[Poseidon]

I think this will be fun. What is the one thing that you did in the past to your tank that you would not even DREAM of doing today!?

I'll start.

Back when I first upgraded my lights to PC on a 55 gallon tank,(about 4-5 years ago) I couldn't grow any coralline algae at all, even after adding lots of purple live rock. When I started asking why, I found out I needed to maintain Ca and Alk levels in my tank! Heck my LFS didn't ever even mention these! So I ordered a couple of SeaChem products, both liquids. 1 was for Ca the other for Alk, when they arrived I promptly grabbed a bowl outta the cupboard, added some tank water, then went to the kitchen to add my NEW SUPPLEMENTS~! First I added the Ca in the suggested amount for "beginners", then I mixed it up with a spoon. Then I added the suggested amount of Alk supplement, again for "beginners". Now I thought I saw the water get cloudy in the bowl, but it was a white bowl, so I wasn't sure. Went to the tank and promptly dumped the entire contents into the tank! POW BANG BOOM! Instant MILK~!!! I could NOT SEE even 2" into the tank, it was THAT CLOUDY! Ca sure does precipitate into a snowstorm when added with the carbonate supplement in a hurry!

I was lucky I had no corals at the time, and only a couple fish. Everything made it okay, but I never mixed 30 gallons of ASW so fast in my life!

Okay YOUR NEXT!!!

[Reefland]

This is a good one!

I think my most recent DOH mistake was several months ago, I plugged in the MAG 18 skimmer that poweres on MR-1 protein skimmer with the gatel valve all the way closed on the skimmer output. For those of you that don't know, this pushes all of the water the pump is supplying up through the next, into the colletion cup and in my case, out the drain and into a cump that has the hose fitted into the top with another hole for air to pass. In about 2 seconds I was soaked! :rolf:

[ricksreef]

my latest (2 days ago ) was cleaning my overflow pipes, and
forgetting to put the screen back on the pipe and going to bed.
did you know that nerite snails make the perfect plug for 3/4" pipe?
good thing it was in the garage. the wife woulda shot me if i
dumped that much water in the house.

[Samper]

I always turn my powerheads off when doing a water change but a couple of months ago I forgot. Since I don't have a sump all of my work takes place in the display. I was busy siphoning the bottom when I started getting blasted in the face from the spray of a mj 1200. Like an idiot I let go of my siphon hose to quickly turn off the powerstrip cause the water was hitting the glass and spraying everywhere. The hose kept siphoning during all of this and the end fell of of the bucket I was using. Before it was all said and done I had sucked a stalk of Xenia into the hose and made a huge mess on the floor. I had to make up another few gallons of ASW to make up for what I lost and the Xenia didn't look so well for a few days but all is well now.
My girlfriend got a little upset but also a good laugh.

[Reefland]

Man I feel so stupid when I do things like that, but sure get a laugh out of it later. LOL

[Poseidon]

Gotta love those moments... Like reaching in front of the output of a 1000 GPH and partially blocking it with the back of my arm... Yup!!! SOAKED my shirt in about 2 seconds!!

[Reefland]

And despite all my best efforts, getting shocked a million times.







Ok, maybe I'm the only one.

[Samper]

I've been shocked a few times as well as watched a powerstrip spark while I decided what to do about it.

I really do say Doh quite a bit especially when working around my aquarium and since I'm one of the newer guys here I have a few more moments than some of you although I'm sure we've all been there.

My latest doh happened during my move. I went out and bought one large rubbermaid with a lid and a bunch of various sized ones to put rock and corals in. I quickly tore down my system, packed it in the bins and loaded up the front cab of my girlfriends grandfathers truck that I borrowed just for this task. I knew the lids weren't air tight but didn't expect to drive crazy or run into anything that would cause a spill. I won't mention the manufacturer of this truck but they have a lot of work to do on their suspension cause every time I took a corner, even at slow speeds the truck would lean and sure enough water would pour fourth from my bins. In my haste I had sat my cell phone on top of the largest of the bins and stacked the smaller bins on top of the big one. As the water continued to pour for the 15 miles to its new home my cell phone took a nice bath. When it was all said and done my cell phone didn't work....still doesn't and the passenger side of the truck where the feet go had no less than 3 inches of salt water in it. I wiped it out as best as I could but it bakes in the sun all day and smells pretty foul right now. I have insurance on the phone but will have to pay $50 for the deductible and might have to pay to get the truck cleaned out.

