The DANGERS of reefing.

[1BadHawk]

Ouch! son of a !@#$. Hey, I know Ive said this and probably few other non mentionables while reefing. Im just wondering what sort of injuries others have experienced.

As for me, probably the worse was a head laceration. I was cleaning the tank one day with a DIY scraper I made by attaching a carpenters razor to the end of an 18" piece of pvc pipe. Which by the way I further modified it by attaching a siphon hose to the end, which drained into a bucket. This allowed me to scrape the algae off the glass and at the same time siphon it out of the tank. Worked great, except that It was a bit of a pain tripping over the hose, and keeping the blade attached to the end of the PVC. Anyhow, I set the pvc pipe partially in the tank and bent over to start the siphon when out of the tank it came and, WACK! right on the head.

It was one of those times when you didnt even have to look, you just knew thate damage was done. Sure enough, by the time I could get to the kitchen for a towel I could feel the blood running down the side of my head. Of course I was home alone at the time, and wasnt sure to call 911 or drive myself to the hospital. For fear of passing out while driveing to the ED, I opted not to go with that option. And for fear of embaracement, since Im a medic and know all the local medics, I opted not to call 911 either. Self treatment. A good flushing, some direct pressure, and alittle bit of time was all It needed.

A lessoned well learned. Who would have thought you could get a head injury from reefing. :) Ive since then disposed of the pvc/razor and went to a simple scrubby attached to a stick. :D

[Nanook]

I thought I saw an aiptasia last night in my 150g Kaelini rock tank:eek1: , as I bent over for a good look I realized that the side of my head was singed by the 250w HQI pendant...ouch...small burn there now, but I didnt see an aiptasia...just some macroalgae:lol:


Nanook

[Ace]

I was adjusting/cleaning my canopy and my finger went into one of my Radio Shack fans. I almost hit the roof. Split my finger very deeply and looked like I could have used stitches. I just sucked it up like a man and wrapped it up.

Truth be told, I almost wanted to cry. :)

Ace

[Pepito]

When my mag 3 came unhooked from my Remora Pro and started shooting water straight up into the air, I immediately went to pull the sooping wet plug out. The whole right side of my body went tinggly while all my muscles tensed and tightened. That was very dumb mistake that I could have avoided. Oh well, I won't ever do that again.

[RockyHeap]

While moving several condi anemones from tank to tank, I pretended I was going to eat one sushi style and held it over my mouth...........

........until one of the arms drooped down and brushed against my lips/tongue and I got NAILED by the stinging cells.........

Lips and tongue tingled and zingled for at least an hour......

[MJB]

Chopped off the tip of my thumb cutting a hunk from a slab of frozen food a few years ago. Still has a nice flat spot. Only use cubes these days. FWIW I think Rocky has a shot at the door prize for this one.--MJB

[Orochimaru]

razor cut from fragging, MH burn, minor electricution and sea urchins stings. Oh and loss of sleep when things don't look good.

[MarinaP]

Solid cherry canopy with 4 double PC retrofits fell on my wrist from 90 degree height. Multiple scars from clownfish bites, carpet anemone sting pains. Back pain from setting up my biggest tank.

[picassomike]

I had my arm in my tank to move things around,then went to unplug my return pump.Never dried my hand off,I think it explains itself.

[sixpackrt]

minor electricution yesterday i stuck my had in the sump fingers started tingling i stuck my hand in again to make sure i wasnt feeling things it was a busted heater filled with water :eek1:

[Tahoe Ocean]

ok, I'll tell, but if you ever meet me in person don't bring it up:

I was chasing my "dumsel" trying to convince her to go back to the LFS after my tank was done cycling (4 years ago). She went into a hole in a hunk of live rock. I thought "I'll get her now!" so I plugged the hole with my finger and pulled out the rock. She slipped out the hole on the other side of the rock and the tank lid crashed down on my hand and in the instant I had, I shoved my finger further in to avoid dropping the rock and breaking the glass.
Well, you got it, Finger stuck in live rock. Stuck big time! Not wanting to harm the live rock we tried to brutally yank out the finger. NO Go.
After an hour of trying to save the live rock we gave up and decided to try olive oil, baby oil, then soap, then 2 hours later we went to the hospital because I could no longer feel the finger. They thought I was nuts to have tried to save the rock, they just chiseled it off. By then the rock was beginning to smell. And within a few minutes the finger was swollen and tingling with that horrific pins and needles sensation. Finger is now fine, rock is out in the garden, and the damsel is still in the tank. She seems to be a model citizen.:mad2:

