live rock trouble

[Bob the kracken]

I just got some liverock for the tank that I am setting up, but all I could afford was about 15 to 20 lbs from a denton aquarium store that was having a going out of business sale. I was thinking of adding more rock as my little buddy gets bigger. Is this acceptable?

also as I was setting up a bucket and airstone with pump for storage of the live rock, like a stupid rookie I put the pump it's self in without realizing there was an airstone . needless to say. I took it out, and put and put the airstone in, but when I pluged the thing in ZAP. I got somewhat of a shock to the thumb that I was holding the plug in. my question is whether this could have killed the little critters living in the rock and thereby make the live rock not so live anymore. I can't remember if i was holding the pump or the ground with my other hand, but I think that the tubing on the airstone was made of rubber.

 

[DWhatley]

If you got anything, you will see it float ;>). Your rock will not have sufferred since a lot of what you want is the bacteria as well as you likely as not didn't effect anything at all other than the potential damage to yourself.

I am truely amazed that more of us don't get into sever difficulties with electricity. After the wet timer fire (I was holding it at the time), I did add Ground Fault protection to all my tanks but it took a major event and the resulting, what if time/thoughts, before I did.

 

[DHyslop]

We should all be using GFCI outlets.

 

[Bob the kracken]

no idea what a cfgi outlet is, but i completely agree

 

[DWhatley]

Bob,
In laymens terms (and that is all I am so don't get technical on me here it is the best way I can explain ) A surge protector protects your electicals by killing the electricity from the wall to the electronics if there is a spike on the "incoming" side and we all use them to protect our electronics.

A GFCI or ground fault circuit interrupter protects in the "opposite" direction so that if there is a spike from the equipment (like dropping it in the water), the GFCI will kill the electricity flowing to the device.

Building codes require this kind of circuit (either in the outlet or in the breaker at the circuit box) for use around water (like your bathroom). Depending upon your DIY ability there are various options. There is a plug-in multi-outlet (5) GFCI that I found at our local home building supply store to avoid replacing outlets but if you use this type, only electicals plugged in to the unit are protected. A breaker will protect everything on a circuit and an outlet, everything forward of that outlet along the circuit.

 

[Michael Blue]

GFCI...Terrific inventions!

 

[Thales]

There are also 'wall wart' versions of GFCI's. I suggest the one from premiumaquatics.com because it will reset after a power outage. Some don't reset, and a momentary power outage results in extended loss of power to your tank, and if you are gone for any length of time, that can be bad.
GFCI (sometimes called GFI) IMO is an essential piece of equipment for any saltwater aquarium. I run multiple GFI's on different pieces of equipment in so everything doesn't go off if something goes bad.

 

[cthulhu77]

Yep, at five bucks or so at any Lowe's or Home Depot, they are worth their weight in gold...

 

[Nancy]

Thales is right to suggest the automatic reset. A few years one of our members lost his tank and his octopus during a week's vacation. The power went off while he was gone and the GFCI was not the sort that reset, so everything was off in the tank, so everything in the tank was lost.

Nancy

 

[DWhatley]

Note: If you run a chiller, the manufacturer is likely to suggest that you DO NOT USE a GFCI or an extension cord for the unit so in planning a tank, be sure you have an outlet separate from your GFCI circuit available.

Also, as Nancy and others more or less mention, they can fail for the wrong reasons and need to be checked regularly (the test/reset buttons are helpful for this kind of testing on the "it's working" side but is not an automatic reset for power failure). The resets I have (Shock Buster brand) had from the multi-plugin (or wall wart as Thales calls it) were for VALID reasons (they do automatically reset after power failure). Most pressure washer's have a built in one and I have had those to fail, repeatedly, for invalid reasons.