House cleaners and your reef

[bromion]

I'm considering getting a regular house cleaning service for my apartment, but I am worried about my tank. Does anyone here use a maid service? How do you handle safeguarding your reef?

I found a service that only uses products from Earth Friendly, all of which are non-toxic and seemingly safe. But, I worry they could mess with something they should not.

Any experiences or tips are appreciated!

[OC CJ]

just make it very clear to the person... YOU TOUCH, YOU DIE!!!!!

[faded1004]

nanny cam?

i would think you just need to make sure they know the rules? and your guidlines? let them know where all power lines are, and go through what not to touch? if anythign goes wrong, to call a number and post it near the tank? i dont' have maid service, but that is what i can think of...

[Macimage]

We have weekly maid service. She is allowed to use water only on the mirrored closet doors in the bedroom that houses the fish equipment and she vacumms the fish room. She also carefully sprays the wood cleaner directly onto the rag to clean the furniture. Just explain the fact that spray in the air can kill the inhabitants and that you don't want to front glass or any part of the aquarium cleaned and you should be fine. It takes a few minutes to completely explain it, but I've had no problems.

In fact, I now pay my cleaning person to come over to feed and top off when we are gone, however, she's been working for us for 5-6 years.

Joyce

[GinaSofia]

I only had to tell my housekeepers once to please not spray any chemicals near my tank and to not touch any of the TV's and amazingly enough they understood.They're not stupid just because they clean homes for a living.

If you're that concerned about incompetence then you can always hire through a bonded company.

[PasadenaReefer]

Have you seen the goonies? IF you have then thats all you need to tell her. HAHA

[coast2coast7390]

hmmm i would hide all of the food and chemicals...lock the cabnets

[faded1004]

yea, i am sure most are competent... just got to make sure and be clear on what is acceptable?

[bromion]

OK, glad to hear your experiences are positive. I was mostly just hoping to feel safer by knowing others use housekeepers, or to hear "don't let them near your reef, idiot!" if it was a bad idea : )

I guess I should also ask, what do you pay? I have a 1000 sq ft apartment. The eco-friendly company charges $30/hr (2 hr min) minus a discount for regular customers. Sounds reasonable?

[five.five-six]

that is exactly why I got out for five years, i came home from work one day and my maid (I was single then) had cleaned my acrylic tank for me, it was not just the $$ for a new tank, I know you can polish the tank but it never comes out right and this one was FUBAR, but all the time to re drill it and install and everything. the algae never would clean out of the scratches and even if it did, with the lights on, I could still see them from across the room. the whole thing gave me a sick feeling every time I looked at it, i ended up letting it go and loosing interest.

[bergzy]

i post signs on the front of my tanks in spanish and english with 'please do not clean, thank you.'

[Macimage]

I recommend hiring one person, versus a service that will send different people, as I can see where that could cause you problems. I'd look for personal recommendations or ads and check references for private individuals.

Joyce

[yellowslayer13]

the woman that cleaned our house for 12 years was great with the tank top offs, feeding tests, buffers everything and the only thing she asked was if it was ok for her grand daughter to see it

[raskal311]

Our maid knows what she can clean and what we would rather do our self; its not that big of a dea. BTW hiring a maid service is the best they we've ever done.