Electric Shock

A

ashbeggs

Joined
3 Feb 2009
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Durban
Hi Guys

I experienced something very strange last night while feeding my fish.
I turned my skimmer, and return pump off in my sump and my powerheads off in my Display tank. Basically only my lights were on above the display tank.

When I touched the water in my display tank it gave me a shock!? Twice a tried and both times it zapped me! not just a tingle, but a proper jolt!

Any ideas what could have caused this?
 
something is leaking elec into your water, and when u touch it you are the ground...
check each piece of equipment, from heater to pumps using a voltmeter to see what is leaching elec into your tank
 
lcornelius said:
Is leaking electricity not bad for your fish?
Click to expand...
nope, since they not grounded, unless they touch the source

but it can be, as leaching elec and elec wire cause iron in salt water and it can become poisonous, thanks to Nemo Janitor for showing me that
 
Check the cables of the equipment. They go brittle in the salt water over time and cracks. This exposes the wires to the water.
 
Last edited:
Use a normal wall plug, and only fit an earth wire. DO NOT FIT BROWN AND BLUE.
Connect that wire to you voltmeter.

Unplug everything. Like take the plug out of the sockets.
Insert other test lead into tank.
Plug each piece of equiptment back one by one and each time check your voltmeter.

Most likely either a powerhead or heater.
 
know this problem all to well...

what king of roof does your tank have?

Try removing the lights and/or roof, from the tank and let it dry out proply.
i have know idea how because my lights are far from the water, but it took me weeks to find the problem. i think it has something to do with condensation.
Let me know how it go's.;)
 
Thanks, I'll try all those tonight. The heater is unplugged already as its so dam hot in Dbn, but I'll check all the other electrical goodies.
Unplugging everything (including lights) sounds like the way to go, and check everything with a multimeter one at a time.

Will keep you posted!
 
So it turns out its the Sump lights causing the shock!
They were touching the glass tank at one point and with the condensation on them etc it obviously causes a current into the tank.

All sorted now...thanks!
 
:thumbup: anytime:thumbup:
 
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