[XxAngelzDustxX]

I was doing a water change and standing on a stool while I was trying to start a syphon. I had 2 pieces of clear tubing and they were bothin different sizes, I had to hold them together so it can be long enough for me to perform the water change. I connected one of the sides to a rio pump and I was planning on pumping the water into a 5 gallon jug. I had my brother hold the jug for me since it wouldn't balance itself because I was using one of those high chairs that doesnt have a lot of room for your bum :D

Anywho, the tubing came loose after I filled the jug with about 2 gallons and sprayed water everywhere, including my brothers face. My brother let go of the jug and started screaming (like a girl i might add), "My eye! Theres chemicals in my eye!" (he was talking about the saltwater lol, what a dork) and I slid off the chair while I was trying to grab the jug to keep it from spilling on my carpet and somehow ended up slapping my brother on his neck with the tubing.

I have no idea how this all happened, it was in a 5 second period! lol. needless to say, that was the last time he has ever tryed to help me with any water changes :D I'm too lazy to go back and edit what I just wrote so I hope it makes sence lol.

[Summitpa]

Oh yeah,..... I see some real Darwin award candidates here.

Hey sixpack, When is your car gonna be featured in Weekenders ride of the week? (if it wasn't already)

[FireMarshalBill]

I knocked my JBJ Formosa into the tank while I was working on the tank, grabbed it out of the tank, (only half had fallen in) and I caught the half that was out, anyhow, the half that was wet, was the half the power switches are on, so not thinking, I reached over to turn off the light, didn't work too good, gave my right arm quite a shock, then I unplugged it from the wall.

[Reefadict]

I was building the stand for my 50gal. I went to make a cut on a 12'' long piece of 90 deg. trim that was 1/4 in thick. I was using an electric miter saw and went down on the wood before the blade had time to get speed. The blade grabed the wood and pushed it against the backplate so hard that it recoiled back at me hitting my left index finger and broke it ( my finger) just before the first knuckle. The wood hit my finger soo hard that it split the 1/4'' oak trim long wise down the bend. My finger swelled 2xs normal size and my whole nail turned black and fell off 2 weeks later.

[bmcelhinn]

I've been shocked several times, one time a light fixture fell in the water when the canopy slammed shut. Fearing for my fishes lives I bravely disregarded my own safety and reached in to grab the light. OUCH!!! It was hard to get out, but I didn't let go until I got it. I knew if I left it in and tried to find the cord in my "wire jungle" everything would be fried by the time I could unplug it. The worst was when I accidentally touched the pins on a 55 watt power compact ballast. DAMN!! not only did it shock me, but it actually burned small holes in my finger where I touched it. Smelled like burnt skin for ever.
Oh, I almost forgot. In my early days I was about 11 years old. I was using a pocket knife to cut airline tubing, I set it down and didn't realize the blade was out. I knelt down on it and it sliced my knee into the bone!! I got up, walked out into the kitchen to tell my mom and she didn't believe me, I wasn't crying or anything but my whole leg was covered in blood. I played alot of tricks on her with fake blood and makup so the one time I was really hurt she didn't believe me. I took my hand off and she saw the gash and almost passed out. I went to the emergency room and got 14 stitches. Needless to say I still love reefing!

[SeaStar]

I don't know if this counts, but I just fell off my chair in laughter after reading Tahoe's and Angelz's posts :lol:

[medusamedusa]

I was bitten by a coral banded shrimp and it actually mad me bleed and just a week ago i had a piece of live rock stuck in the palm of my hand that i had to remove with a tweezer,,,thats what i get when i decide i need to move things around cuz it just wasnt looking" perfect"

[iCam]

Well there's the hundreds of gallons of saltwater that I have ingested. But I think everyone has done that. My true perc. clown attackes me sometimes, and boy can he hurt!

