Safety During Tank Maintenance

[Athena]

Reading through another forum post today, I was a bit concerned when I read that a member was leaving all the electrics on whilst doing tank maintenance (and I mentioned my concerns in that thread) and it occurred to me that for people just starting out in fishkeeping (and maybe even some of those who've been doing this for years) they might not be aware of the dangers involved in this hobby (or are aware but take the risk because they cannot be bothered to flick a switch or two).

Please remember that before you do any kind of tank maintenance - even if it is to add that lovely new plant or decoration to your tank - you must TURN OFF ALL POWER from the sockets. This advice is always given in small print on the boxes of filters/heaters and other equipment - but not everyone bothers to read all that information, let alone take notice of it.

You could experience a very nasty electrical shock - or even death - by not heeding this advice.

Even if your tank equipment is in tip-top condition, there are still lots of electrical cables and plugs/sockets usually located near to your tank - all it needs is for some water to accidentally splash out onto these live currents and it could cause a very nasty fire/electrocution etc.

Please don't put yourself at any risk. Keeping fish is a wonderful, rewarding hobby, giving hours of joy - but if these safety measures are ignored, this hobby can become lethal.

So, remember - Power Off every time.

Thanks for reading - stay safe - Athena

 

[england]

i never turn mine off, to lazy, iam a bad boy

 

[minxfishy]

I must admit the only time I turn anything off is the heater during a water change. My electrical sockets are inside the cabinet beneath the tank where no water (fingers X) will go. Having said that, you watch me get a shock the next time I stick my hands for something.

 

[Ace Of Spades]

Meh, Ill take the chance, Plugs are around the back, I do matinence from the front.

Maybe ill die, but the upside would be is you all get free food at my funeral

 

[england]

Meh, Ill take the chance, Plugs are around the back, I do matinence from the front.

Maybe ill die, but the upside would be is you all get free food at my funeral

hope your not serving fish as dont like the taste,
free drinks aswell i hope

 

[Ace Of Spades]

Meh, Ill take the chance, Plugs are around the back, I do matinence from the front.

Maybe ill die, but the upside would be is you all get free food at my funeral

hope your not serving fish as dont like the taste,
free drinks aswell i hope

Your pushing it now!, but hey ill be dead wont be me picking up the bill

 

[adamgreen240]

i never turn them off, because i would probably forget to turn them back on, which would be lethal to the fish.

 

[andywg]

Only thing I kill is the sump return pumps when draining and filling tanks. The risks of electrocution in any set up that has the plugs away from the water is close to zero.

 

[FeroX]

Yeah, the risk is close to 0 like andy said, or products wouldn't sell.

 

[doresy]

Safety it seems is still a joke to many

Personally, my set-up requires power-off at water changes due to the water level drops partially below the power head and heater.

My heater is an 'unbreakable' aluminium design but I think that it must be common sense to power off if you use a glass tube heater, surely?

My wall plug is behind the cabinet so I use a short, 4 gang extention lead with a switch. One click isolates it all, then one click to switch it all back on. The timer for the lights just needs advancing and job done safely

Fitting a 'Trip Switch' unit is always a good idea when mixing water with the sparky stuff

It's ridiculous to say this is too much effort. Ok, it's forgiveable to suggest that you may forget to turn it all back on but come on, it's not 'rocket science'

Just place a large piece of paper on the floor outside your fish room saying something like 'Don't forget the switch!'

I just go through life trying not to have the reason to say "If only I had......." and being alive to say "I'm glad I ......."

Ok so I'm a BOF

 

[rabbut]

I've not realy got a choise about the tanks at work, they stay on at all times, only powering off during a power cut/short. I have had shocks off these before, but the circuits are all on RCD's (I think thats the name...) and thus trip out before you can get a leathal shock. It hurts IME, but with an RCD, it isn't leathal... My home tanks stay on at all times also, and they don't run no RCD's, only fuses in the appliance plugs and obviously back at the fuse-board. I've also had shocks of these (narrowed down to a Fluval filter bought 2'nd hand of an un-named member on here) and they also hurt, but as far as I can tell, they also wen't lethal....

Note, I don't recomend getting electrocuted deliberately it has been shown to be hazordous for health....

I have been told that normal mains is "safe" to be electrocuted by, but I don't realy know how much weight to give that, considering the statistics on people killed by electrocution from the mains.....

All the best
Rabbut

 

[Miss Wiggle]

I have been told that normal mains is "safe" to be electrocuted by, but I don't realy know how much weight to give that, considering the statistics on people killed by electrocution from the mains.....

comparativley safe! Ian's had a fair few shocks from the mains..... and you can see for yourself it's not affected him

seriously though, electrocution = dead. anything other than that is getting a shock, not being electrocutred!

we do a few basic things, the plugs are all raised up off the floor so if the tank did flood for whatever reason while i'm sure the plugs would get splashed they wouldn't get drenched through which would hopefully help at least a little. our heaters are external so they don't need to be switched off during maintenance. i turn filters off if i'm draining the water level low enough to stop them from working.

 

[ikongoni]

I have a Juwel aquarium, with an internal filter/heater box.
So I have to turn power off for tank maintenance, the powerhead screams if let on without water running through it.

 

[maximinimus]

The only time anything gets turned off in my tank is when I need to clean the filters. Modern electronic equipment will cut off before a dangerous level of current is delivered.

Mythbusters proved this by dropping electrical equipment into a bath, they found they needed really old electrical equipment running from a really old / unfused power supply to deliver a lethal dose of current as all modern equipment was isolated from the power supply within a split second of a short caused by the water.

With that being said I also run my equipment from a 4-way surge protector from a RCD breaker just in case

 

[Esfa]

I only turn my lights off when i do a water change, cause i take the whole hood off.

also, all my plugs are in the cabinet, so no danger of getting wet.