For stray voltage (ones strong enough to cause damage to tank inhabitants), a grounding rod or grounding probe will be just like sticking a long tube on a leaking gas tank so that the gas does not spill on your driveway.
It will not address the cause of the problem. Properly maintained home aquarium equipment should not have stray voltage strong enough to harm fish and invertebrates.
Also, I am assuming that you would not dare stick a grounding probe in the tank unless all your electrical equipment are plugged into GFCI outlets.
If you suspect stray voltage, then the best approach would be to test each equipment and repair/replace if necessary.
;) yeah.. i think I have a grip on all of that! Fantum voltage is not stray (leaking) voltage... from a device. It is everywhere.. stick a DVM, set to AC, probe in your tank water and pinch the other between you thumb and finger and see for yourself. You are going to see several volts unless you have shunted off the fantums through a ground wire.
I repeat there is no current... well there is .000,001 amp.. in other words none of my equipment has an electrical leak. So, to help everyone relax I tested each.. and I was right. Having power heads, pumps, etc generates electromagnetic energy.. electromagnetic energy generates electrical energy.. the titanium rod handled it.. and yes.. I checked the current between the probe and the ground before I connected them together.. and de-nada. .. nothing. People who do not understand the relationship and theory of current, voltage, resistance, wattage, electromagnetic energy, caps, pots, grounding, fantum voltage, static voltages, diodes, LED's and conductor size should consider to (I'm smilling) leave advice of same to those who do.
The best real reason to have a grounding rod in your tank is to protect you if a pump or heater does develop an open to the water.. In that case if you are even plugged into an electrical strip it will (if working properly) trip. And the power should be coming from a GFCI outlet.
In my case, additionally, I now have a relay coil between the ground rod and ground. If any current travels that circuit the relay will fire and drop a latching relay that will kill ALL power to my tank circuits. The relay coil provides the shunt to ground and it only takes 5 volts at about .001 amp to fire that relay. If it fires for a micro second the latching relay drops out and power is off. This is WAY before any life forms can be harmed... including me. I designed and installed this this evening. For those that think it will trip from the fantum voltage, no once the relay coil is used for the shunt to ground all fantum voltages will vanish, and are Zero... again...BECAUSE there is no current... and no it will not blow the coil of the relay because it is instantly removed from the circuit and an alarm buzzer is energized. ..and all source power is then off line. ;) ;) ;) this is sooo much fun... wink...
I have all this under control.. it is the biology and chemistry I need loads of help with!!!
Thank you for listening--
