Stray currents...UH OH?!

I would say that...
1) You should have grounding probes in your tank.2) Anything related to your tank should be on a GFCI outlet.
More importantly than saving the lives of your tank inhabitants it can save your life...

 

You can buy GFCI units that plug into your outlets. Grounding probes can be dangerous unless you have your tank plugged into a gfci.

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f60/do-i-need-a-grounding-probe-125659.html

 

Personally, I wouldn't stick my hands anywhere near a tank that wasn't connected through a GFCI.

 

Me, both grounding probes and gfci's

 

GFCI, but no grounding probe. Guess I should take care of that.

 

I have mine on a GFCI out lets always have.
I just recently added a grounding probe but I put it in the sump by the return pump.
this was after my wife was helping on the tank and said she felt a tingle in her fingers when she would put them in the water I couldn't feel it.
I asked sever people that run tanks if they use grounding probe in there tanks. Out of the 5 that said they do only 1 has it in there main tank. The rest run it in the sump best reason given for putting it there I felt was that is the last place to take current out before your water is reentering the main tank, also if the grounding probe were in your main tank you would make a more direct stream of current that the fish may swim through causing more harm.

 

Realistically, you should have a ground probe in every tank that has electrical equipment around it.... The tanks aren't guaranteed to be electrically connected, so a ground probe in your sump won't necessarily save you if there is stray current in your display.

 

Volts don't kill, it's the amps that'll get ya!

 

Be very sure of what your doing when wiring a GFI. On some of the cheaper brands, if you wire them inproperly, (line/load reverse) the outlet will work but won't trip out when theres a fault, or it will trip out but will still send power out. I personally would plug powerheads and pumps into different GFI'S, that way if a short causes one to trip, the other will be fine and those pumps will still run. otherwise everything goes dead, possibly along with livestock.

 

what are you guys doing takeing out the old outlet and replaceing it with a gfi?

 

when your wife felt a tingle in her fingers and u did not more than likeley she had a cut on her finger and that salt will hurt ive mixed salt with cuts thought i got shocked but its is goood to have a gfi on your tank i should have them on my tanks but i don't is a surgprotector like a gfi ?

 

(P/I=V, Q/V=C, V/R=I)

Resistance of seawater= 0.2 ohms
5.6V/0.2=I=28amps I assume it's on a 15amp breaker, so clearly it isn't drawing its full potential. (The resistor (the water) will buffer the ability of your skin to draw amperage)
5.6V*15amps(I)= P= 84watts of stray electrical power. Probably acceptable, but yea a grounding probe will sap all the stray current.

 

You only put one GFCI outlet per electrical circuit. Once the GFCI is properly installed, all of the outlets on the circuit are protected. As soon as a ground fault is detected, the GFCI is tripped which cuts power to the entire circuit.

Electricity always follows the path of least resistance. The probe provides the path of least resistance... If there is a source of stray voltage in the tank, it will be grounded out by the probe which is what protects you.

And no, A surge suppressor is not the same thing as a GFCI outlet.

 

This is correct however you need to be sure of yourself before installing one of these like i said. The GFI need to be installed on the first outlet in the circut ,with the power coming in being hooked up to the LINE side of the GFI. The other wires in the box that go to the rest of the outlets need to be hooked up to the LOAD side. This way all the other outlets on that circut have GFI protection. Like has been said, by using a ground probe it allows stray current to flow directly from the point of entry through the probe and safely to ground. Basically if theres a short and you stick your arm in the tank, the probe will complete the circut, INSTEAD OF YOUR ARM! The probe needs to be connected to a GFI protected circut so that if there is enough stray current it will trip the GFI indicating that theres a problem.
Honestly the low voltage you describe isn't that much, yeah it's 28amps but only at 5.6v, now 28amps at 120v would be OUCH! Still i would think you shouldn't have any stray voltage in your tank.
And like JB said, a surge protector is not the same thing but use one ontop of the GFi protection. If you have a power surge or lightning strike it could save a lot of your equipment.