What is the dumbest thing you have done????

[Browner20]

Mine was definitely an auto feeder/vacation situation. I set and tested the setup for a full 2 weeks in advance - solid. Added a little extra water to the dump and had ATO reservoir completely full - solid. Over fed fish week before - solid. The trip was a full 7 day/7 night trip to the beach, though about asking some one to check on the tank a couple times during the week but thought I tested enough - probably not the best idea but was not my undoing but probably could have curtailed the result. Went to fill the auto feeder before I left and thought better put a little extra in the feeder and set it to twice a day just in case it doesn't put out enough food - classic fail!!! Needless to say I returned to a waste water treatment facility. A couple 65-70% WCs and vacuuming/hand extracting mountains of food out of tank and sump and we recreated a course correction where lucky enough my losses were just the 4 acros and my chalice. Funniest thing about it was the size of the fishes bellies, they had gorged themselves. Some swear by never using an auto feeder while on vacation but I think that is too overeactionary, if I would have just put in the least amount of food they needed to survive the tank would have been completely fine w/o any human interaction I have gone on several similar trips since then with no issue but I do have someone check on things a couple times a week. My helpers have never had to do anything but now it is for my peace of mind.

 

[g6gang]

Mine was definitely an auto feeder/vacation situation. I set and tested the setup for a full 2 weeks in advance - solid. Added a little extra water to the dump and had ATO reservoir completely full - solid. Over fed fish week before - solid. The trip was a full 7 day/7 night trip to the beach, though about asking some one to check on the tank a couple times during the week but thought I tested enough - probably not the best idea but was not my undoing but probably could have curtailed the result. Went to fill the auto feeder before I left and thought better put a little extra in the feeder and set it to twice a day just in case it doesn't put out enough food - classic fail!!! Needless to say I returned to a waste water treatment facility. A couple 65-70% WCs and vacuuming/hand extracting mountains of food out of tank and sump and we recreated a course correction where lucky enough my losses were just the 4 acros and my chalice. Funniest thing about it was the size of the fishes bellies, they had gorged themselves. Some swear by never using an auto feeder while on vacation but I think that is too overeactionary, if I would have just put in the least amount of food they needed to survive the tank would have been completely fine w/o any human interaction I have gone on several similar trips since then with no issue but I do have someone check on things a couple times a week. My helpers have never had to do anything but now it is for my peace of mind.

"What to do/not to do when you on vacation" sounds like another good thread to start. I am surprised that it caused that much damage in such a short time. I always thought overfeeding was more of a longer term thing.

 

[Triggreef]

Dosing un needed elements. And ordering from Mr.coral who never even sent me my order, at all!

 

[laineyg6]

Mixing saltwater while distracted and doing a huge water change with 2x the salinity. I realized it, but not until it was too late. Lost all inverts without an exoskeleton, all my tiny brittle stars, stomatella, and the cool little hitchhikers I had. Most painful was watch my serpent star slowly disintegrate over a few days and get eaten by the hermits.

 

[g6gang]

Here is a third one from me:

Switching to an LED I knew could not give my Crocea Clam enough light without giving or trading him...then hoping the light was strong enough for 3 days as he disappeared... poor thing...stupid me!

 

[KorD]

Well looks like I was dumb again last night..

As I was doing a water change, I got sidetracked because one of my circulation pumps started cavitating. Needless to say the 4 gal bucket I syphon into was overflowing onto my hardwood floor...

I removed about an extra 2 gallons from M tank more then needed

 

[smb2415]

++1 yup same here..... 100g on the floor

I would say the dumbest thing I have done is overflow my tank with a siphon from ATO and brute trash can... TWICE in 24 hours.

 

[gemini9]

Doing a water change and then putting that water back in the tank.

lol Ive done this

 

[Mike in CT]

I left an auto-feeder set up after I got back from a trip. It was feeding a small amount, once a day, so I just left it set up. One morning I heard something funny and it was my auto-feeder running constantly! Luckily it was just about out of food so it didn't do much damage, but if I had just filled it up and had left town it would have been a disaster. I think it was maybe the batteries going dead but I'm not sure. Now if I go away for less then 4 days I just feed well before I leave and let the tank go hungry for a few days.