I'm about ready to give up.

I always wash my hands and rinse them like crazy before i put my hands in the tank.

I had a couple guys that i met recently come over last night to help me out wiht my troubles. We found that my refractometer is was registering 3ppt lower (mine was reading 35 when it was really 32). The 1.025 doesn't meet up with the 35ppt on the other side. His research grade refracto does match up and it looks like my salinity is low. Sucks b/c i just bought my refractometer last week from PA. Maybe i need to exchange this one

Edit: Anne, I haven't cleaned much around my house lately with any chemicals at least.

The pvc was cured and rinsed for sure too

 

Just a quick update:

On my lunch break today I noticed that one of my colt frag's polylps were starting to come out, YAAAAAAAAAAY! A sign that things are on the mend I trust. The mother coral looks horrible, the worst of any of my corals, but we'll see!

Thanks again all for your input thus far, GREATLY appreciated!

 

But have you put a ground probe in the tank? I never run a tank without one

 

That makes me a bit nervous, I need to do some more reading on the subject I think. I don't have GFIC sockets on the circuts my tank runs on

./shrugs

 

In any case, i ordered one to be safe. PA is sending a replacement refractometer too cross shipped. Gotta love good service.

 

well I'm sorry but you are confusing induced voltage to true induced current. Any one who makes this mistake is laboring under the mis-understanding of the differences of the two and not to mention the radiated voltage from light bulbs. After the 120V a/c passes through a rectifier transformer then the cycles the peak-to peak waveform doubles in amplitude to approximately 160 VAC under those conditions

You might want to try doing a test on ohh say a power head that has a bad or weak line leg and just being powered via the load leg or the "hot" side of the pump connected to power mains, then the measured induced voltage in the tank doubles.

Electricity is not a hobby and and after 40 yrs's of working with it I choose to use a ground probe. I have had this discussion with many and I will in the future use a probe as i have in the past and to this day i have never had a diseaseed fish or tank caused by the stress of being shocked. Ever notice how sometime the fish will all just dart about a tank when a pump comes on ot a light flickers on ? Not to mention the rocks and minerals in the saltwater will produce their own varying amounts of true current ..

I'll never be talked into removing my path to ground.. from my tanks or my house. I say if it ain't broke don't try ti fix it..LOL

 

If interested ? I can send you a published paper just 'P/M' me i am not sure I can put it put in the public he is a fellow hobbyist electrical engineer I had this discussion with about 10 yrs ago while installing factory lighting and circuits he had designed, he said the same-thing as all thought its not a problem until you add a probe until he got all of is little oscilloscopes and testing equipment out to just prove me right. last time we spoke he now has a probe in all of his tanks as well.. he learned the same way many do.

 

This goes back a few posts. Someone mentioned always using carbon to make sure you dont get an overload of minerals. If your trying to keep say calcium high wont the carbon absorb the calcium from the water also? meaning you will have to keep adding more? or is the benifit of it removing the toxins etc outweigh that?

 

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I am glad things look like they are coming around. I hope you figured out what was going on.

Good luck and Happy Reefing.

Anne

 

Ditto. I used the clear PVC cement in less than 6hrs, no repercussions.