Voltage leak in aquarium?

[marvelfan]

I was doing some maintenance a couple days ago and was reaching to move my screen off the top of my tank. My hand brushed the water (I wear usually nitrile gloves when I put my hands in the tank, but this time I didnt') and it tingled. I went and touch the surface of the sump water and it tingled.
Doing some research I found that it could be due to a voltage leak. Tonight I took the whole system offline and then took a volt meter. I placed the ground probe of the meter into ground of the outlet for the system. and the lead probe into the water of the sump (I also measured the tank). Take note that I did not have a GFCI installed until tonight. (Stupid I know!!) I installed it tonight.
I then powered up all devices in order of importance: here are my readings: Each builds on the next. Each piece plugged in seems to increase the voltage. No way everything is leaking voltage.. right? Maybe? I ordered a grounding probe today.. it will be here tomorrow.
What is a normal amount of stray voltage? Once I plugged everything back in I didn't feel any more tingles from the water. Not sure what changed.




Equipment



Total (VAC)



Change (VAC)







Base (Nothing plug in)



2.44



0







All Power Strips on



6.2



3.76







Heaters (150 W)



9.2



3







Heaters (300 W)



14.3



5.1







Return Pump



19.4



5.1







LED Lights (Both sets)



19.4



0







Skimmer



19.9



0.5







Power Head 1



21.9



2







Power Head 2



22.8



0.9







Power Head 3



24



1.2







Power Head 4



25.6



1.6







Rio Pump



27



1.4







Reactor pump



27.8



0.8







Sump Light/UAS Light



29.5



1.7







Air pumps



29.5



0

 

[marvelfan]

I'm so confused right now!
The GFCI is definetly something that should be inline on my tank circuit. No doubt!
But now i'm reading about ground probes, and oh my, is there debate out there! Good for fish? bad for fish? Human safety?
My grounding probe just showed up and now I'm not sure if I should install it. If I do install it, at least I would more easily be able to identify a bad component. My meter testing didn't seem to expose any issues with a particular device.
The arguement seems to come down to two points:
1. Grounding probes remove stray voltage, which may be bad for some fish and corals
2. Grounding probes ground the tank to the point that when their is an issue with major voltage leak the current traveling out through the probe will create electric current, and it is thought this may be more dangerous for fish. technically the stray voltage is thought to be a lesser evil by some people.
The other plus side to installing the probe (IMHO) is that the probe should help GFCI trip when there is an issue. This will power down the tank circute completely, which can also kill off your tank if undetected for a long enough period of time.
I'm not worried about the tank powering down. I monitor it online while I'm at work all the time and would see communication was lost with my system and could run home in plenty of time to find the bad component.
However now it becomes a choice between tolerating stray voltage or inducing possible current to the system.
Not sure if I should install this probe or not...

 

[marvelfan]

I installed the probe in the sump. I had to see if there was any difference in my fish behavior. I see none.. everything seems normal. Nothing tripped the GFCI, so that makes me feel better. I even stepped out of my shoes onto the concrete floor and touched the water with my bare fingers to see if the GFCI would trip. Nothing. No tingles either. This is with everything I have running at once.
I'll leave it set up for now and see what happens.