ADMIT IT: What is the most insane, craziest thing you have ever done in the hobby?

[Lostreefin]

About 15 years ago I adjusted a retro fit 65w compact fluorescent plug boot while the lights were ON. Woke up on the floor with EMS asking if I was ok, and I was.

 

[DeniseAndy]

Too many floods to count. Two toxin poisons by palys. Turned on wrong pumps or not tightened pumps to water to face and floor, yep, many times. Watched my clownfish female jump into the back cushions of my couch going for a bite while feeding. She was fine, btw.

Sucked up fish in water change and did not realize it. Poor things. Also cut a fish in half trying to get a rock out using bone cutters, not knowing fish was in the rock.

Played hide and seek with a fish for months trying to get out of my system. Eventually had to just wait till I changed systems. This was a large fish too. Just outsmarted me every time.

Dumbest thing was fall while doing a water change from a step ladder 8 inches off floor and damage my ankle so badly it required two years of therapy and surgery and still after 4 years is hard to walk more than a mile. Worst self harm, tank was fine.

 

[Karl M]

I had some corals up for sale on a famous website. Early one morning I got a text for a picture of the colony. I was home alone so I hopped out of bed, grabbed my I-phone to get the picture of the tank. I stood in front of the tank and was working the focus to get the best shot ( it's a big colony) and didn't notice that my image was caught in the reflection in the picture before I sent it.

It was a fantastic photo but I never heard back from the buyer?

Edit: Pajamas? Sure. Like something out of "The Emperor's New Clothes" closet.

You know what you have to do now, new username The **** Reefer.
Lol ..when did you realize your candid selfie?

Edit
Apparently the word for , the state of disrobed is not allowed so ...Disrobed Reefer

 

[DaSurfa]

I was friends with a marine wholesaler back in Hawaii and would get some great deals back in the early 90s. So naturally I would have impulse buys. One day I saw all these new tangs come in with long noses and my friend gave me deal if I bought 6. They were only $35 each and end up with 6 long nose black tangs in my 90gl!

 

[SecondCityCorals]

A lot of us do this and I think its just the weirdest thing.

"Hey give your fish and corals vodka guys it'll totally work!"

And it does.

 

[Nelve]

The amount of money I’ve spent on the hobby that I could of used on plenty of other things.

 

[Larryr]

How not to do tank maintenance on a 220 mixed reef.
Step 1. Wait until your wife is gone for the day.
Step 2. Decided to clean a clogged, 7 year old, DIY spray bar at the bottom and back of a 6' tank that's covered in 120lbs of live rock.
Step 3. Snake a piece of silicon air tubing down the 1" pvc pipe.
Step 4. Inject a large syringe of straight muratic acid slowly into the pipe. Wait for foam coming out of pipe to stop. Then repeat. Refill syringe and repeat 5 times.
Step 5. Monitor PH and add baking soda to keep PH up. Repeat as necessary.
Step 5. Wonder why tank looks like skimmed milk. Occasionally see a fish swim by if it's within an inch of the glass.
Step 6. Finally figure out the water hasn't turned white, it's deposits on the glass (and everything other none living surface in the tank).
Step 7. Scrape the entire 6' tank with a razor blade by hand to remove deposits. Repeat 2 more times.
Step 8. Dream up some explanation of why it looks like it snowed in the tank to tell my wife. Then act surprised when she says what the #@$%#@$ happened!
Step 9. Count your luck stars no corals of fish perished, no chemical burns on my hands and still married.
Step 10. Don't try this at home and learn something about saltwater chemistry.

 

[Devaji]

I have another one:

I have a nice 240 gal. with stand and 2 month old MH lights ( this was years ago when they where the way to go. I ended up moved to the nect state and could not take the tank with me. a guy agreed to buy it kept giving me the run around. a day before I had to be out of the house I was already working in the other state GF was there taking care of the last few things.

long story short I gave away a nice 240 gallon tank with almost new MH lighting. lost a few grand on that...
10 years later still waiting on the reefing karma on that one...haha

 

[LC8Sumi]

Cleaning an empty old tank in my livingroom. I’ve dumped some 20% vinegar into it & brushed it. Then I’ve thought it would be a great idea to give it a final polish with some bleach. The second they’ve came into contact I knew I’ve ruined my day.
And I was very good at chemistry at the uni.. brainfart.

 

[themcnertney]

When I was renting my apt, I was on the second floor. Before I set up my RO/DI with float valves, I forgot to turn it off and left for the weekend. Flooded the whole kitchen. Water went through the second floor, through the first floor and down into the basement. Luckily there were no tenets downstairs. I had the key to the house and was able to get the water cleaned. Landlord had no idea.

 

[Sleepydoc]

Most insane thing? Getting into the hobby in the first place!

Hard to say after that - I had to do a lot of convincing of my wife when I got an Apex

 

[Rukk]

According to my wife (who actually loves the tank) it's crazy to spend all that money on it. But I've explained to her that I spend a lot of money on other things and at times in the past.

She remains unimpressed with my rationalization.

Fortunately she really does love this tank, just like the one we had up for 12 years starting about thirty years ago.

 

[Pau Hana Reefer]

I feel so much less lonely after going through this thread. I'm going to join the "overflowing/flooding RODI water" party.

We did a full rebuild of our basement over the last two years... complete gut, french drain, water proofed walls, and refinish. Wife wanted carpeting, and I hesitantly agreed knowing my tank would be down there... happy spouse, happy house, right?

