Water Voltage

[richiestang_78]

So I was looking aorund an online sotre and came across a grounding probe to remove stray voltage form the water. I was curious so I took a volt meter to my tank and it measure about sevenc hundredth of a volt in my tank. My question is does voltage really harm the fish?

[newfound77951]

No, a voltage that low shouldn't hurt anything, water is a good conductor and will probably always show some voltage. Every time you get zapped by static electricity the voltage is probably much greater than the few hundredths you measured and although it might hurt it won't kill you

Where did you see that grounding probe? Was it meant for aquariums? I guess in a huge aquarium (think public) with lots of equipment stray voltage could be a problem, particularly in salt water. I know on boats stray voltage can have drastic effects on the boat emitting the voltage and even on neighboring boats.

[richiestang_78]

I saw the probe on bigalsonline.com

[Jaybird]

You can have several thousand volts in a static shock, but almost zero amperage. The volts won't kill you, the amperage will.

In a home aquarium, you shouldn't have voltage problems unless you have some seriously faulty equipment. If your heater developed a leak, I could see the need. Realistically, though, that would create a short which should blow the fuse or pop the circuit breaker. It might also cook your fish, too.

[QTOFFER]

I've seen those grounding probes and always wondered who buys them and why. I don't know of any FW people who have one. Maybe they're meant more for saltwater folks since SW conducts electricity better than fresh. Or maybe they're needed if you keep fish that navigate or find food using electrical fields.

Like Jaybird said, those grounding probes are meant to dissipate low amperage static charges. GFI outlets are the best way to protect you and your fish from getting zapped by high amperage current leaking from faulty equipment.