Tingling sensation advice please

[WindeyD]

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.

I probably do touch the top rim of the tank with my other hand; thanks!

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.

can I test the in tank equipment with a multimeter?

 

[Brew12]

I probably do touch the top rim of the tank with my other hand; thanks!

can I test the in tank equipment with a multimeter?

You can, but that can also be deceptive. In salt water aquariums you can not only get voltage through faulty equipment, but you can also get voltage through inductive and capacitive coupling. For instance, without my grounding probe I see almost 20V to ground with no faulted equipment.

Your best bet is to use a grounding probe and testing your devices by plugging them into a GFCI. Easiest and safest way to go about it.

 

[WindeyD]

You can, but that can also be deceptive. In salt water aquariums you can not only get voltage through faulty equipment, but you can also get voltage through inductive and capacitive coupling. For instance, without my grounding probe I see almost 20V to ground with no faulted equipment.

Your best bet is to use a grounding probe and testing your devices by plugging them into a GFCI. Easiest and safest way to go about it.

Much abliged Brew 12; thanks a bunch!

 

[WindeyD]

Okay so here's what I found: I plugged my lights directly into the GFCI which didn't trip. I then used my newly purchased multimeter which read zero with all equipment unplugged and one by one plugged things in; all zeros until I got to one of my Hydor powerheads and the multimeter read over 100. I removed the powerhead and thoroughly inspected it but found no obvious defects. I tested it again in a 5 gallon bucket and again it read just over 100. No more tingling sensation when I touch the lighting fixture. I will be heading to Pure Reef tomorrow morning to buy a new powerhead. Thanks again for the help everyone!

 

[cj in sac ca]

I had a similar issue when I touched my sump light cord. Had some salt creep on it. Once I cleansed it from the area " off the sump tank wires return hoses etc it has seemed to go away.

 

[Brew12]

Okay so here's what I found: I plugged my lights directly into the GFCI which didn't trip. I then used my newly purchased multimeter which read zero with all equipment unplugged and one by one plugged things in; all zeros until I got to one of my Hydor powerheads and the multimeter read over 100. I removed the powerhead and thoroughly inspected it but found no obvious defects. I tested it again in a 5 gallon bucket and again it read just over 100. No more tingling sensation when I touch the lighting fixture. I will be heading to Pure Reef tomorrow morning to buy a new powerhead. Thanks again for the help everyone!

I'm glad to help. And I can't tell you how much I appreciate your taking electrical safety seriously. You did great with this!