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</STRONG></DIV><H1>Safety and fish keeping</H1><DIV id=Qtextbox><P><STRONG>Author: FishMonger</STRONG><BR><BR>Being a beginner to this hobby, there's still alot to learn for me. Something that is on my mind is the safety aspect of fish keeping. With so much water and electricity sitting side by side, there are times where accidents can happen (knock on wood).

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Its a scary thought to think what can happen, with so many electical items being near or directly under-water. eg. the heaters, powerboards, filters and water pumps. I dont want to be putting my hand in the place at the wrong time.

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To overcome this, i am thinking of having a safety switch installed.

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What other techniques does everybody use to ensure that everything will be safe and sound?

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Peter

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</P></DIV><H2>Replies »</H2><DIV id=Atextbox><P><STRONG>Author: citypainter</STRONG><BR><BR>In this day and age there is no doubt that you should have a safety switch installed.

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Don't worry about the fish tank accidents can happen anywhere.

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But until then you can get a cutout switch which plugs into the wall and then you plug your accessories into that.

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But I am telling you, "GET A SAFETY SWITCH"

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They are mandatory in all new developments because they save lives.

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</P></DIV><DIV id=Atextbox><P><STRONG>Author: 00 MooRRii 00</STRONG><BR><BR>I had a safety switch installed in my house, and has been put to good use a number of times.

</P></DIV><DIV id=Atextbox><P><STRONG>Author: meesterclarence</STRONG><BR><BR>I concur. Safety is always paramount whenever you mix water, and electricity. I've been keeping fish for over 20 years, and still use one. Thanks for the important post

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Paul.

</P></DIV><DIV id=Atextbox><P><STRONG>Author: ducksta</STRONG><BR><BR>I have switches installed accross my house as a precaution and thankfully they've never been required to take action

</P></DIV><DIV id=Atextbox><P><STRONG>Author: 00 MooRRii 00</STRONG><BR><BR>Ohh common John no-one is perfect i have over filled my tanks heaps of times or have spilt water or my fish have splashed them.... common own up...

</P></DIV><DIV id=Atextbox><P><STRONG>Author: MagicaDiSpell</STRONG><BR><BR>And just in case noone mentioned it before: GET A SAFETY SWITCH!!!!!!!

</P></DIV><DIV id=Atextbox><P><STRONG>Author: ducksta</STRONG><BR><BR>Hmmm - I have spilled alot of water! I once dumped about 30 litres of stinking (not literally) gravel syphoned water all over my carpet, but luckily it didnt interfere with any electrical outlets

No blown fuses or tripped switches have been caused by my tanks. If they had, chances are there would be no more my tanks

</P></DIV><DIV id=Atextbox><P><STRONG>Author: Blue Acara</STRONG><BR><BR>Normally your house will have different segments, one for lights, one for heating and one probably for kitchen (oven, microwave). Most sections except lights would be protected by leak detector. As soon as there is a leakage, the power is off.

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If your house is protected this way, make sure that you have duplicate aeration systems, one powered from the appliances and one from lights. My safety switch has saved me many many times. Water leakage in the washing machine, pinched cables for aquarium heaters etc has caused power shutdown. Was it not for the aeration to be on different segments, all my fish would have been gone. Though filtration stopped, the air keeps the fish alive. I keep saratogas and the cover is pretty tight and heavy to prevent them jumping out.

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If the safety switch trips when you are at home, you would notice and fix the problem. But if no one is there, things can go wrong.

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Just an advice.

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Danny

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</P></DIV><DIV id=Atextbox><P><STRONG>Author: chorrylan</STRONG><BR><BR>ummm I have safety/earth-leakage switches in the form of safety powerboards plugged into wall sockets and then I have all my powered fishy-devices run from these powerboards; but I still feel a tad uncomfortable sticking my hand in the tank at times.

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My concern is.... the earth leakage detectors detect a current-flow through the earth wire but surely there are ways to get zapped without any current flow on the earth wire?

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eg wear some nicely insulated shoes; grab a powered AC wire in each hand and you'd get a nice alternating current flow through you back and forth between the two leads. I can't see how an earth leakage detector or any other safety switch could detect this but it presumably wouldn't be much fun. Since the circuit breakers have to handle a fair current flow anyway (I have several 300watt heaters, lights etc etc on the circuit) it's going to take quite a bit of current flow before they get bored with the little game and decide to throw.

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Alternatively... stand on a nice wet concrete floor (so you're nicely earthed); then grab either of the powered leads and there should be a nice current flow through you to earth which also wouldn't be much fun. If the current can flow easily though you; the water and the concrete back to earth would there be enough flow through the main earth wire for the leakage detector to detect?

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Any sparkies out there able to allay my fears or suggest how I should rig this to make it safer?

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eg should I connect the racks etc up to an earth wire to improve the chances of any earth leakage flowing back past the safety switch?

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Laurie

</P></DIV><DIV id=Atextbox><P><STRONG>Author: FishMonger</STRONG><BR><BR>I'll be getting it installed this wkend and hopefully i wont need to use it.

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Even with a safety switch, I still agree with Laurie though, its still scary. Is it 100% full-proof? .......... The life-threatening things that you do for your fishes.

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Peter

</P></DIV><DIV id=Atextbox><P><STRONG>Author: richardvo73</STRONG><BR><BR>We had an incident only a few weeks ago where my little 1 year old pulled the outlet pipe from the power filter and flooded the house...

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My wife was having a shower (he was in front of the TV)...

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In the end all worked out OK, however I could have lost my little boy in that incident. If the water flow from the power filter somehow got into the power board he could have been killed. Pretty scary when you think of the consequences of something that seems trivial (and possibly even humurous) on the surface...

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I think I'll get a safety switch installed asap...

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Thanks for the post.

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Richard

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