mudplayerx
Active Member
Many people use a grounding device in their tank to absorb the stray current produced by their equipment. However, most people do not have GFIC outlets for all of their equipment. GFIC stands for ground fault circuit interrupter and is the device in many hairdryers and outlets in bathrooms that shuts the electronic device off to avoid fatal electrical shocks.
The warning here is that you MUST have GFIC outlets on all of your equipment if you plan to ground your tank against stray voltage. Grounding your tank without GFIC is actually far more dangerous for you than having no GFIC/ground at all!
The reason is that any other device, such as the casing of your lighting, may accidently carry or generate current. If you touch that device and put your hand into the tank water at the same time, the current will travel up your arm and into your upper torso (where the heart is!), into the other arm, and finally into the water where it will be directed to the splint of the grounding device you have installed. By this time you are more than likely dead since your heart is one the first areas electrocuted!!!
If you ground, make sure you have GFIC!!
I read this in this month's issue of Coral magazine. I make an attempt to find something interesting in each new issue to share here to get you guys to buy this awsome magazine. This issue also has articles on seagrass aquariums, hazards of uv light, the reticulate evolution theory, emperor shrimp, the eastern shornes of Borneo, and more.
The warning here is that you MUST have GFIC outlets on all of your equipment if you plan to ground your tank against stray voltage. Grounding your tank without GFIC is actually far more dangerous for you than having no GFIC/ground at all!
The reason is that any other device, such as the casing of your lighting, may accidently carry or generate current. If you touch that device and put your hand into the tank water at the same time, the current will travel up your arm and into your upper torso (where the heart is!), into the other arm, and finally into the water where it will be directed to the splint of the grounding device you have installed. By this time you are more than likely dead since your heart is one the first areas electrocuted!!!
If you ground, make sure you have GFIC!!
I read this in this month's issue of Coral magazine. I make an attempt to find something interesting in each new issue to share here to get you guys to buy this awsome magazine. This issue also has articles on seagrass aquariums, hazards of uv light, the reticulate evolution theory, emperor shrimp, the eastern shornes of Borneo, and more.
