Shocking

Today I put my hand in my tank and recieved a bit of a shock. The funny part is it was only where I had an open wound. I stuck my other hand in my tank and felt nothing, so being the "genius" that I am I stuck the wounded hand back in and guess what?.....I was shocked again. I proceded to go down to my lfs and pick up a titanium ground probe and after setting it up I stuck my wounded hand in the tank and guess what?....No shocking occured. Is the amount of stray voltage that can leak into a tank enough to shock someone, if there is a sensitive area on there skin such as an open wound? Just for the record my "open wound" is really nothing more than a hangnail I proceded to pull off rather than clip with fingernail cutters. But it did bleed.

 

I have had the same experience in my tank. I dont have a grounding probe, so I am curious to see everyone's replies. The last time it happened to me, it did it in the morning when I fed, but I put my hand in later to add seaweed and it didnt happen... Curious...

 

I've heard of this before, but I haven't experienced this myself. I test for stray voltage every week or if one of the fish is doing something......fishy.

 

The only time I ever felt a shocking sensation was when I had picked at my hand and had some type of sensitive area such as a hangnail or something like that. I have stuck my hand in again and nothing, yet pulled out the ground probe and it happened again. I may be on to something. And if thats the case does stray voltage affect corals?

 

It probably depends where it's coming from. I personally would check all of your pumps and heaters and any other electricity source. Any stray electricity is too much IMO.

 

You should test for the voltage (with a volt meter) and unplug equipment 1 at a time, testing voltage after you unplug every picec of equipment to find the bad one....and replace it, it will just get worse....I wouldn't recommend using yourself as the tester.....that could be fatal.

Another thing you might want to look into is installing GFCI outlets that should trip (providing the bad equipment is grounded)

 

Everything is plugged into GFCI outlets. I just dont think its enough to trip them. The shock isnt intense just slight like a shot from a tiny needle.