Gregcoyote
Aquarium Advice Addict
kdpuffer said:Ground probe is a BAD idea. Stray voltage is a sign of something being wrong but it's not electrocuting anything until its given a return path to ground. Whether that be a ground probe or your hand when you stick it into the tank. Once there is a path to ground it completes the circuit and that's when the current flows. Once you have current is when things start to die. Whether the ground probe is in the tank or out of it you provide a path to ground and hence give the current a path to flow. Without a completed circuit you won't have current. I don't know why they sell ground probes because they are a bad idea, but if you put something on the market and people buy it why would you stop selling it.
Right on...but you don't want to be the path to ground. Standing in bare feet in a puddle of saltwater is a situation where I want all my electrical devices buttoned down and made as safe as possible.