Hello,

I bought a 55 gallon fish tank last night and I filled it up with water and set up the filter/healer and lightning.. Today I was just trying to feel the water temp with my finger and felt this weird electric shock. I turned off my filter/heater and still felt it, Im not sure how my fish tank lights are causing it, the water lvl isnt 2 high.

Any ideas?

are the heater and filter/ any other electronic devices, brand new?

(p.s i am in chat, sorry for not replying.)

Nope, I used them before and didn't have any problems with them. I have a huge feeling its the lights

Electric shocks generally occur when using faulty electrical appliances such as heaters, power heads etc. Fish will not generally be affected because they are not grounded, you fill a shock because you are touching the floor

OFL wrote:

You hit the nail in the head Penn.... but you can neutralized that current or shock
but putting some grounding wire in your tank.

I had that happen when touching the water with my hand...I believe everything was on except the light and as I recall I was in socks and possibly the carpet was a bit damp from a water change I had just performed. It was more a vibrating/buzzing kind of shock feeling, like if some shakes your hand with a hand buzzer...but it hurt too. Definitely not a good surprise, although I learned my lesson very quickly after that.

I remember reading and this was years ago. You should NEVER put your hand in the tank with any of the electrical devices switched on.
But who these days ever switches of their filters? ....

JamieM wrote:


I do...now. lol

I have everything hooked up to the same power strip so the whole thing gets turned off during a water change. Other than that...If I need to just fish something out I just switch off the heater and light

I bought a little while ago a 'CABLE TIDY' for my 2' tank. Its basically a multi point for the tank electrics. It has a mains light indicator and a switch on it for the lights. I think it holds 5 power supplies in all and is made primarily for a tank.
I will be getting one for my 5x2x2 when it is up and ready to go......

Heheh. Well, I shocked myself again...when it gets warm around here I put a mesh hood on the tank...and earlier laid a towel over the hood and light b/c I was repainting a spot on the wall above the tank...left the towel on until later and it got damp from condensation. Hence, as i went to remove the towel ZAP. lol turned the power off, and removed it. Just a reminder that you CAN still shock yourself wearing rubber soles and with a Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter Plug.

i had an old set of lights on one of my tanks and i did get shocked when i put my hand in the tank somehow. I changed the lights and no more shock

Capt Dave wrote:


did you mean an old hood and lights or just the bulb?