Thinking of quiting the hobby

[Stanzzzz7]

Last month my filter hose became detached from my external filter and flooded the ground floor of my house.
I was at work when it happened and my wife was out with my 1 year old daughter.
Luckily she came home before the tank had totally emptied. She phoned me at work in a panic and said the ground floor is under water.I told her to turn off the electricity supply from the fuse board out side.Once I knew she was safe from electric shock I talked her through how to stop the water coming out. Not an easy task over the phone.
I rushed home,I was half an hours drive away from my house.
When I arrived the tank was 3/4 empty and luckily all my fish were still alive.
All the flooring on the ground floor was ruined and the house needed drying out with commercial blowers and dehumidifiers.
I am now in the process of replacing all the floors and skirting boards in my house.Some of the walls will also need to be re plasterd.
I estimate around 160 gallons came out of the tank.This looks a lot more water on your floor than it does in the aquarium.
The work on the house is not the end of the world, I am a carpenter so can sort that out quite easily.
My concerns now are safety. I may be being a little paranoid but I keep thinking what if the tank ever burst or there was ever an electrical fault and my daughter got hurt.
Probably very unlikely but these things do happen.
On a plus side my ray, Severums and spotted dollars are all OK. I did lose three of my seven pink tailed chalceus.

Not sure what to do from now.
Fishkeeping has been a big part of my life for a long time.I am still pondering on this.
I do consider keeping dart frogs in there instead.They interest me and their set ups can look stunning without needing large volumes of water.
On the other hand I love my fish and have become very attached to my ray.
Any way,check your filter connections regularly and if I go quiet,that means I've thrown in the fishkeeping towel.

 

[johnny potatoes]

I tried to get out once, had another hobby in mind. After 3 months I was looking for another tank. It's harder than you think to stay out, I'm moving and haven't had fish in months and it'll be a long while before i can set up a tank again. But I'm still here several times a day.

 

[tlindsey]

Last month my filter hose became detached from my external filter and flooded the ground floor of my house.
I was at work when it happened and my wife was out with my 1 year old daughter.
Luckily she came home before the tank had totally emptied. She phoned me at work in a panic and said the ground floor is under water.I told her to turn off the electricity supply from the fuse board out side.Once I knew she was safe from electric shock I talked her through how to stop the water coming out. Not an easy task over the phone.
I rushed home,I was half an hours drive away from my house.
When I arrived the tank was 3/4 empty and luckily all my fish were still alive.
All the flooring on the ground floor was ruined and the house needed drying out with commercial blowers and dehumidifiers.
I am now in the process of replacing all the floors and skirting boards in my house.Some of the walls will also need to be re plasterd.
I estimate around 160 gallons came out of the tank.This looks a lot more water on your floor than it does in the aquarium.
The work on the house is not the end of the world, I am a carpenter so can sort that out quite easily.
My concerns now are safety. I may be being a little paranoid but I keep thinking what if the tank ever burst or there was ever an electrical fault and my daughter got hurt.
Probably very unlikely but these things do happen.
On a plus side my ray, Severums and spotted dollars are all OK. I did lose three of my seven pink tailed chalceus.

Not sure what to do from now.
Fishkeeping has been a big part of my life for a long time.I am still pondering on this.
I do consider keeping dart frogs in there instead.They interest me and their set ups can look stunning without needing large volumes of water.
On the other hand I love my fish and have become very attached to my ray.
Any way,check your filter connections regularly and if I go quiet,that means I've thrown in the fishkeeping towel.

I hope everything goes well sorry to hear about the unfortunate event. Please don't give up imo you are one of the valuable members on MFK.

 

[eddiegunks]

Why not use GFI outlets/breakers?

I am converting amm my "fish power" to gfi. I hear horror stories about electrical current in the tank from defective heaters, pumps, and wave makers...i believe thsi solves this issue.

It obviously solves the problem of a hair dryer in the tank or wayer on the floor and you standing in it.

