Child Proof Your Tanks (if you have kids)

blazk

blazk

Reefing newb
Yesterday night herd a bit of noise sounded like a banging cupboard door. I didn't really pay any attention. My 13 months old daughter goes around banging on things all the time and the fact that i was hard at work. After a while i got up and walked to the kitchen for a drink and bite to eat. I felt something cold and slimy under my foot so i looked down and much to my surprise there was a green slim looking trail leading off toward the lounge. I followed it in a hurry and on the way to the lounge i saw the walls with little hand marks, skids etc and noticed my aquarium cupboard open. Continued the trail and found my daughter with my skimmer lid and COVERED from top to toe, in skim (brown slime). I shouted to my mrs to give her a drink of water and to put her in the bath to get her clean. Mean while i made a call to the poisons hotline. After a few minutes on the phone with them explaining what a skimmer was, they didnt seem to concerned and advised to watch for any change eg. Vomiting, nausea etc. This all happened about 5 at night so i rushed down to the local hardware shop and picked up "child safety" gear for the cupboards. Got home installed them, sweat dripping as it was HOT as hell.
Daughter is fine after the ordeal didnt bother her at all. Shes the same happy little girl. Her dad ^^ on the other hand was feeling quite tired and a bit shaken up, had a bit of a sore ear from the mrs blasting me.

Lesson Learned.
 
That is disgusting!! But there are a lot worse things that she could have gotten herself into (chemical wise) in the average hobbyist's cupboard than concentrated fish poop. Glad she's okay!
 
My 2 year old learned a long time ago not to jack with anything unless I said it was ok. He is very good about it and usually says please :) it only took 1 or 2 times of hitting the aquarium glass and the punishment that followed that taught him not to jack with it. He helps me hand feed my tang all the time. He loves it.

Luckily the skimmer is out of reach. He gets enough poop on himself as it is :mrgreen:
 
Oh wow! Yeah, when my husband built the fish cabinet, I made sure to have him put handles so I can lock it up. And luckily, since my tank is so tall, even with a foot stool my 2 1/2 yo can't reach the top.

But you know, kids are quick!! There's no such thing as a 100% childproof house, unless you live in a padded room with no windows or furniture :) I've long since given up feeling guilty if a kid gets his fingers caught somewhere. It happens, live and learn (well, they don't always learn lol)
 
Yeah you learn that "childproof" only lasts so long. They will figure any of that stuff out way quick. Much more quick than you would ever want them to.
 
Yes! But wait until they get older! Then you have a whole new problem they are smart enough not to eat the chemicals, but we had a small freshwater tank go down and killed everything. Come to find out Nate (5) had been using it as a carwash for his Matchbox cars! It wasn't until everything was dead that we found out what was going on.
 
I just threw-up a little in my mouth.
BLECH.

smiley.php
 
A guy in my local club wanted to know if you could get scratches out of the front glass. His son and the neighbor boy thought it would be fun to race their cars on the front of his tank. He said you could barely see in.
 
if it is glass than no. he could always drain it cut the pane out ans have a glass shop cut him a new peice to change out
 
I keep a belt on the wall next to my tank.That tends to keep the kids from messing with it.Except for my 4 yo daughters nose prints on the glass.But I can wipe those off fairly easy.
 
It illegal to punish your kids here in Australia in a physical form. When i was growing up i got the wooden spoon across the rear, straightened me right up. But now day there is steps of punishment eg. DEFCON 1: Naughty Chair, DEFCON 2: In her room, DEFCON 3: In her room with the door shut. Worked so far.
 
I got my ass wailed on a regular basis when I was a kid, my daughter has had only one light spanking for something terrible(at the time)
 

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