I moved my RODI system into the basement and never installed the float valve... "oh, I totally got this, I can remember to shut it off."

Guess how many times I've "flooded" my basement after leaving the RODI system on overnight? Not once... not twice... not three times... yeup... 4 times over the past year. It always involved having to go down into the basement for something, then walking right into sloshing carpet.

Our wet vacuum cleaner was a lifesaver every time. It sucks up water really nicely! That along with lots of fans helped prevent mold and mildew from growing. But I dealt with chrysophytes after every incident.

My RODI system water bucket now sits in our bar sink. Or I could just make my life easier and install the float valve. And if anyone needs tips on how to clean up your wet carpet in order to avoid having to replace your carpet, just ask... I'm now an expert!

 

[LC8Sumi]

I wonder why aren’t you girls/guys installing an overflow on the rodi containers, fitting a small pushfit bulkhead & drain it back to a suitable place (if possible)

 

[Peach02]

Context: I'm a casual at my LFS and still somewhat new
I was cleaning a tank on the top row and had to lean to reach the edge because I couldn't get the ladder closer. The ladder was wet and so where my shoes.
I slipped, my hip clipped the middle tank and a soccer ball sized crack opens up and I get 300L of saltwater rushing Onto me while I made direct eye contact with my boss...
Somehow I wasn't fired

And me being clumsy as heck I broke another tank a few months later.
I was taking the glass lid of a tank and my hands where wet, I tried to take the lid off slowly and carefully yet somehow it slipped and put a 2mm3 hope in the glass,
So my first instinct is stop the water coming out so I stop it with my hand, then a customer comes over and says that tank looks really nice and asks a few questions, by now my co-workers realised what's happened and I'm still talking to this customer, they soon leave and then we cleaned up.
I'm surprised I haven't been fired for how clumsy I am.

 

[PghReef]

Rented a house and set up a small tank without a sump. Its 3am wife wakes me up and says what's that smell? It smells like chlorine/ public pool!
Nothing hun go back to sleep.
She forces me out of bed, I cant find the source of the smell so we go back to bed. I get a text message next day from the wife while at work, I'm outside with the cats and the fire department checking the house, it smells worse.
I come home, fire department couldn't find anything either. I remember electrical can sometimes smell similar to what we smelled. Search the house for weeks smelling outlets and cords, cant find anything. Smell dissipates over time but still there.
Few months later we bought a house and go to move. I go to break the tank down and get a whiff of the smell when I start pull the tank away from the wall. Find a power strip with a hole melted/ blown out the back of the surge protector. Wall is black and charred. Sniffed it once and knew that's the source of the smell.

Well hun what had happened is the alk and ca dosers were on timers for 2am. The tubing from the dosers came up behind the tank and was inserted into drilled holes I made in the plastic strip on the back of the glass top. I cleaned the top and FORGOT TO PLUG THE TUBING BACK IN THE HOLE! So at 2am the timer kicked on causing alk to drip behind the tank into the surge protector. This caused a small explosion of the surge protector melting it and charring the wall. I had nothing else plugged into the surge except the dosers so no other equipment failures.

Almost burned the house down and told my wife to go back to bed with this hobby and she still let's me spend crazy money on it. I painted the spot on the wall and molding and got my full deposit back as the landlord never knew what had happened. I now plug NOTHING in behind tank and have all plugs in the stand under the tank with proper drip loops.

 

[drblakjak55]

My 90g is in the basement but....I believe I’ve discovered nine different ways to spill a minimum of ten gallons onto the floor over these three years. Took three spills from HOB skimmers to buy a sump. My water change routine involves two 32g Brutes, 25 feet one inch tubing and a Mag 5 return pumps into toilet half flight up. One Brute catches waste water for RODI. So eight other messes. Waste barrel overflow. RODI barrel overflow. Reverse siphon when hose lying on floor but pump still in third full brute. Forgetting to put hose into loo before turning pump on. Sump return pump fail. Auto top of fail. Walking away from the eight gallon ATO jug you’re filling with RO hand siphon thing locked open. Knocked over more than one eight gallon containers.
So.....whenever you’re filling something set a timer. Watch where you’re going. Mind your hose. Basement best. It’s inevitable

 

[Victoria M]

Using a Dremel tool to Cut down the weirs in my sump while it was still pretty full of water. I kept thinking “I am gonna electrocute myself” but kept working.
another one ...Put my arm in a tub of SW 3 times to be sure the hot feeling I felt was actually electricity. Dumb!

 

[destro]

This thread brings back plenty of fun memories but I would have to say one sticks out more than others.

Who doesn't like a good deal from online classified ads right? =)

6 foot tank; 110 gallon and steel stand 6 ft x 18 inch x 19 inch.
One man and one SUV to make this happen.

Deal is done and seller must have it out the afternoon of sale. Of course no one I knew was around to help.
Get to the location which is across the city and its in an apartment on the 2nd floor. No dolly and no other person around to help carry. What did I do you ask? Hang the tank off the balcony of the 2nd floor and took a chance that it would not shatter. Yes it worked!

Put all the seats forward in the suv and drove it home with steering wheel at my chest. 40 mins all the way home then drove back to get the stand.

That was one crazy afternoon. Was it all worth it for the hobby? Hell yes!

 

[Mitch Summerford]

Trying to mount a hydra 26hd in my sump as a fuge light. preceded to drop it in the water and fry it. SMH.