stray voltage question

Hello
Ok it's been 3 months that I have wondering what is stray voltage? I have GFI outlet is that enough or Am I missing something?
Can somebody explain it to me please?

Thanks

 

Generally some equipment in your system can through stray voltage into the water column – such as a power head. To eliminate this you pick up a grounding probe that goes into the water and generally plugs into a wall outlet utilizing your houses grounding wires to solve the issue. Stray voltage wrecks havoc on fish – best to install one.

link: http://saltaquarium.about.com/od/aquariummaintenancecare/a/aastrayvoltage.htm

I generally don’t suggest you test with a meter – best just to ground the tank and be done with it.

As a reminder to all those that are currently grounded (no, not you teenagers)….remember to occasionally inspect your probe – they can, and often do, become coralline encrusted and stop working….all you need to do is scrape them with a knife and your all set !

 

stray voltage comes from anything with electricity that is submerged in your tank. that is leaking a small amount or sometimes big amount of electricity into your tank(i.e. pump not sealed well.) gfi will only save you if say one of your bulbs falls in or a major non-submersable electrical device were to submerge that will trip the fuse and turn off your device. the ground probe will attract your stray voltage and give it somewhere to go instead of through your body or you fish.

 

It seems to me that installing a grounding probe completes the circuit which continues the flow of electricity through your tank, and this doesn't really fix anything in fact it could create problems, right?

Identify the faulty equipment and replace it.

 

no the probe will eliminate the electricity from zapping you/inhabitants. and is much cheaper/faster than finding the faulty equipment and replacing it. electricity is lazy always flowing through the path of lest resistance first and the titanium probe is far more conductive than you or fish

 

I have a titanium grounding probe in my tank and measure stray voltage in my tank with a volt meter. In my experience, the grounding probe does reduce stray voltage in the tank. Even with new, non faulty equipment, I think that there will still be charge in the water...which may be caused by static electricity generated by pump impellors etc. My two cents would be that a grounding probe is worth the $15.

 

+1 SOOOO worth it. I gave myself a few nasty jolts from a faulty float switch...and was zapping my fish/corals for weeks

 

Just put the grounding probe in a spot where it can't be reached by your fish, like in the sump. That way, the current won't even be moving through the fish, only the water between it and the equipment.

Probably a horrible explanation, but if a fish swims between the faulty pump and the probe, it'll still get shocked, so you want ti to be closer to the equipment than the fish can get.

 

I don't think so... water, being the conductor that becomes the ground plane when connected to a ground probe, will not pass current through the fish any more or less no matter where the fish is in the water. The water will either have stray voltage or it will not. When you ground it, the voltage goes away, so it will not pass through the fish.

Put the probe in your overflow, or someplace it will not get knocked out accidentally or messed with... the sump is not a good place since it will not be connected if the pump turns off or if the water level drops below the probe.

 

I mean, I'm assuming, possibly wrongly, that the fish would be more conductive than the water. If so, since there's still electrons whizzing through that area, they'll go through the fish.