surge. Word to the wise, keep an eye on your electronic equipment (TV's, stoves, clocks, everything that plugs in) for about a month. If you notice things start dying, it's related to this episode. Depending on what dies, you may be able to file a claim on your Home Owners Insurance.

Just so you know. I had a customer about 15 years ago who's house took a direct hit from a bolt of lightning. The lightning bolt uprooted a 100 yr old Oak tree in front of his house and turned it into 2x4s. There was a hole about 4 ft deep into the ground.

When we went into the house, the microwave had literally been blown right off the wall where it sat above the oven, Those black marks that you described were everywhere in the home.

Long story short, the entire house was gutted and re-built...It was the craziest thing I've ever seen, other than an experience I had with a rat. But that's another story.:D

 

[Bifferwine]

It was the craziest thing I've ever seen, other than an experience I had with a rat. But that's another story.:D

Don't you talk about my mother that way!!! :cry:

 

[irensing]

A surge protector on a GFI outlet should give you piece of mind. Keep in mind that if you put two power strips or surge protectors in series (plug one strip into the other strip and then the main strip into the GFI outlet) the GFI circuit may not trip during a fault condition. In other words if your secondary power strip/surge protector gets water on it or condensation build up the GFI may not trip and the strip will burn up (usually they will fuse open before catching on fire, make sure your surge protector or powerstrip is listed by a saftey agancy like UL, CSA, CE, VDE, etc.. I would recommend hanging the power strips under the tank in a cabinet or in a location where if a spill occured it would not interfere with your power.

Algae blooms can be a sign of high phosphates. Test them. You can run a reactor with some phosban or other sythetic ferric oxide and it should take care of it. I only run my reactor if my phosphates are climing. This is usually from overfeeding. Don't run the reactor for more than a week. It sucks out the good stuff too. You'll need to replenish with additives. Critters that may eat the hair aglae include algae blenny, foxface, tangs, turbos and emerald crabs. I've had a lot of luck with yellow tangs. I'm also a firm believer of ozone or at least a UV bulb to keep the fish disease, red slime and algae at bay. If you find out your phophates are high and don't want to run a reactor just start doing water changes and don't forget to kick start by removing whatever hair algae you can by hand. Good Luck!

 

[PRC]

Don't you talk about my mother that way!!! :cry:

You got me on 2 yo' mama's tonight.

 

[sen5241b]

I wish I had seen this thread sooner. I had the same thing happen. My power strip melted because a glass heater broke in the water.
It took 2 days to realize it was broke and I was getting ready to walk out the door for the weekend when I smelt the burnt plastic. If I had left my house would have burnt down. Also a copper element in the heater started killing my inverts. 5 water changes saved almost all of them.