stray voltage in fish tank

I have been playing with the voltage meter, and with everything plugged in its almost a full volt of strat voltage. this is bad right?

Anyway it seems most is coming from the light.

That amount of voltage is probably affecting the fish right?

Anyway I am off to get a grounding probe. this will fix the problem right?

 

Fix... No. Alleviate...Yes.

This will give a place for the stray voltage to go instead of into you when you reach your hand in. The only way to truly fix it is to fix or replace the equipment that is causing it in the first place.

Will you be happy you got a grounding probe: Most definitely.

 

How are you measuring and what meter are you using? Less than 1V would not cause me any worries...

 

voltage meter. I am not getting shocked or anything.

 

You can probably find out the culprit by measuring the voltage, and turning off a piece of equipment then measuring again. I've had circulation pumps do that too me in the past. Probably wouldn't cause any problems at such a low voltage. Grounding probes are just too cheap not to use.

 

What type and brand of meter and what methods are you using to test...

 

Whenever you put a voltage meter in water you will get a reading. This is because of the ionic nature of saltwater and the ability of electromagnetic field to induce a voltage. This is a non-issue for the most part though. It's like a bird sitting on a telephone wire, ionly the fish are the birds, if this is the case. There is no current running, until you ground it. When you measure it you ground it and the potential charge becomes current.

The real issue is if there is a non-induced current, such as broken wire. The way you test is basically plug everything in one at a time until you get a reading and then you can figure out what is causing it. If it's a light though, not in the water, it is an induced current and is not an issue at all. Of course the light should be grounded and you chould have the normal precautions in place.

If it is a pump or something in the water, then it is more likely to be an isseue because if it's equipment failure, you do not want to get electrocuted. Because you are not getting a shock, it's probably just typical induced voltage. A light would have to be induced assuming it isn't in the water. I've never seen an aquarium though that did not have some voltage. I'm not sure that is actually possible not to have some voltage, being that saltwater is a moving soup of charged molecules.