Stranger Danger! How do you feel about people in your house?

[Vivid Creative Aquatics]

it's pretty simple - if they want to see my aquarium and are willing to listen to me ramble on about it, I'll pretty much let anyone in the front door - LOL

 

[Fishy Art]

When traveling I will need someone to do my daily routine of emptying the protein skimmer, top off and feeding fish.
However with COVId I don't foresee that happening for quite a while if ever.

 

[GlassMunky]

I ain’t scared I stay ready so I don’t have to get ready.

I guess the big gun makes up for the small..... Tank.
Lol

 

[Travis Warren]

I let neighbors and friends of friends. That is it though. I got to much money, time, etc to trust anyone outside of friends to see it. I se frags but always meet at bank parking lot.

 

[Biokabe]

My wife is generally quite nervous, and of course with the pandemic that hasn't gotten any better. So no one comes in unless there isn't an alternative, and there's always an alternative to bringing someone into my home to look at my tank. Assuming there was some kind of commercial activity that could go on with it, which isn't a possibility right now. =p

 

[Ef4life]

I guess the big gun makes up for the small..... Tank.
Lol

That’s a small gun, but technically it’s a really large pistol though.

Here’s an old pic of one of my other tanks, the upper is my frag tank/sump

 

[thought]

Depends. As a woman, I don’t let men I don’t know into my home unless it’s a service provider or something and I am usually not alone with them. Just not worth the risk. If it’s a friend or I know them somehow and can confirm they are cool, then yeah they can check out the tank and talk shop. However my husband is always there as well unless it’s a trusted friend, then it’s alright. Unfortunately this is the world we live in.

 

[Nanorock1970]

That’s a small gun, but technically it’s a really large pistol though.

Here’s an old pic of one of my other tanks, the upper is my frag tank/sump

R U sure it's not a really really realy big gun in front of a really big tank?

 

[Urban]

I don't know how much flack I am going to catch for this one, but typically I am fairly confortable with it after, but only after I do some vetting. I have safety measures in place, but I would MUCH rather have a hobbyist come by and keep an eye on things. We have some extraordinarily nice people locally who come by care for our other critters, and although I do know they can follow any list I give them to to a "t" it is just not the same as leaving things in the hands of a hobbyist who knows what they are doing. There are many, many, many, good hobbyists out there, and I feel fortunate to have gotten to know a lot of them. The thing that sucks with this though, is that even though - unfortunately - there is a certain sub-sect of dirtbags that have no qualms about taking items that are non theirs, taking your money and run, or doing things that the inherently know is just flat our wrong.

There is a certain amount of hesitation at first; no dou't. I have met some of my very best friend though this specific forum though, and always meet them first at a store. Trust but verify. Usually, when my wife and I leave, we leave them a set of keys that only work to my garage. We also have a security systems that cannot be bypassed without the code and even then get a call and text with any changes. On top of this, I have very observant neighbors, and basically $20 Wyze systems in each room (one of which constantly points on the tanks and my inkbird so I can monitor the temperature). If you can get a sent thermostat you can control remote, the ink bird will sound base off of your tempeature variation and then once you check it can adjust it if the tank temp it too high. I don't randomly meet people for the first time and say "y'll came on", but I check with my regulars first, and if they're not available I start asking for recommendations. Although I may feel a bit bad about saying it (because I could be talking to a saint for all I know), I let them know how serious I am about it, as well as the fact that they are being watched. Another thing I let them know is this: There's beer in the fridge, any food you see and want it yours, and you happen to run a frag you want for doing me this solid, point it out.

Another thing that has been PRICELSS was is something that was pointed out to me by Ricardo who is another person I met online and have become fast friends with: The Poor Man's Apex! Just to quote it in the manner of Amazon, "The Kasa Smart Plug Power Strip, Surger Protector, w/ 6 smart outlets and 3 USB ports, Works with Alexa Echo & Google Home, No Hub Required (HS300)" and it cal all be found by clicking here.

"If , but, and what" have become my gift and curse. They have had helped avoid disaster for sure, but have cause a whole lot for worry.. Wyze shouldn't be over $30 tops. You get cell alerts when triggered on however many phones you add them to. Digital key pads are proabably an ideal if you can get them befroe leaving because you can constantly change the codes. . This may be a little stretch, but somewhere I along the lines I make sure whomever it may be that my house is covered like for knock; what they is almost about the comment is probably going to be right. I love the hobby, and I love the people, and if there's something wanted bat enough by someone that I have, I'd be more than happy share the wealth at any point long the way that I can; there is no need to take anything to ever arise. I hope this works out for you. I am very willing to pass along anything I have learned over time if you would like. Not sure where most of you folks are located, but there really are a lot of stand up people willing to help. Good luck!

- Dustin

 

[Brew12]

1. How comfortable are you with allowing a stranger in your home to look at your aquarium or to buy things?

Complete stranger? Not very comfortable. Someone from the local reef club? I miss having them over. I plan on hosting another meeting as soon as Covid conditions allow it to be done safely.

2. Have you ever made a life long friend meeting a stranger this way?

Haven't been meeting people long enough to make that claim, but have met some great people.

