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Made a STUPID mistake. Who else had made one? Let's hear it.

fredro

fredro

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Manhattan Reefs
Location
Wading River, NY
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So we've all made dumb mistakes, resulting in big messes, lost livestock, broken equipment and plenty more. Tonight, I was moving a LPS coral in my tank. It's like a mix between a regular head of an Acan and a Scolymia. About 2-3x the size of an acan head and more of a defined skeleton... But that's not important. As I was removing the coral from it's spot in the sand and moving it to the other side of a big rock, I was asked a question by my girlfriend. In an effort to not be rude or inconsiderate, I looked back and responded to her, as I set the coral. I pushed it down into the sand and just as I felt that it was set deep enough, I felt the ridge of the coral and noticed that something wasn't right... it was upside down :/ I had just mashed my coral, head first into the sand. I calmly dropped a few 4 letter words and flipped it over and re-set it into the sand, taking a deep breath.
We'll see what happens with it. It was a dumb mistake, made by me, because I wasn't paying attention. No one to blame but myself. I'm sure these stupid mistakes happen to lots of people out there every day. So I figured I'd make a post about it and see if anyone wanted to share their stupid mistake story with everyone and maybe make me feel a little better :)
 
fredro

fredro

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Manhattan Reefs
Location
Wading River, NY
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thirty6 said:
I've left the RO unit more than once and fallen asleep..... Makes a nice mess!
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I did that more times than I can count in my old apartment... I would come home from work and see the water running from the foundation and down the driveway, from the night before!!! I can't imagine what the floor supports and the lower half of the studs in the kitchen and behind the cabinets around the sink look like lol. It was a floating floor, built on a slab foundation, so I can only imagine... Wasn't there long enough to see the possible mold results either. Just glad it was a rental and not my own place... and that I was out of there before any damage was noticed.
 
rookie07

rookie07

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Manhattan Reefs
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Midwest
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OP: your coral will be fine!!

Ive also left the water running in a rental (or two).

I now have a timer set so I know to check my water in approximate 4 hours, the time it takes to make the proper amount of ro water.
 
E

evoIX_Reefer

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The RO/DI thing can easily be fixed by using 5gallon jugs and set it in the sink/tub. I have not had a single issue since doing this instead of leaving it open in an area that could create this issue.

Also, add a ASOV to a container if possible. Works like a charm and SAVES MONEY!

My biggest mistake is always tinkering with my tank vs letting it grow out. Always moving corals around etc.
 
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Brando457

Brando457

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Location
North, NJ
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I once had a 55g tank on the floor as a temporary holding tank for my fish with a light on top of it. Well while feeding the fish I knocked the light in to the tank. I proceeded to reach in the tank to pull the light out and immediately got zapped. Thankfully the tank was plugged in to the gfci!

I felt like I was superman and had a bolt of energy going through my muscles, NOT A GOOD FEELING.
 
thirty6

thirty6

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Manhattan Reefs
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north NJ
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Brando457 said:
I once had a 55g tank on the floor as a temporary holding tank for my fish with a light on top of it. Well while feeding the fish I knocked the light in to the tank. I proceeded to reach in the tank to pull the light out and immediately got zapped. Thankfully the tank was plugged in to the gfci!

I felt like I was superman and had a bolt of energy going through my muscles, NOT A GOOD FEELING.
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yeah, good one Brando. I forget about the pair of ai sols that went swimming. def. the most costly mistake i have made!
 
Tonyscoots84

Tonyscoots84

REEF ON!
Manhattan Reefs
Location
Howell, NJ
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Good thread... I have many stupid mistakes in the past. Many include rodi overflowing from 5 gallon container :sigh:. My most recent one is when i cracked my 40 gallon sump with my hand. I was trying to remove something with force near the sump and my hand slipped and punched the side of my sump :arg:.
 
C

Cu455

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This might sound a little off because I copied it from another fourm and you aren't really getting the back information. I am sure you can figure it out.

My fish almost burned down my parents house. I came home and my pond which was almost finished and took me a few weeks was dismantled. Wood in front of my house with my skimmer, liner and pumps. So that kind of sucked. Good news is my girlfriends parents said I can setup my pond in their garage.

I uploaded some pictures of the after math onto photobucket, but my girlfriends friends dog took a piss on my cable modem. So i can't get the internet on my computer and photobucket pictures don't show up on my phone. So pictures will have to wait for tomorrow. I will upload some pictures of my current setups, previous setup since my current setup was suppose to be temporary and why you should take your time with plumbing and electrical work.
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Thanks for the link. I think when I do my next large system I am going to make sure to hard plumb everything and protect the electrical work. Someone I know always tells me to get water alert sensors and hook it up to an apex. This is how it happened. Hopefully someone can learn from my mistake of being lazy and rushing through the setup.

I have this hang on tank refugium/sump box. This is how it's suppose to be set up for the most part. I just reversed the bulk head and put the pump on the outside because the teeth weren't low enough to have the water overflow in.



I then had a great idea to plumb my UV in between the pump and fuge. It went pump-tube-UV-tube fuge. I assume one of my fish bumped the fuge which knocked the tube off the UV. Then the UV was shooting the water over the front of my tank onto the floor.



At about 7 in the morning I got a phone call from my dad screaming about how the house almost burned down. When I got to the house the place was filled with smoke and stunk. My 30 gallon sump was empty and about 4 inches of water in the tank. Right were the water landed was an extension cord with a dome light plugged in. I think the black stuff on the extension cord is melted plastic.




I am not sure what happened to the prongs in the plug.




This happened on Saturday. My parents took my niece to the zoo and I cleaned up. I left before they came home. On Sunday I stop by to check on everything. When I got home my whole pond setup was on the side of the road. With the exception of my skimmer and pump which was in front of the garage.





That's how my fish got evicted.
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I

isnyc300

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Location
Bayside
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Dropped a weeks worth of skimmer gunk into the sump and had to do emergency water change. Cut the pump and drained the sump. Happened twice -_-
 
duke62

duke62

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Manhattan Reefs
Location
Dingmans ferry PA
Rating - 100%
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Yeah I know mine over flowed probably for hours. I just had clear tank water in the cup. It was full to the tippy top that morning. My acro polyps were extended so far. Now every once in awhile I drop some skimmer juice into the tank with the skimmer off :)
 
J

Jlavine

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Location
NYC
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1) Didn't label my 1 gallon ALK supplement. My wife dumped it all in the tank to top off the water = tank dead.


2) I left the ALK doser pump on overnight = tank dead


I hate ALK
 
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