The dumbest thing I've ever done is . . .

[NeedBiggerTank]

I can also recall the phase I went through as a newby thinking Aiptasia were "pretty". LOL Of course, at the time I didn't know they were aptasia...

 

[TinaFoster]

Well--they can be!!!

 

[MVlk]

List is too long to pick a winner...
- Left fresh water reservoir pump running too long when filling jugs.
- Left Dosing pumps on when testing them manually. Cloudy tank but no loss.
- Left return drain valve close when setting up new tank and flood a good bit of water.
- Left some random piece of equipment on at some time and end up having something bad happen... seems to be a pattern which I why I try to put everything on a controller.

 

[NeedBiggerTank]

I remember thinking - I wonder if clownfish will host in them (aiptasia that is)? ROTFL Boy have I come a long way... and yet, so much to still learn!

I'm too lazy to mount my power strip to the wall, so I have it sitting on a little table next to the tank. I made the mistake once of laying a wet net on top of the tank, with the net hanging over the edge - you guessed it... perfectly lined up to drip on to the power strip (although I didn't realize it at the time). A few minutes later I told my husband I smelled something funny... out tank is is our kitchen, so I'm going around sniffing trying to figure out where the strange smell is coming from. It wasn't until I saw smoke that I knew something was horribly wrong! I yelled for Jim and showed him the power strip which was now melting, smoldering and hissing and told him to unplug it (actually I think I shouted it histerically) - to which he replied that he wasn't touching it. So we've both sitting there yelling at each other to pull the plug out of the wall. LOL Thankfully, I came to my senses and went and threw the breaker for the kitchen and then unplugged the power strip, Two of the outlets were black and melted. Jim then made an emergency trip to Walmart (one of MANY such trips) to get a new power strip - a GOOD one that would actually trip if that happened again. :neutral:

 

[Dowtish]

Yep, I can relate. Electrical fires seem to not happen as much as you would think in this hobby. Or at least nobody is mentioning it:wink:

 

[slice]

I'm afraid my absolute dumbest mistake has not yet occured...I'll keep you posted....

 

[NeedBiggerTank]

It makes me laugh when I think about Mel scrubbing the "fuzz" off his devils Hand with a toothbrush (sorry Mel)! These stories are great and have been a great pick-me-up this week for me. It has been a lllooooonnnngggg, exhausting, stressful week.

Certainly there are other club members that can add their mishaps/mistakes/whoops?

LOL Slice - me too!

 

[Bishop]

I remember my big mistake. I have an HOB refugium. The algae was getting crazy in it and I wanted it cleared so I called upon the aid of a mexican turbo snail. One evening I got home from doing the normal running around crap. As soon As I opened my front door I dropped everything in my handsat the sound of water overflowing into the floor. This also meant it was pouring onto all my electrical which was mostly stuffed behind the stand. I was really lucky on this one because out of my 36 gallon tank, about 8-10 gallons could have been pumped out before the water level fell below the the pump. At 250 GPH this would not take long. I was gone for about 14 hours that day between running around and work. I actually only dumped about a gallon though. Since then I have added a couple smaller return pipes so if the main one gets clogged there are two more to let water drain into the tank from the Refugium instead of it going over the top and into the floor.