I'm so glad you weren't hurt, but yeah that's really funny. Glad you found the problem BBH.Domandred said:
HELP... electrical shock when placing hand in aquarium?
- Thread starter BrownBullhead
- Start date
Way back when (late 1970's) my first job was at a fish store in Albany Caifornia. The salt water tanks always had a bit of a tingle to them from the salt creep, I got used to it (it got me to stop biting my nails) and then one day I put my arm into a tank to clean the glass when the whole thing went numb.
I pulled it out by stepping back and dragging the arm over the tank top. It flopped to my side. As I held my right arm with my left marveling how it was 'dead' and just flopped back and forth I looked into the tank. There was the end of a cut extension cord! a plugged in cord of course- then it hit me - the arm started coming back to life - worst pins and needles I have ever had.
I pulled it out by stepping back and dragging the arm over the tank top. It flopped to my side. As I held my right arm with my left marveling how it was 'dead' and just flopped back and forth I looked into the tank. There was the end of a cut extension cord! a plugged in cord of course- then it hit me - the arm started coming back to life - worst pins and needles I have ever had.
Contact with any type of tank should never tingle. If it does, you need to figure out WHY, and fix it immediately.
It's important that we all remember that electricity and water can be a scary mix, and take those precautions needed to protect ourselves and our fish.
It's important that we all remember that electricity and water can be a scary mix, and take those precautions needed to protect ourselves and our fish.
Very scary... I actually had part of the hood (with light) fall into my 10g tank a while back. Of course, I don't think that I might get electrocuted, only that mr. betta might be fried, so I stuck my hands right in the tank without thinking 
!! It took me a second to realize that the tingling was me being shocked!!
At least you figured out the problem!! Now go fix it ~ RIGHT NOW
!! It took me a second to realize that the tingling was me being shocked!! At least you figured out the problem!! Now go fix it ~ RIGHT NOW
Just to recap... the 55-gallon is one of those chain store setups... with the two plastic lids where you flip the front up for feeding, etc.
The back half of the lid has a clear plastic plate where the light ftrom the hood (sitting on the lid) shines through that clear plastic. When cleaning once upon a day, I caused several cracks in the clear plastic, MAJOR cracks.
I fill my tanks to about 1/4" below the top lip, as I like the water line to be slightly above where the black trim starts. I guess the swishing about of the water as well as evaporation caused moisture to go through the cracks in the plastic lid, and the moisture works into the ballast inside the lighting hood.
I noticed issues once upon a time where the particular light hood would not turn ON immediately as the one to the right of it did... sometimes it would seem to need time to "heat up". There was never any issues prior other than that... then the day of my post I had performed maintenance, set everything back up, and went to move some decor around and got the buzz-zz-zz-zz-ing feeling from the electrical current.
Trial and error afterward found the heater was intact but as soon as the concerned lighting hood was removed, all problems were gone, just like that. I guess I should have suspected the lighting hood due to it's abnormal performance (delay lighting up) which was ongoing for months.
Oh well... I am still alive.
The back half of the lid has a clear plastic plate where the light ftrom the hood (sitting on the lid) shines through that clear plastic. When cleaning once upon a day, I caused several cracks in the clear plastic, MAJOR cracks.
I fill my tanks to about 1/4" below the top lip, as I like the water line to be slightly above where the black trim starts. I guess the swishing about of the water as well as evaporation caused moisture to go through the cracks in the plastic lid, and the moisture works into the ballast inside the lighting hood.
I noticed issues once upon a time where the particular light hood would not turn ON immediately as the one to the right of it did... sometimes it would seem to need time to "heat up". There was never any issues prior other than that... then the day of my post I had performed maintenance, set everything back up, and went to move some decor around and got the buzz-zz-zz-zz-ing feeling from the electrical current.
Trial and error afterward found the heater was intact but as soon as the concerned lighting hood was removed, all problems were gone, just like that. I guess I should have suspected the lighting hood due to it's abnormal performance (delay lighting up) which was ongoing for months.
Oh well... I am still alive.
Domandred said:
When I was younger, I did something similar... remember how much fun it was to stick your tongue on a 9v battery? Well, I decided to try a phone line (wasn't even ringing)... never again.
Normally there is only the 48V DC (remember, it takes a few volts DC to kill you!) voltage from central office battery in the line, and when the phone rings there is 70-130V AC voltage in the line.
The more you know... the less you'll do. =)
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