Voltage in tank?

Jonathan Troutt · Jan 12, 2020

Hey guys so i have a diy 6 bulb t5 setup inside of my wooden canopy. None of the wires are in the water but tonight when i had to fix a frag that had been knocked over. So i reach in the tank and my elbow brushes up against on of the reflectors and i feel this weird tens type tingle.
So i grab my trusty volt meter set it to AC and one probe in water one probe on the reflector and i read 26 volts.....

Any ideas on what is causing this?

A&Aaquatics · Jan 12, 2020

Leave the voltmeter on and start unplugging equipment one at a time

WVNed · Jan 12, 2020

Reading between the reflector and water doesn't tell you much. Ground one end of the meter and read from the light and from the water.
The reflector could be energized and your tank is providing a ground or the water could be energized and the light is a ground.

Jonathan Troutt · Jan 12, 2020

WVNed said:
Reading between the reflector and water doesn't tell you much. Ground one end of the meter and read from the light and from the water.
The reflector could be energized and your tank is providing a ground or the water could be energized and the light is a ground.

So its coming from the water. So i leave the meter grounded and a probe hanging in the water unplug the heater. It drops from 24 to 18v. If i unplug the skimmer it drops from 18 to 16v. It is at 60hz though. Im really confused here.

Daddy-o · Jan 12, 2020

Jonathan Troutt said:
So its coming from the water. So i leave the meter grounded and a probe hanging in the water unplug the heater. It drops from 24 to 18v. If i unplug the skimmer it drops from 18 to 16v. It is at 60hz though. Im really confused here.

The pumps/powerheads?

WVNed · Jan 12, 2020

If your meter reads amperage take a reading. It should be a very tiny number much less than a milliamp.
or read 0 on a milliamp scale. Again read from water to ground.
If it does it is induced voltage and you need a ground probe. If you read above 1 milliamp you probably need to replace something because of insulation breakdown.

GK3 · Jan 12, 2020

Why do you have a wire from your lights in the water?!?!? Big no.

as others have said, you have a voltage potential between your reflector/lights and the water, so current is flowing one way. Easy way to tell is to put the red side of the volt meter on the light and the black in the water. If it’s + then current is flowing from lights to water. You have a problem with your lights. If it’s - then Current is flowing from water to lights. In which case one of your in water equipment has malfunctioned and the light is grounding it. As someone else said, unplug equipment until it goes away, then you know the culprit.

either way, if it’s not in the water, don't run the power cord through the water I.e. your lights.

LASTLY, don’t put your hands in the water until you know the cause. If the current flow increases, you can be severely hurt.

Jonathan Troutt · Jan 12, 2020

GK3 said:
Why do you have a wire from your lights in the water?!?!? Big no.

as others have said, you have a voltage potential between your reflector/lights and the water, so current is flowing one way. Easy way to tell is to put the red side of the volt meter on the light and the black in the water. If it’s + then current is flowing from lights to water. You have a problem with your lights. If it’s - then Current is flowing from water to lights. In which case one of your in water equipment has malfunctioned and the light is grounding it. As someone else said, unplug equipment until it goes away, then you know the culprit.

either way, if it’s not in the water, don't run the power cord through the water I.e. your lights.

LASTLY, don’t put your hands in the water until you know the cause. If the current flow increases, you can be severely hurt.

i never said i had a wire from my lights hanging in the water. I said there were no wires hanging into the water. I replied above and said it was not coming from the lights. it is induced voltage as per the instructions from @WVNed

pecan2phat · Jan 12, 2020

Need to test my tank out too since reading this. Also feel a sharp tinge if my T5s are on and I brush against the reflectors.

Mattyice572 · Jan 12, 2020

Anything that is under water that you plug into the wall is going to put out some type of charge into the water, ive put my hands in tanks and have been shocked pretty decently yet the fish are all swimming around like nothing is going on. Just get yourself a ground probe and it should solve the issue, theyre pretty inexpensive maybe $20