i have noticed this a.m. that when I stick my hand in the tank to clean and i touch my light with any part of arm, I get a small shock.....I have a MH light. I noticed it tends to be on one side of the light and not the other.....happens any time the light is getting power. Even if light is off..............can someone please help.....
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small electrical shocks??????????
- Thread starter Reilly Stv
- Start date
okay i noticed that ...when i unplug the ballast of the lamp on that side of the tank...i assume my ballast is bad.....never had a ballast problem...does this sound accurate??? cananyone elaborate??
You can add a grounding probe to your tank. That should protect you from shock but not correct the problem.
Is everything grounded correctly? and I agree a grounding probe for the tank is a def must
i just got it again...pretty good.... I'm offocially scared of my tank! Groundingg probe to sart....
Do a search on this site for grounding probes. There are mixed feeling about them. I personally dont care for them.
It sounds like you definitely have a voltage leak on something and a probe will only mask that problem .and protect you, not your fish/corals. Try to isolate whatever might be causing the leakage. You can use a VOM (Voltage-ohm meter) to help see if youve found the culprit. Stick one of the probes in the tank and the other to ground. I typically just use the little screw on the coverplate of an outlet as the ground. Set the VOM to AC volts and see what you get. You will always have a little leakage 2 or 3 volts but when it is above this is when youve got something in there that has gone bad. Could be a heater, return pump or any other electrical thing you have submersed in your tank.
It potentially could be your light, as you mention, but my first guess is something else in your tank. Happy hunting.
It sounds like you definitely have a voltage leak on something and a probe will only mask that problem .and protect you, not your fish/corals. Try to isolate whatever might be causing the leakage. You can use a VOM (Voltage-ohm meter) to help see if youve found the culprit. Stick one of the probes in the tank and the other to ground. I typically just use the little screw on the coverplate of an outlet as the ground. Set the VOM to AC volts and see what you get. You will always have a little leakage 2 or 3 volts but when it is above this is when youve got something in there that has gone bad. Could be a heater, return pump or any other electrical thing you have submersed in your tank.
It potentially could be your light, as you mention, but my first guess is something else in your tank. Happy hunting.
1 question were you bare foot when you were messing with the tank?
back at it again today.....inspected the light....seems fine...pulled heater....still got zapped....AND YES BAREFOOT....not sure what that means....getting desperate as i have 2 small children ....anyone recomend and "professionals" in North Jersey???
Unplug each and every submersible electrical thing you have in your tank/sump one at a time until you ID the thing that has the voltage leak…powerheads, return pumps, skimmer pumps, heaters, etc. Preferably you are using a VOM and not sticking you hand in the water to see if you still get that tell-tale tingle. Once you ID the leaker, replace it. Done….no experts required.
Wait, let me see if I read this correctly.
Are you only getting the shock when your hand is in the water AND you bump the light?
Or are you getting the shock just by placing your hand in the water?
I re-read the original post, and I think i read it as when you have your hand in the water and bump the light, you get shocked.
If that is the case, you can be sure its the light.
Are you only getting the shock when your hand is in the water AND you bump the light?
Or are you getting the shock just by placing your hand in the water?
I re-read the original post, and I think i read it as when you have your hand in the water and bump the light, you get shocked.
If that is the case, you can be sure its the light.
mfisher, good catch. I too went back and re-read, and the light could be the problem. So that's worth a look as well. However, the other possibility is that the light is acting at the ground to complete the circuit of something else in the tank. As I mentioned in the earlier post, use a VOM and see if you have a leakage problem with something that is submersed. If not, it must be your light.
thanks to all for the insite...seriosuly...I picked up a VOM today....set it on V with a squigily line...Not sure if it was AC or DC. I then touched one end to a outlet screw as someone suggested and put the other end in the sump. It read 110. I pulled out one of my return pumps and it read 23. Do I need to get it lower, or can I assume this is the culprit. My son is sleeping in another room, going to test another tank when he gets up just so see where that tank reads. Obiosuly no shock from this one!!! I will update later...
First make sure you are using the VOM correctly. And 23 volts is still a sign of something leaking too much voltage. A few volts is more the norm.