A) For someone to get electrical current thrue them they have to be touching a ground with one hand and a hot fish tank with the other. Or standing on concrete bare footed or something like that. Accidents can wait for years to happen so you can have a "hot fish tank" for a decade and not even know it.
For the sake of clarity, nobody has said anything to the contrary. The energized tank can go unnoticed until an accident happens. That is the reason that the GFCI (with or without) the ground probe is so important. I am pretty sure you agree with that.
1. A ground probe is better than no ground probe.
For the following reasons.
1.It will let you know theres a leakage of power in the fish tank by killing the fish and critters (worse case scenario)
Maybe, maybe not. That is certainly a possibility but different current paths through the tank may or may not affect the livestock. Also consider the "new" fault that has not had time to affect the livestock in any noticeable way. It may not be noticed, but has the potential to be very deadly. So all in all, your point is not bad but when all scenarios are considered... The lone ground probe is not something I would consider as better than NO ground probe. It may take away some danger, but adds other danger.
Think about people that have a week heart and pace makers, kids etc. Imagine what it would mean for a family to loose a loved one because of the fish tank.
Exactly why the lone ground probe without GFCI is not what I would consider acceptable. That is the point many of us have been trying to make all along. Remember,
2. The circuits feeding the fish tank are usually loaded to 50% at least. So the extra pull on the ground probe can trip the circuit breaker.
This is where we do not agree at all. Deadly current levels exist at fractions of the circuit breakers trip threshold. You can in no way count on the fault or leakage current to be enough to trip the circuit breaker. Even a breaker loaded to 80% of its trip threshold leaves plenty of room for deadly currents to exist due to a fault that is not strong enough to push the breaker into overload.
Personally I dont like circuit breakers because most of the time dont trip. But a circuit breaker in a lets say 24hr period pulling 120% will get hot and most likely trip letting you know theres a problem.
But more often than not, it will be loaded (with a fault present) to less than the trip threshold. That is why the GFCI becomes so important.
With all that said my conclusion is have both a GFI and a Ground probe. If you cant do the $ 20 investment for your safety why spend $$$$ for corals ?
Yes, we have all been in agreement over that point.
I am so done with this thread and this subject over the years that my next comment will be a simple answer without any debate " You need both" END.
Or at the least GFCI protection.
Now that we got that out of the road:
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13321533#post13321533 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Young Frankenstein
Ok bean now that we are all calm lets discus this issue again in an adult like manner.
I am going to kindly point out that I have been calm all along. Make no mistake Steve, I am not at all pleased about the insults and flat out contempt directed towards me (and other well informed, well intentioned people), let alone that outright dishonesty displayed over the last several days. I am glad you came back to the thread in an effort to correct the tone, but I honestly wish you would have taken the high road from the getgo instead of 3 days later. I certainly hope that future discussions do not follow the same pattern.
Take care... and good luck with your NW project. It looks interesting, to say the least.
its unusual but possibly worth discussion