[skattabrain]

i hear about stories of people with hair dryers almost killing themselves and i have to laugh.

i had a 50g with wires just hanging out of thing all over the place... it's kinda funny.

the single biggest thing that scared me though was the glass heater in the tank...

you know, the one with those heavy reef rocks hanging over it?

pretty soon, insurance agents will first ask you "do you smoke?", then "do you have a reef tank?"

water + electricity = :eek2:

[Fishguru]

I as well have had the canopy vs head issue, My canopy from is 6' X 18" X1/2" Oak plywood, with a 3" trim around it. Had it propped up at a 90 degree from the tank by a piece of PVC as i always do. Was trying to rearrange some live rock from one end of the tank to the other, when i realized the pipe was in the way, and didnt want to get the floor all wet by taking th eLR out around it, so in my infinite wisdom (action before thought manuever) just moved it without bracing the canopy, causing the canopy to slam downhitting me in the back of the head, then my head into the tank. I am told that is what happened as i dont remember it :) Oh yes, and to boot i dropped the LR on to the sand bottom causing a huge sandstorm. Guess it could have ben worse, could have cracked the tank with the LR :mixed:

[Kara]

OMG this is so funny. I haven't laughed so hard in a LONG time! :D

I'd share a story with you.. but I don't have any .... yet.

[3_high_low]

I superglued my hand to my leg the other day:mad:

[IndyMathWizard]

I have a good one, all the other stupid people will love it.
When I first started the tank, I used some air diffusers. One day before work, I decided they were too much, so I unhooked one of the two. BUT....I unhooked it at the pump, and just left the air tube laying there. Went to an 8 hour shift. Got home that night, and when I came in the front door I heard loud noises. The internal pumps in the tank, all but one, were well above water level, seeing as how 12 of the 20 inches were all over the floor by this time. They were all fried. I freaked, jumped out of my shoes, and rushed to my tank. Oh holy crap. There was one pump that fell into the water, only it had also fried. And when I stepped on the sopping wet carpet, it fried me too. Jolt from the soles of my feet. I felt it in my fillings. The electric chair reigns in Indiana!!!

[DocHoliday]

I nearly passed out from just laughing at these post.

I once "picked a fight" with a female maroon clown. I was trying to clean the tank and rearrage things to make it more pleasing. Well my 4" female maroon clown didn't like me noseing around in her tank so she started to nip at my hand and fingers. For those of you who have maroon clowns know how mean they can be. Well all this nipping started to :mad2: so I thought I would try and "fight" back. Flicking my fingers, swatting any time she came near. Well after a couple of min is was turning out to be a stand off and I went back to cleaning. Just then she darted out of her rock cave and got me right between the fingers! The incredible pain caused me to yank my hand out so fast that I burned arm on the PC lights!

Needless to say that weekend I took a trip to the LFS and unloaded that ^%@*&R! To this day I swear I can still she those teeth marks!

[captainsafari]

OK here's a one for ya, Who else has flooded there neiborghs while filling a system. I can clame fame to that one. I was in a hurry one night filling a sump up and i kinda got distracted. So the hose was left on ( i mean a water line broke ) and the "falty plumbing" caused the water to run all night long. The following morning. when i got there i noticed that the floor was very shiny this morning. So as a walked in there seemed to be a damp crisp to the air then it hit me!! i meen my feet Splash splash splash. ohhh s**t i thought what broke. so i ran to the back of the store and all was fine except for the hose running from the purification systen to the gold fish system. Well it must have broke ( or left on by accident ) it had to have broke i diddnt do that did i. well i will never tell. anyway as i assesed the situation i saw the manager of my neighnor getting out of his car and informed him of the tradigy of the Broke (" i didn't mean to leave it not turned off" ) hose. So there was a couple of hundred gallons on the radio shack floor because my floor drain was only couple of inches above the rest of the floor, ( ok, who poored the concrete and where is that plumber ) so yea it was radio shack that flooded but they only had a little water, An inch or so in about half of there store. you should of seen how high it was on our side even before it started to pass through the walls into theres. Soo the moral of the story is never leave a running hose unattened, 4 hour of shop vac in hand and 2 helpers vacuming and squeging water we hade it almost cleaned up where we could let people in. Oooo i forgot this one time well thats a whole other story! Mabey another time swim with ya later leroy

[pjpeels]

