Barnacles can extend it's penis up to 30 times the length of its body. Barnacles are sessile and unable to move from their settled location. In order to overcome this motility problem, the barnacle can extend it penis to any near neighbour in order to impregnate them with it's sperm.
If you've ever had problems with lateral line erosion, or have gotten a nasty jolt when you stick your hand in the tank, maybe you should consider getting yourself a grounding probe.
The electrical theory that is needed to design your own is mind blowingly simple, but if you've never had any circuitry experience you'll have to get into some components.
Dont worry though, its a snap.
Usually the problem arises from a broken themometer, poorly sealed powerhead, or even some high intensity lighting setups.
Charge builds in the water and you get a shock.
If you've ever touched an electrified fence, you know what its like.
Imagine if you were a fish that had to deal with constant shock like that.
No fun, no fun at all.
If you want to know whats going on here read this, but if you just want to know how to do this and you trust me skip down a bit.
The theory is simple, stick a conductor in the water (metal) and then have that metal stick in the dirt
(the earth's ground, houses have grounding probes that are attached to water pipes or rods that are shoved into the ground.
The earth has a naturally negative charge compared to most everything else, sort of....).
Well heres the problem with that, metal isnt good for the livestock; especially lead, copper, and iron.
So what do we do?
Read on.
Due to wonderful advances in material engineering we have developed conductive foams (actually really cheap too, and easy to get) that are chemically inert.
Dip the foam into the water, stick a wire into the foam, stick the wire into the ground plug in the wall.
Simple, but not quite that simple.
How To Do It
Go to Radioshack and pick up a 5x5" anti-static conductive foam pack, a box of diodes (the type isn't a big deal, just keep them on the small side.
Then get a pack of resistors (around 22Kohms).
Get some silicon, some electrical cord, and one electrical plug with a ground probe from a hardware store.
Maybe some of those plastic zip ties or some twistie ties if you want.
Once you have all that stuff then you can start with the fun.
Step One
Step one is to cut a thin long strip of the foam, about five inces long, one inch wide.
It doesn't matter as long as the strip is long enough to touch the water and still account for water level fluctuations (if its not in the water it doesnt work, duh).
Once you cut the strip grab a diode and stick a little bit of the pin in the foam, the way that you put it in the foam is a HUGE deal.....
Theres a silver band on one side of the diode, that side should NOT be in the foam.
IF YOU PUT THE SILVER SIDE INTO THE FOAM IT WILL NOT WORK AT ALL.
(A diode is a 'one-way' sign for current, this prevents any leaking from the ground socket into your tank.
In theory this shouldn't happen anyways, but you've put so much money and time into the tank so why not be insanely cautious?).
So with the diode in the foam SILVER BAND OUT you can add a bit of super glue to keep it in place.
Try to put as little of the metal in the foam as possible (to prevent metallic contamination and rust) about a centimeter or two.
You can clip the lead down to size if you want.
Then you need to attach a resistor to the silver banded lead of the diode.
The resistor doesnt care which way it goes on, unlike the diode.
I would reccomend the use of a soldering iron, but if you don't have one just make sure there's a solid, sturdy connection there.
Now attach one of the wire strands to the unconnected resistor lead (use a soldering iron, but if not make a strong connection) and then attach that newly connected wire to the ground pin (round one) on your plug (dont attach anything to the two power plugs!).
Then bend the resistor so that its parallel with the diode.
Now add some silicon on one side of the foam that is just as long as the diode/resistor bend, this insures that no water can get through the foam on that side.
Use alot.
Then bend the diode/resistor down and onto the freshly siliconed side of the foam.
This is when you can use the optional twistie ties or whatever to secure the foam to the wire.
Once you do that drop a ton of silicon on the components so that no water can touch the doide/resistor/wire connections (to avoid short circuiting and metal contamination).
Put it on the water and there you go!
Doesn't this only do half the job? Written by
on 2006-05-05 10:33:07Maybe I am missing something but the standard house current in the USA is alternating current (AC). i.e. the current is at it's peak positive voltage around 160V and at it's peak negative voltage -160V. The RMS average of the current is around 120V. When you put a diode in the circuit you are only grounding one side of the alternating current. I would take the ground out if I were you. Have you tested it yet by putting an open power cord in the water and measuring the potential between the water and ground with a meter? Furthermore, the antistatic foam is usually a very high resistance and I really don't think it will protect you from shock if you happen to grab a ground pipe or a grounded piece of equipment. All of this, if you take the diode out, will preven a static charge from building up so it is good from that perspective but I don't think your solution will prevent one from being elctrocuted in the event of an accident and, IMO, I think you should state this as a disclaimer.
Re: Doesn't this only do half the job? Written by
on 2006-05-05 10:36:11FYI, you will have to contact the author of this article for commenting on the issues you have raised there.
Re: Doesn't this only do half the job? Written by Chuck Cinque on 2006-12-18 08:36:55Robert, I think you may have misunderstood the device. The instructions clearly state, "dont attach anything to the two power plugs!". The only conductor you are connecting to in the wall socket is the ground.
Copper wire Written by
on 2007-10-09 11:42:13Whats the matter with a bare copper wire bonded to a water pipe ?
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