Do grounding probes work or a bandaid??

[BL1]

I have been a proponent of using grounding probes since I have lost several of my tank inhabitants to what I can only assume was stray voltage. But, today I came across this article Aquarium Grounding Probes

I'm curious to see what some of the people who are more knowledgeable on current and electricity think about it. I won't lie, from what I read and understood I'm quite disheartened because when I was reading 50v in my tank, I had nothing but brand new equipment in my tank. So, if that's the case then they're suggesting I replace all brand new equipment because it's already leaking voltage? Hopefully someone can dumb this article down for people like me :frustrat:

 

[Zissou]

Quote from the article: "My belief is that if there are any stray currents in the tank coming from an electrical appliance, the solution is not to try to draw the current away with a grounding probe (symptom), rather, the appliance must be damaged and should be replaced (cure)."

It only takes one faulty item in your tank to produce a current in the tank: just nail down the culprit and you won't have to replace everything but that one part.

And like the article says, voltage can exist without current. Another quote: "Taking a volt meter and measuring a voltage in your aquarium relative to some arbitrary ground point does not indicate that there is a current flowing through the salt water (conductive medium) in your aquarium! It just means that the aquarium water is at a different potential than the ground reference point that you chose."

So it sounds like you can have voltage in the water, but as long as you don't have current you shouldn't have to worry that much. I honestly don't know how you can free a fish tank entirely of electrical appliances. Best to make sure that everything is functioning correctly and not overthink it.

 

[bjohanson1234]

I dont know wether it is true or not, but the theory is sound. I also know that some fish can sense voltages, and it might be possible that the magnetic fields from those voltages might effect fish.

I personally dont run a ground probe because I have always been under the belief that a current would be worse in a tank than a voltage. But rarely say anything because it is not backed up by any data, not even an anecdotal story.

The only thing that I can think a ground probe might do, is trip the GFCI if there is a fault in one of your pieces of equipment. Thus preventing any personal harm if you happen to stick your hand in the water and some equipment is failing.

 

[BL1]

Quote from the article: " the appliance must be damaged and should be replaced (cure)."

Best to make sure that everything is functioning correctly and not overthink it.

Here's my only problem, when I set my 75 up several months ago, I bought all new equipment (heaters, powerheads, skimmer, etc.) Everything was brand new but, almost everything two months later was leaking about 5v each into my tank. I had a little over 50v being leaked into my tank. It's not like all my stuff was used, or even older ... it was all brand new!

And what prompted me to even test for it was that I had gotten 3 linkias (not all at the same time) I had made sure that they had been at my LFS for 2 weeks or more and were pretty active there. I brought them home and literally with in the first day, the two linkias started to melt (disintegrate)between the oral disk and it's legs. And the tips of the orange linkia's legs started to rot away. All of my other levels at the time were stable pH 7.8, amm - 0, nitrite - 0, nitrate - 0, phos -0 ... so the only thing I can surmise would be the voltage. But now if using a grounding probe is bad, and I have all new equipment but it's leaking voltage which is killing inverts, what am I supposed to do?

 

[Bifferwine]

I also had over 50 volts in my aquarium, but it was a combination of all my equipment, each leaking 5 to 10 volts. I know more people that use a grounding probe than don't, and when I fixed my broken grounding probe, I saw an improvement in my livestock. I'm no expert, but for my tank, I wouldn't be comfortable going without one.