Lets see. Burned my wrist once and the top of my finger once on my 250 watt Metal Halide Bulbs. Can still see the scars. Small cuts when building hoods, and from making and shaping reflectors. I have gotten a couple of minor shocks at the surge protector, king of an oxymoron in my case. Barely cut into fingertips with razor blade while scraping the glass free of algae. Have dropped powerheads on toes before. I think that is about it. Other than that, I just have the same sore muscles from carrying buckets of water around, and from having my body in awkward positions for long periods of time with my arm in the tank.
Later,
Price

[melev]

pjpeels,

<img src="/images/welcome.gif"><br><b><i><big><big>To Reef Central</b></i></big></big>

Be safe(r). :D

[kentrob11]

One day I noticed my Royal Gramma was missing and I eventually found him in my sump. I caught him in a net but burned my arm on the refugium bulb right after- it startled me so much I accidentally flung the gramma out of the net and up into the ceiling fan! The fan sent the gramma against the wall and behind my entertainment center- I pulled it away from the wall, rinsed the fish off with tank water and returned it to the tank where it still lives today.....

[kozmo02]

no serious injuries, just that i work at a fish store so i handle LR a lot and cut up my hands and get silicate stuck in em, that tends to hurt after a while

[XxAngelzDustxX]

kentrob11 :eek1:

lol.

[1BadHawk]

HOLY CRAP! These are too funny :D :D

Atleast everyones ok and we can look back and laugh a little. I just cant believe some of the things thats happen to people.

Thanks for shareing.

[dennisthe]

Too Funny! I'm gonna go to the Darwin Awards website now to keep on laughing!

http://darwinawards.com/

[budhaboy]

I just pulled a bone head manuver this past Friday- I recently set up a new tank to house a new Emerald Moray eel I had gotten for running a buddy's shop while he was away, while changing to go out, I heard him shift the rocks and the unmistakable sound of rock hitting a heater- the was a bit of a sand storm from the shifting and without thinking, I stuck my hand in the tank(I did unplug the heater first) I couldnt see the Moray, but he sure could see me- just as I realized what I was doing and who was in the tank, BAM! he hit me middle finger- sucker bled for about 4 hours not matter how tightly I wrapped it. Finger is still sore today and I have a nice double row of gashes on the top and bottom of my finger from his teeth.

[richw]

Besides the common scrapes, coral burns on the hands and forearms, electrocutions and crushed fingers from my canopy, my favorite was the time I was cleaning my tank late one night and I nailed my long armed urchin with my hand. In addition to the intense pain, I was concerned with the venom. Since it was late at night and I was going to bed anyway, I had to wake my wife to tell her that if I stopped breathing or went into convultions in the middle of the night that she should inform the parametics that I was poisoned by a sea urchin. Needless to say, nothing happened.

[ginntonic74]

I use glass cups for thawing frozen food and to mix chemicals and stuff and i was cleaning them one day and the glass broke with my handf in it and sliced the back of my hand like a filet just hanging off by a poece of skin. My wife didnt have her driving lic yet so i had to drive myself and her to the er. I was speeding and got pulled over by a cop. He made me take the towel off my hand to make sure i wasnt lying. Blood just started to gush out all over my car. He saw i wasnt lying and let me go. Nice guy. Need less to say i had to get 29 mattress stiches and now i can only bend my pinkie half way due to muscle damage. And through all this i had to keep my wife from fanting from all the blood on the walls in the kitchen.

[Sylock]

I'd like to stick a few of these in my sig, my favorites are:

richw
I had to wake my wife to tell her that if I stopped breathing or went into convultions in the middle of the night that she should inform the parametics that I was poisoned by a sea urchin.

3_high_low
I superglued my hand to my leg the other day

[Tomzpc]

Two years ago my wife and I were getting all packed and readying the house so that we could leave the next morning at 5 am to catch a flight to China where we would be for the next two weeks getting to know our new one-year old daughter whom we were adopting. I was doing water changes and some other maintenance on my tanks, basically trying to have them in good shape to make it more difficult for my mom to screw something up, when I accidentally stepped right on the upturned razor blade of a stanley window scraper which I use for cleaning coralline off the glass. Needless to say, I spent two weeks in China limping on my bad foot. The worst part is that on our first day near Beijing, I had to watch from the bottom as my wife and the others in our group climbed a portion of The Great Wall. :(

[jokermgp]

I wrenched my back and dislocated a rib moving around my live rock trying to get a green brittle star out of my tank.

Cheers...Michael

[DocHoliday]

^