Electric charge in reef tank

[Beyon]

Hey guys I have an electrical issue in my tank and I'm not sure how to go about it. I get shocked when I stick my hands in the tank , I thought it was an air pump bc it went away when I unplugged it , but the shock comes back, I unplugged my skimmer thinking it was the pump on that but it came back again, so now I'm thinking it's the return pump , I'm just so confused on how it goes away then comes back. I put half the tank on a separate gcfi circuit but that doesn't break when I'm getting shocked .

 

[Beyon]

Hey guys I have an electrical issue in my tank and I'm not sure how to go about it. I get shocked when I stick my hands in the tank , I thought it was an air pump bc it went away when I unplugged it , but the shock comes back, I unplugged my skimmer thinking it was the pump on that but it came back again, so now I'm thinking it's the return pump , I'm just so confused on how it goes away then comes back. I put half the tank on a separate gcfi circuit but that doesn't break when I'm getting shocked .

Right now I have the return pump, ato, and skimmer all unplugged

 

[abc123]

Heater?

 

[Beyon]

Heater?

I took out the one that came with the tank and have 2 finnex titanium heaters, no shock with both plugged in

 

[Beyon]

I took out the one that came with the tank and have 2 finnex titanium heaters, no shock with both plugged in

It's almost like it builds up, tonight I removed all the plugs that were plugged in above the sump, replace power strips and i still get the shock , but after I moved everything no shock then 2 hrs later big shock

 

[Beyon]

Hey guys I have an electrical issue in my tank and I'm not sure how to go about it. I get shocked when I stick my hands in the tank , I thought it was an air pump bc it went away when I unplugged it , but the shock comes back, I unplugged my skimmer thinking it was the pump on that but it came back again, so now I'm thinking it's the return pump , I'm just so confused on how it goes away then comes back. I put half the tank on a separate gcfi circuit but that doesn't break when I'm getting shocked .

Right now I have the return pump, ato, and skimmer all unplugged

It's definitely one of these, it's been 6 hrs and no shock this morning

 

[AmateurAlchemist]

How bad is the shock? Are the suspect items AC or DC powered? It might be worth checking the outlet too. I'm no electrician but I'd have thought titanium heaters would act as a solid ground.

 

[Johnd651]

If you have a meter you can check voltage to ground.

 

[Beyon]

How bad is the shock? Are the suspect items AC or DC powered? It might be worth checking the outlet too. I'm no electrician but I'd have thought titanium heaters would act as a solid ground.

2 days ago it's 110 volts it was bad, yesterday after spitting up the pumps onto different circuits it wasn't so bad, it was gone for 2hrs then it was back , I unplugged my return, ato, and skimmer and it stayed away for 6 hrs

 

[Beyon]

If you have a meter you can check voltage to ground.

I am currently using a meter just not sure whats acceptable voltage for the tank

 

[Johnd651]

I am currently using a meter just not sure whats acceptable voltage for the tank

Just curious what your seeing... if it's life 48v DC or 120v ac... help you rule out equipment more

 

[Beyon]

Just curious what your seeing... if it's life 48v DC or 120v ac... help you rule out equipment more

It jumps all around when it's shocking me , it goes between 200 volts to 48 to115 it's just all over the place, very strange to me

 

[Beyon]

Just curious what your seeing... if it's life 48v DC or 120v ac... help you rule out equipment more

I plugged the skimmer back in and it was around 50 volts in the tank

 

[Kooma]

Take each item and unplug it from the tank one at a time with the meter connected until its nothing but the tank. Could be an ATO, heater, static, etc. I got a decent shock from static to my water last night, first time in a while but up here its been so dry. If you run a ground wire does the shock go away?

 

[Beyon]

Take each item and unplug it from the tank one at a time with the meter connected until its nothing but the tank. Could be an ATO, heater, static, etc. I got a decent shock from static to my water last night, first time in a while but up here its been so dry. If you run a ground wire does the shock go away?

I've determined that it's only 4 things, a pump for phosban reactor, pump that runs through my charcoal canister a macro algea light or led mounted in the top of my stand above the sump. All of those are on the circuit that is shocking me

 

[Reefvision]

I've determined that it's only 4 things, a pump for phosban reactor, pump that runs through my charcoal canister a macro algea light or led mounted in the top of my stand above the sump. All of those are on the circuit that is shocking me

 

[Reefvision]

I had Koralia power head that was giving me shocks in the past

 

[Beyon]

I finally found the issue, it was a bad pump

 

[Utwo229]

I hope all of your A/C is plugged into GFCI receptacles. That shouldn't happen. It is very dangerous. I would have expected the sump to trip a GFCI immediatly and make it easy to find (next time).

 

[Beyon]

I hope all of your A/C is plugged into GFCI receptacles. That shouldn't happen. It is very dangerous. I would have expected the sump to trip a GFCI immediatly and make it easy to find (next time).

It is and it didn't trip it , it was actually easy to figure out the part that had me stumped was the fact that the charge would build, it didn't shock at first after I turned things back on, so it took some time to figure out which pump was bad