Just got shocked sticking my hand in the tank. Static or something else?

[JoJosReef]

As title says, just got lightly shocked when sticking my hand in the water. I obviously immediately withdrew my hand, but put it back in to test. No more shocks, so just went about my tank business.

Could this be static electricity or a piece of equipment? If it were equipment, wouldn't it shock me continually or periodically?

Sorry for my ignorance. I slept through whatever class teaches you about all this type of life stuff

 

[Rob Biederman]

As title says, just got lightly shocked when sticking my hand in the water. I obviously immediately withdrew my hand, but put it back in to test. No more shocks, so just went about my tank business.

Could this be static electricity or a piece of equipment? If it were equipment, wouldn't it shock me continually or periodically?

Sorry for my ignorance. I slept through whatever class teaches you about all this type of life stuff

Do you have a contact tester for electric circuits? I had a short in my power head and it shocked me. I put the contact tester near the tank it went off.

 

[JoJosReef]

Do you have a contact tester for electric circuits? I had a short in my power head and it shocked me. I put the contact tester near the tank it went off.

I do not. At least not that I know of. Is this an expensive piece of equipment?

 

[Rob Biederman]

I do not. At least not that I know of. Is this an expensive piece of equipment?

5-10 bucks at the hardware store

 

[Stang67]

Check your heater. I had one that was going bad in my sump. Wasn't a bad shock but it was more then salt in a cut hurt.

 

[Rob Biederman]

Are your pumps ac or dc?

 

[vetteguy53081]

As title says, just got lightly shocked when sticking my hand in the water. I obviously immediately withdrew my hand, but put it back in to test. No more shocks, so just went about my tank business.

Could this be static electricity or a piece of equipment? If it were equipment, wouldn't it shock me continually or periodically?

Sorry for my ignorance. I slept through whatever class teaches you about all this type of life stuff

This will be a process of elimination. Often culprits are Magnetic driven components such as Power heads, return pumps and heater
using the electrical tester unplug Powerhead and see if there is a current drop in the water. If not plug back in and unplug the next powerhead. If not, turn off return pump and again check and so forth.
As a temporary measure, you can add a grounding probe which is a safeguard and NOT a solution

Grounding probe:

 

[edd59]

As title says, just got lightly shocked when sticking my hand in the water. I obviously immediately withdrew my hand, but put it back in to test. No more shocks, so just went about my tank business.

Could this be static electricity or a piece of equipment? If it were equipment, wouldn't it shock me continually or periodically?

Sorry for my ignorance. I slept through whatever class teaches you about all this type of life stuff

depends where your other hand is, if its grounded or not. i had a bad heater, no problem with hands in tank but when my shirtless shoulder touched the light, ouch. first time thought i got burnt then i realized what it was.

 

[JoJosReef]

Are your pumps ac or dc?

DC. MightyJets x 2. Powerhead is a Maxspect xf330 gyre. Heater is a Helio. Also have an Inkbird set to 2 degrees above and below the Helio in case the helio breaks with a Finnex attached to it and a set of USB fans. Those are the only electrical devices currently touching water in the tank.

 

[vetteguy53081]

DC. MightyJets x 2. Powerhead is a Maxspect xf330 gyre. Heater is a Helio. Also have an Inkbird set to 2 degrees above and below the Helio in case the helio breaks with a Finnex attached to it and a set of USB fans. Those are the only electrical devices currently touching water in the tank.

Mighty jets are my first suspects and years ago were frequent culprits of this