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| General Reef Discussion In this forum we discuss issues related to keeping marine and reef aquariums in a friendly flame-free environment. |
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05-20-2007, 11:29 AM
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#1
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Shark
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: michigan
Posts: 2,694
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Fire!!!
so i woke up this morning to my wife saying "MIKE!! the tanks on fire!!" so i fly out of bed and find sparks and flames shooting out of a powerstrip on my 55gal. i had just put a new return pump in there and didnt use hoseclamps last night. well a slow drip started and traveled down the line and just happened to be over my powerstrip. i thank god that it happened sunday morning where someone was here to catch it. i finally got my other tank all setup safely. so todays project is to redo this one so that this can never happen again!!! sad part is that i knew better, just had it there temporarily, but thats all it took.
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05-20-2007, 11:36 AM
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#2
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Clowns Galore!
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Sedalia, Mo
Posts: 5,939
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Glad you were home!
I try not to do anything temporary like that but I inevitably end up doing it so I can go to bed or leave. Thanks for the safety reminder!
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05-20-2007, 11:46 AM
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#3
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Shark
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: alpharetta, GA
Posts: 2,555
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glad you cought it mike.
the samething happened to me on my last tank. i put in a new sump and the drain pump came off and sprayed water all over the powerstrip and then came sparks and it smelled like hell. but i was also able to catch it.
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05-20-2007, 11:51 AM
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#4
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College Reefer= Broke
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: Middle town KY
Posts: 1,487
Reviews: 24
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Saltwater+powerstrip=BOOM!! lol
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~TJ~ 
12g Aquapod 
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05-20-2007, 12:06 PM
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#5
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The Ninja MOD
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: Planet P.....Why Me?
Posts: 13,624
Reviews: 23
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Glad no one got hurt! Ive seen too many of these types of threads here. GFCI is the only wayto go. At least it was caught before it got to the point of no return.
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05-20-2007, 12:46 PM
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#6
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Shark
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: michigan
Posts: 2,694
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yea im really glad that it happened when it did. could have been soooo much worse!! its an eye-opener, and a lesson learned! luckily all thats lost is the powerstrip, and the plug on my heater got fried pretty good. but i cant complain, i know ill never let anything like that happen again!!
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05-20-2007, 01:17 PM
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#7
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spaceman spiff
 
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: south of Dimples
Posts: 10,627
Reviews: 72
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Great lesson, glad it wasnt too tramatic!
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05-20-2007, 01:31 PM
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#8
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confused reefer
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Boston, MA
Posts: 222
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good to see you were there and nothing happened.
I had the same thing happened to mine couple of days ago, but I was next to it and had time to switch it off before something happened.
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05-20-2007, 01:38 PM
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#9
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Carpe Noctem
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: Western Colorado
Posts: 8,198
Reviews: 25
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Every one has to have at least one powerstrip accident before they are a true reefer 
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Hop~
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05-20-2007, 03:01 PM
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#10
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Little Fishy
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Nashville TN, USA
Posts: 267
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What is GFCI?
I'm very glad that your house didn't get fried along with the powerstrip... I'm imagining what would have happened to the tank occupents had the tank stand became involved in the fire - ewwwww....
Also, I see your sig where you state " nassarius snails are NOT clam-safe!!!!!"... Shoot, I didn't know that... After the bumble bee snails this is one of my favorite snails in the tank and I didn't know you couldn't have a clam when you have one of those snails... Darn, a clam was going to be my next purchase...
Babs |
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05-20-2007, 03:20 PM
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#11
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Big Fishy
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Canada
Posts: 751
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Thats scary!
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Pit-bull-pirate-arrrhhhh
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05-20-2007, 03:41 PM
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#12
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Little Fishy
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: St. Louis
Posts: 333
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bubblybabs
What is GFCI?
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Ground Fault Circuit Interrupt. The kind of outlets near your sink in your kitchen and bathroom so that you don't get electrocuted.
Quote:
Also, I see your sig where you state "nassarius snails are NOT clam-safe!!!!!"... Shoot, I didn't know that... After the bumble bee snails this is one of my favorite snails in the tank and I didn't know you couldn't have a clam when you have one of those snails... Darn, a clam was going to be my next purchase...
Babs
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They are clam-safe unless the clam is dead. However, a look-alike whelk is improperly sold as Nassarius quite often. Read this article. These look alikes are not clam-safe.
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-11/mg/index.php
Edit....this is why you don't use plastic powerstrips on a reef tank. This wasn't caused by water, it was caused by an arc-fault.
Compare that to a good one.
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Curt
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05-20-2007, 04:11 PM
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#13
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Shark
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: michigan
Posts: 2,694
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clam wasnt dead, actually very healthy, and they are real nassarious snails. what happened is the snail climbed up the rock, and fell off into my clam, which closed, and the snail was unable to get out. then the clam died.
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05-20-2007, 04:26 PM
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#14
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Little Fishy
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Jacksonville
Posts: 136
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"
Edit....this is why you don't use plastic powerstrips on a reef tank. This wasn't caused by water, it was caused by an arc-fault.---""
huh? I've never seen arcing do that kind of damage. usually water gets into the strip , and causes the acring or violent explosions in the current lines. did that outlet did that without water damage? If so...it was defective, and the two lines shorted.
and I dont know what u mean by plastic powerstrips....I dont know of any other kind...
please explain more about your incident please...
thanks
Salty
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05-20-2007, 06:17 PM
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#15
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Little Fishy
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: St. Louis
Posts: 333
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SaltyO2
"
Edit....this is why you don't use plastic powerstrips on a reef tank. This wasn't caused by water, it was caused by an arc-fault.---""
huh? I've never seen arcing do that kind of damage. usually water gets into the strip , and causes the acring or violent explosions in the current lines. did that outlet did that without water damage? If so...it was defective, and the two lines shorted.
and I dont know what u mean by plastic powerstrips....I dont know of any other kind...
please explain more about your incident please...
thanks
Salty
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This powerstrip was a good 3 feet away from any water source. No water got to it. There was oxidation on the el-cheapo copper strip after the fireman looked at it. He said apparently current couldn't get through so it jumped over the oxidation to get to fresh copper which eventually melted the plastic and started the fire.
Here's a plastic powerstrip made for the hobby that caused a fire. http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...hreadid=584645 Those poor people were out of the house for a couple of months. I was lucky because I had insomnia. When the lights started flickering, I investigated.
The smoke detector in the basement wasn't working so my house might have burned down had I not been awake.
After that incident, I purchased the following for my fish room downstairs.  Those metal cased powerstrips are built MUCH better including ceramic (fire-resistant) outlets and they didn't cost that much more.
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Curt
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