Never talk on the phone while doing water change

[Twins Dragonz]

especially talking w/ the wife while changing water is the worse I ever have done. Here is the story.
I was doing water change in one of my mixed tank. Drained the old water for about 30%, then my fricking wife called. While I was talking to her and turned the valve for new water to come in. Guess what? I turned the ****** RO/DI valve. About 10 gallons fresh water in I realized and like "***'ng me". My wife: who did?
Me: myself. Bye...
Then I rushed to mix more salt to bring it up to normal. I took to bottom and top water to test since fresh water tend to be heavier. I hope I don't kill all my corals and fish in the morning. I will keep my eyes out and do water tests through out the night to make some more adjusts if I have to.
Rant over... reef on.

 

[sa6hir]

My last 2 phones ended up in the tank, 1 in the sump & a few weeks later the second in the display tank, so now I leave my phone on the other end of the room...

 

[Frop]

especially talking w/ the wife while changing water is the worse I ever have done. Here is the story.
I was doing water change in one of my mixed tank. Drained the old water for about 30%, then my fricking wife called. While I was talking to her and turned the valve for new water to come in. Guess what? I turned the ****** RO/DI valve. About 10 gallons fresh water in I realized and like "***'ng me". My wife: who did?
Me: myself. Bye...
Then I rushed to mix more salt to bring it up to normal. I took to bottom and top water to test since fresh water tend to be heavier. I hope I don't kill all my corals and fish in the morning. I will keep my eyes out and do water tests through out the night to make some more adjusts if I have to.
Rant over... reef on.

Ouch

 

[wkscott]

especially talking w/ the wife while changing water is the worse I ever have done. Here is the story.
I was doing water change in one of my mixed tank. Drained the old water for about 30%, then my fricking wife called. While I was talking to her and turned the valve for new water to come in. Guess what? I turned the ****** RO/DI valve. About 10 gallons fresh water in I realized and like "***'ng me". My wife: who did?
Me: myself. Bye...
Then I rushed to mix more salt to bring it up to normal. I took to bottom and top water to test since fresh water tend to be heavier. I hope I don't kill all my corals and fish in the morning. I will keep my eyes out and do water tests through out the night to make some more adjusts if I have to.
Rant over... reef on.

You must not have been married very long. 20 years ago I learned to ignore my wife and focus on the important things in life. This skill comes with age.

 

[Leslie Tabor]

You must not have been married very long. 20 years ago I learned to ignore my wife and focus on the important things in life. This skill comes with age.

Best response ever! And I AM the wife...I do this to my hubby! Hahaha

 

[Robink]

Why does everyone call when they know you're doing a water change...??

 

[Flippers4pups]

I guess I was gifted with the ability to multitask.

I think I could ride a unicycle in a thunderstorm, with my hair on fire, juggling three porcupines while singing the national anthem . Lol

Seriously, if someone calls while doing something important, like the tank, I put them on speaker phone and keep going.

 

[Don Lidtke]

Someone calls and I am doing something important, I ignore the phone. I would like to think that I have control over that device and not the other way around.

 

[brandon429]

Good thread about distractions

Talking on phone answered just at the end of a full drain in prep for large water change (nano reef) allowed me to find out my reef can stay drained for thirty minutes and lose no corals or inverts when I forgot to refill accidentally


from horror to -->amazement when corals I thought for sure were air jerky opened back up, all of them.


that instance became half of the reason my tank gained the ability to never be invaded by algae ever again, due to access and skip cycling revealed.

I really disliked the phone call yet it uncovered the second most profound lesson given to me in reef tank keeping as I see it. Irony