Tanks & Wee Children

[Guest Keyoke]

hola peeps.

 

I just picked up a 55G that will replace a 29, and I'm curious about safety.

 

My old 29 was on a tile floor, and sat on a custom stand that had a fairly wide footprint. This new 55 though, is sitting on carpet and it's on a stand  just the right size for the tank, so it's fairly narrow.

 

My concern is stability. The 55 seems a little unstable to me, and since I've got two small children (a 2yr old girl, and a 10mo old boy) I'm worried about the thing tipping over on them. Especailly on the boy, since he's in that 'crusing' stage right now, where he hangs on everything in the house while trying to figure out how to walk.

 

Will the 55 become more "stable" when it's filled ? There'll also be 10G in the bottom of the stand I'm going to use as a sump, and a 6g as a fuge, plus pumps, skimmers, etc.

 

Are there other things I should be aware of with tanks and small children? I'll have the baby-locks on the doors for the stand both for the children AND the livestock's sake (My daughter recently poured a can of Cola into her 2.5G freshwater tank because the fish were thirsty).

 

Obviously, test kits, and other potentially toxic chemicals will be kept out of reach, and power cords and sockets will be covered and not accessable to little hands; but I'm curious what might happen if say, a 24lb child takes a swig of Skimmer effluent when I'm doing maintenance on the tank and happen to have my back turned.

[flowerseller]

Ground fault interupter.(receptical) If you don't have one, don't put water in the tank!

5 gallon buckets with water in them.

more Cola

The words  "No No"

selective hearing

No telling if the tank will be more stable, it will be more top heavy. Refer the two suggestions right above this.

 

Funny thing about raising my kids, my tank also grew in the process.

:p

[Caribbean Jake]

First of all. ask them to help you when cleaning.  More times than none they will lend you a hand for two minutes and then go on to play with their toys.  If not, they will get interested in the hobby and you got your self a helper.  I talk by experience since I got two boys (4 1/2 and 1).  help you how?  Well have them bring you the net or carry the empty bucket used to change water, or let them pic at the livestock while you clean the glass, kind of "look out for the big fish"

 

A 55 gal equipped with 80 pounds of rock and 45 gal of water will weight aprox. 350 pounds, add equipment and stand and you are looking at over 500 pounds.  I never seen a kid 2-4 years old bench press over 100 pounds.

 

Also,.. "No No" is a good method to keep them away for a while but eventually you will need to train them to help you cause "no no" will soon not work.

 

Just be careful, extra careful when kids are around the tank and do not, "DO NOT" perform maintenance while they are playing around it.

 

Jacob

[ctreptow]

I have to agree with the above comment, my tanks are growing as my kids grow . As for the stablity alot depends on what it's sitting on, Carpet or hard floor. The tanks seem to be a lot more spable once filled and sinks the carpet. I also went to HD and picked up a couple of steel L brackets and secured th tank to the wall once it settled into the carpet.

 

Chris