Tingling sensation advice please

[WindeyD]

I just noticed a tingling in my fingers when touching my lighting fixture; I am not an electrician but believe I have some stray electricity likely due to some faulty equipment. My plan was to pick up a multimeter and test my equipment and replace the culprit. I turn off all power to submerged devices any time my hand goes into the tank as a general practice. I have never done this before and would appreciate any advice from my reefing cohorts who have experience with this type of issue. thanks!

 

[Sean Warden]

Were you touching anything else at the time? Did you have your other hand in the water?

 

[WetWhistle]

You should get a grounding probe as this is caused by stray current. Check all your hardware like heaters, powerheads etc.

 

[WetWhistle]

This is the one I have used for years. If you get cheap ones they corrode pretty quickly. I myself unplug all hardware and use a volt meter and plug one by one back in.

http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/vertex-titanium-grounding-pole.html

 

[WindeyD]

Were you touching anything else at the time? Did you have your other hand in the water?

No my hand was not in the water; the fixture does have legs that rest on the tank.

 

[Duke4Life]

Differently have some stray voltage if feeling a tingling.

 

[WindeyD]

This is the one I have used for years. If you get cheap ones they corrode pretty quickly. I myself unplug all hardware and use a volt meter and plug one by one back in.

http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/vertex-titanium-grounding-pole.html

Thanks thats my plan; going to pick up a multimeter at Lowes today and test all equipment.

 

[WetWhistle]

This goes a long way. I like it because if something electrical drops in like a light I have some safety if my hands are in the tank. It also cuts down on lateral line disease as stray current is though to add to it. I would look at the heaters as the most likely. The seals start to leak over time or a small crack in the class.

 

[Sean Warden]

At a minimum I would unplug the fixture and carefully inspect it. It could be something simple like salt creep creating a short. I would also look for any cracks in the cord/insulation.

 

[Brew12]

I just noticed a tingling in my fingers when touching my lighting fixture; I am not an electrician but believe I have some stray electricity likely due to some faulty equipment. My plan was to pick up a multimeter and test my equipment and replace the culprit. I turn off all power to submerged devices any time my hand goes into the tank as a general practice. I have never done this before and would appreciate any advice from my reefing cohorts who have experience with this type of issue. thanks!

Couple questions.

Does your light fixture have a metal housing?
What kind of light fixture is it?
Do you live in an older house with 2 prong outlets?

A ground probe is always a good idea in my opinion however it might not help in this case. If you are getting a shock from your light fixture without touching anything on the tank we may have something else going on.

 

[WetWhistle]

Water could have gotten into the plastic caps on T5 or other lighting for sure.

 

[WindeyD]

At a minimum I would unplug the fixture and carefully inspect it. It could be something simple like salt creep creating a short. I would also look for any cracks in the cord/insulation.

The lights were all off at the time, my thought was stray electricity coming from some submerged equipment getting to the metal housing of the lightning fixture.

 

[WindeyD]

Couple questions.

Does your light fixture have a metal housing?
What kind of light fixture is it?
Do you live in an older house with 2 prong outlets?

A ground probe is always a good idea in my opinion however it might not help in this case. If you are getting a shock from your light fixture without touching anything on the tank we may have something else going on.

Its a Coralife fixture and I live in a newer home

 

[Sean Warden]

I understand, except if for some reason the switch is going bad you could still get a shock with it powered off.

 

[WetWhistle]

Check the Coralife fixture for any water as well from splashing and check for salt creep on hardware and the tank. I like to place stuff like fixtures on a little strip of styrofoam.

 

[WindeyD]

I understand, except if for some reason the switch is going bad you could still get a shock with it powered off.

My lights are operated via an apex controller; when off wouldn't there be no power to the fixture?

 

[Brew12]

If this is a Coralife T5 fixture, it should have a metal housing. That housing should be grounded. Even if something in the light fixture was shorted to the light fixture housing you should not feel a tingle when you touch it. That leaves us with 2 possibilities.

You are touching something else at the same time you are touching the light, and the housing of the light is acting as a path to ground.
or
You do not have a good ground connection between your light fixture and your homes ground.

With a newer home, unless your ground plug is broken off, it is unlikely to be the 2nd option. If it is the first option, a ground probe should help.

If you have a GFCI outlet available, you could try to run an extension cord from that outlet and try powering up your light fixture using it. If the problem is in your light fixture, it should trip the GFCI.

 

[WetWhistle]

Testing with the GFCI outlet is quite effective to. I found if the current was to weak mine didn't trip. But it is well worth trying.

 

[Brew12]

Testing with the GFCI outlet is quite effective to. I found if the current was to weak mine didn't trip. But it is well worth trying.

Right now, this will only work to test the light fixture.

To test the components in the tank, the grounding probe needs to be installed. Without the ground probe you are correct, it probably will not pull even the tiny amount of fault current to trip the GFCI.

 

[WetWhistle]

At the very least one more thing that is not causing this is ruled out. It sure can't hurt to try.