3. Do you have any horror stories?

Not yet, but Halloween is right around the corner!

 

[Urban]

One of other things that I forgot to mention with the Wyze systems... They photograph and save motions (made in both daylight and dark) in addition to sending an immediate phone notification to my phone and watch and my wife's also the second it happens. Example: If I have one upstairs pointed towards the top of my stairs where I have no tanks, and it starts alerting me, that motion is being detected there and it is something I don't know an an advance reason someone is up there I Immediately know. There isn't a way to cover everything, but there are pretty inexpensive ways to monitor the tank AND home to some degree. If someone near the SF Bay, or SJ Area needs some help, I can't do it, but can tell you some that have helped me. I have had dosing pumps and an ATO in my closet unopened for over a year, but just can't get past the horror story of malfunctioning.

 

[rogersb]

No horror stories. Been selling for years out of my house and most people in this hobby are great.

I've made a few friends I see regularly for regular stuff like date nights with our wives.

I'm not terribly concerned about covid so I have sold a few frags by having people over recently.

 

[jeffyhound]

i am laid off because of covid, and selling frags helps me make ends meet. i have people in with mask, but trust me, there is a pistol at arm's length at any given time.

 

[Reef man 89]

Strange danger!! I would not let anyone in or let anyone know were I live. Just because of my 3 year little girl. She is my world!! Now if it wasn’t for her I would be okay with people coming over. This world is full of sick people and you never truly know what there intentions are. They could truly people stand up people but you just never know. You never know when a Jeffrey Dahmer will come knocking.

 

[Emerson]

I've sold frags out of my tank on CL, and allow people to come to my house after talking with them. That said, I'm male, live in a gated and guarded neighborhood that checks license and insurance for any visitors on the way in. This small step means nobody is coming to my house anonymously and know they are listed just by coming by (in theory, anyway). I haven't sold anything since the pandemic began. Fortunately my LFS is doing great business and I'm able to take any frags there for store credit.

I've been friendly with people, but never made friends.

No bad stories.

 

[stevenfreeves]

The reefing hobby is one of those things that MOST of us like to share with others. The problem is that many of our "regular" friends don't understand the hobby and really can't appreciate it like another hobbyist can. Reefing also involves being able to grow corals and with that comes the opportunity to sell frags to people....strangers. Many of these strangers will become local hobby friends but at first they are still strangers coming to your home to see your tank or buy something! Let's talk about that today!

1. How comfortable are you with allowing a stranger in your home to look at your aquarium or to buy things?

2. Have you ever made a life long friend meeting a stranger this way?

3. Do you have any horror stories?


image via @hbrochs

it Depends. before Covid no problem, now we must be more careful. I have definitely made good friends this way. there are no bad reefing people.
Cheers,
-Steven

 

[stevenfreeves]

I sell some coral locally, but will NOT let anyone in my house or give my address, always a meet up somewhere, like a local LFS or a parking lot with high amount of foot traffic.

I literally do not trust anyone I meet from FB or other social media. Always carrying, and meet at locations I choose. I got a bad seller review because I wouldn't walk over to a guys car to "see what he has to trade". Haven't wanted to sell coral to individuals since, stick mainly to selling to local LFS

Paranoia will destroy ya! it is a crazy world we live in today but at some point we have to trust or our society will die. the amount of people I meet that are bad are 1-25 at least. but I respect your choice. good luck.

 

[mattdg]

If selling to someone I haven't met, I try to get a sense of their level of dedication / expertise / interest / personality, by asking questions before hand. It's pretty easy to suss out a wierdo / scammer vs a legit reef keeper. It helps to probe a little, before letting a stranger into your home. Also, I let them into a section of my home that is separate from the living area (which unfortunately has no bathroom yet), before offering to let them up to see the show tank. It is usually the case that I end up hitting it off and having a great conversation.. With all this said, I have not let anyone into our home since all of the restrictions since early March, including plans for a potential club meeting, which involves another built in challenge when including new members you have yet to meet. I am fortunate that most of my run ins with reef keeping strangers translates to having more reef keeping friends.

 

[syrinx]

With covid, few to no visitors. Otherwise anyone is welcome. I fear people who havent been in the house breaking in-because people who have been in, and met me know better than to try anything. And of course I walk through parks late at night-because I am the guy your mother warned you about.

 

[Dr. Dendrostein]

The reefing hobby is one of those things that MOST of us like to share with others. The problem is that many of our "regular" friends don't understand the hobby and really can't appreciate it like another hobbyist can. Reefing also involves being able to grow corals and with that comes the opportunity to sell frags to people....strangers. Many of these strangers will become local hobby friends but at first they are still strangers coming to your home to see your tank or buy something! Let's talk about that today!

1. How comfortable are you with allowing a stranger in your home to look at your aquarium or to buy things?

2. Have you ever made a life long friend meeting a stranger this way?

3. Do you have any horror stories?


image via @hbrochs

Not anymore, with the situation today , we know about 10 people who passed away supposedly from the virus 3 people we knew personally and the rest from Friends their family or friends.

Of the three we knew, they were young 48 years or less and the rest were 60 year old and above