I use a combo of outlets and breakers. I hear that outlets can go bad, but breakers very very seldom go bad. On my indoor ray pond i put one pump on the outlet the other onthe breaker. This way if the outlet goes bad i have the other pump running.

Breakera are more money, but it the big picture $50-$60 is not all that bad......outlets are like $18..... you can get an outlet with an audible alarm for when it gors bad/ trips.

Eh! But you know this being a builder....

 

[kno4te]

Hope this episode just simmers down and continue in the hobby.

 

[kewpiefishypewpie]

Last month my filter hose became detached from my external filter and flooded the ground floor of my house.
I was at work when it happened and my wife was out with my 1 year old daughter.
Luckily she came home before the tank had totally emptied. She phoned me at work in a panic and said the ground floor is under water.I told her to turn off the electricity supply from the fuse board out side.Once I knew she was safe from electric shock I talked her through how to stop the water coming out. Not an easy task over the phone.
I rushed home,I was half an hours drive away from my house.
When I arrived the tank was 3/4 empty and luckily all my fish were still alive.
All the flooring on the ground floor was ruined and the house needed drying out with commercial blowers and dehumidifiers.
I am now in the process of replacing all the floors and skirting boards in my house.Some of the walls will also need to be re plasterd.
I estimate around 160 gallons came out of the tank.This looks a lot more water on your floor than it does in the aquarium.
The work on the house is not the end of the world, I am a carpenter so can sort that out quite easily.
My concerns now are safety. I may be being a little paranoid but I keep thinking what if the tank ever burst or there was ever an electrical fault and my daughter got hurt.
Probably very unlikely but these things do happen.
On a plus side my ray, Severums and spotted dollars are all OK. I did lose three of my seven pink tailed chalceus.

Not sure what to do from now.
Fishkeeping has been a big part of my life for a long time.I am still pondering on this.
I do consider keeping dart frogs in there instead.They interest me and their set ups can look stunning without needing large volumes of water.
On the other hand I love my fish and have become very attached to my ray.
Any way,check your filter connections regularly and if I go quiet,that means I've thrown in the fishkeeping towel.

Sorry to hear about this man, that really sucks. At least you're able to repair your house yourself. I've learned a lot from you and would hate to see you vanish from this site. At this point I think you can either quit or learn from your mistakes and continue. You're a smart guy, learn from this bad experience and optimize your set up so that it doesn't happen again.

 

[dan518]

Sorry to hear about it mate,,, I have my tank named on the house insurance, a £250 excess, the tank and any damage is replaced new for old.
As what you think the risk of a large tank is to your family is upto you to decide, personally I don't think there's any more risk then a cooker or washing machine.

 

[kewpiefishypewpie]

Sorry to hear about it mate,,, I have my tank named on the house insurance, a £250 excess, the tank and any damage is replaced new for old.
As what you think the risk of a large tank is to your family is upto you to decide, personally I don't think there's any more risk then a cooker or washing machine.

Putting your tank on your house insurance is a great idea.

 

[AquaAlex1993]

Man, I am so sorry to hear and read this!
I understand how you feel, I've had some scary moments and tragic moments in the aquarium hobby and at times considered leaving, but the fish keeping hobby is something I really love and enjoy so I would not be me nor complete with out it, it's been here literally my whole life.
Like others have said, place the tank on your house insurance if you fear a accident might happen.
If it were me I would stay in the hobby and continue to enjoy my ray, spotted dollars, and other fish you have.

 

[skjl47]

Why not use GFI outlets/breakers?

Hello; I installed GFI outlets for my tanks a while back. Used them for a year or so. The issue turned out to be the GFI, at least the ones I used, would kick out fairly often. I eventually put the standard outlets back as I did not want the heaters, filters and air pumps going off. Also one was a pain to get at in order to push the reset button.

I installed GFI outlets in both bathrooms and the kitchen as well. They kick out much less often. Not sure if this is a common event with these outlets.