The next time I move I'm going to buy a really large water tight rubbbermaid, put all of my rock and stuff into 4 or so smaller ones and stack them in the large one sealing the lid in the end and hope for the best.

[Samper]

I fixed the powerstrip problem by mounting them on the wall and putting drip loops in the wires.

[MikeDeL]

I disconnected the hose going into my RO/DI unit one time. I forgot to turn the supply water off. Ooops. Water starts spraying everywhere. I then try to plug the hose back in, which creates a nice sharp spray into my face. At this point the hose slips out of my hand and starts wipping around spraying water everywhere, and of course I try grabbing hold of the hose. The entire time this was happening I was standing no more then a foot away from the faucet.

[Penguin]

I deliberately left my RO/DI on overnight to make water, but miscalculated on the output amount, or container size, or both. I got up in the morning to a few gallons on the floor. Luckily I was able to clean it up before the wife saw it. I don't leave the unit on overnight anymore.
Got shocked by a broken heater once.

Almost dropped my old NO light fixture in once or twice or two while working on the tank.

Scratched the tank glass while rearranging LR.

Been doused by various unruly pumps/filters over the years.

[miareefer]

Let me tell you i am the master of the Doh!!!
I have done it all from major electricity fuse blowouts to electrical discharges that have made me do the Michael Jackson Moonwalk
My most recent discharge was when my new beckett overflowed and dumped about 60 litres on my fishroom carpet. Okay i thought so then i went and got my wifes new vacum cleaner presuming it was a wet vac type and sucked as much up as possible .WHAMO chink jink BANG!!! .DARKNESS
i really should listen to her more and i could of prevented this from happening because it wasnt a wet type at all .Its a very touchy subject because ive destroyed all of our vacums over the years .Some good came out of it because now i have my very own vacum for my Fish room and my car .I am no longer allowed to use hers at all ever anymore . i Laugh about it bigtime because when that vacum went it melted the saftey Trip in our fusebox and i DID glow for a few seconds as far as ime concerned ppl die everyday from electrical current discharge. I should of on this day but luckily i lived to tell the tale.
Mia

[Elmo18]

When collecting clown fry, I shut off the return pump and the closed loop. well I forgot to take into account the water going to the sump....and yes i dumped about 3 gallons of water to the carpet...along with a couple snails, which I found a couple hours later inside the stand.

Was not a good night lol

- Elmo

[Michelle]

Originally Posted by Penguin

I deliberately left my RO/DI on overnight to make water, but miscalculated on the output amount, or container size, or both. I got up in the morning to a few gallons on the floor. Luckily I was able to clean it up before the wife saw it. I don't leave the unit on overnight anymore.
.

OMG, been there done that, I can't tell you how many times that me and Scott have left the RO/DI running and let the bucket overflow, everytime it happens, I get to mop the kitchen floor!!

[Poseidon]

Great Story Mia!!! On the RO unit thing... I just gave up and pulled the carpet out of my fishroom! I had soaked that closet so often it started to stink... Now i have this AWESOME ORANGE floor tile from the 70's.... It was burried under the rug!

I know Ninong and Zhenya HAVE TO have some stories to share....

[underseaworld]

I have had salt water tanks going back to the early 80's. I had a 100gl tank that sprung a leak in the middle of winter in Ohio. Had about two inches of water in it just enough to keep the fish alive. All the water was on the floor in the living room and driped in the basement. What a mess to clean up. I took the fish and the tank to lfs which was a hour drive away at the time. Not too many salt water fish stores back then. He housed my fish and was going to send my tank out for repair. Me and my buddy went to the fish store to pick up the tank after we got off work. We were there for hours and the owner of the store was not able to get a hold of the guys that he sent the tank to for repairs (this was before cell phone). not that I am dating myself or anything like that . Well after being at the shop after closing one of the guys called to tell him that they slip on ice and droped the tank. This tank was made out of 3/4" glass. Can you imagine the site of this tank crashing. The good news was the lfs guy gave me a new 135 gl. tank for free. This is the tank that I still have today.

At one time I had a lion fish in my tank. The lion fish was always real curious of what is going on in the tank. I was cleaning the front of the tank glass and keeping a very close eye on the lion fish making sure he does not get too close. But then out of no where I feel this pain on one of my fingers only to find out that my snowflake moray eel decided to try to make my finger his lunch. He had my finger in his mouth at least two inches. Man I pulled out my hand from the tank and was shaking it up and down. The eel was big enough where it tail was hitting the cieling. I finally reach and pulled it off and tossed it back into the tank. After that I decided I was going to give the lion fish and the eel to the Cleveland Aqurium (which now has relocated to be part of the Cleveland Zoo). I got a large tax write off for the donation....

[MikeDeL]

Everyone seems to have an RO/DI unit story. My first RO story was the night I setup my first RO unit. I got it all connected and flushed out. I stuck the hose in my jug turned on the water and walked away. One and a half hours later I came back to check on it and found the kitchen completly wet. The hose had some how come out of the top of the jug after putting about 2 quarts of water in the jug. Im guessing my dog came by to investigate the jug and ended up knocking the hose out with her crazy tail. LOL

Then there was the time when I first started keeping salt water. I was mixing a fresh batch of SW when the SG kept reading high. I couldnt figure out why. Turns out that very first time I had mix SW I used a 1 cup measuring cup to scoop with. Then when I went to make new SW I assumed I had the 1/2 cups measureing cup in the bag. So I ended up with twice as much salt in the water then I needed.

[Reefland]

Continuing on with the RO units dohs....

Our unit use the sink adapter. If you do not have one of these, basically it has a barbed fitting for the RO unit input hose and a valve that is either in or out (in is for the sink, out is for the RO unit). I can't tell you how many times either the RO unit tubing has blown off the barbed fitting while the faucet was on full blast and let me tell you, it can spray some water! Either that happens or after I put the unit away I somehow forget to push the valve back in and turn on the faucet and get drinched.

[zhenya]

I know Ninong and Zhenya HAVE TO have some stories to share....

I don't know about Ninong but personally, my main Doh's happened with RO/DI unit as well. Leaving it on and forgetting to turn it off being the main culprit there. Luckily, it is located together with the storage container in the laundry room and all the flooding goes over onto the adjacent garage floor. I also did purchase a shop vac, just becouse my lazy, procrustinating butt didn't feel like installing the float switch. Well, all is fixed now for a while so I've stayed pretty dry, lately... I have auto shut off for the RO/DI and auto top off set up for my 75g tank.
Of course, busted hoses dranched my carpeting few times as well and lucky for me( again ) I was home every time when that happened.
Then, my Clarkii biting me so hard that I jumped and hit light fixture so hard it almost fell in the water, instead it fell on the floor...lucky again

[ricksreef]

here's a DOH! moment for you. at one of the shops i worked at, it was decided to buff the dirt out of the painted concrete floors. well, i gave
my little helper a lesson in operating it & since he had the hang of it, i
left him to it. 5 minutes later i hear a nasty CRASH! then the WHOOSH!
of lots of water. the little stoner thought it would be a good idea to ride
the spinning buffer. after a few spins, he let the handle go to stop
spinning, which sent the handle slamming square into the 110G FW
aggresive tank. oscars and alligator gar were doing the flip flop dance
on the floor.