Child proofing

[wbwhale]

Right now I have a 2yo, so I try not to leave anything up to his impulse control - he hasn't really got any yet. I let him observe but the actual tank is up out of his reach being only a 5.5gal. He does have a small rectangular plastic container he fills with water and calls "shish tank!" but that's about it. I figure as he gets older he can be more involved.

Whatever stand we build/use for the 40B reef is going to have childproofing first and foremost because I'm also expecting in October. Who knows if baby #2 will be as inclined to listen?

 

[ericarenee]

Right now I have a 2yo, so I try not to leave anything up to his impulse control - he hasn't really got any yet. I let him observe but the actual tank is up out of his reach being only a 5.5gal. He does have a small rectangular plastic container he fills with water and calls "shish tank!" but that's about it. I figure as he gets older he can be more involved.

Whatever stand we build/use for the 40B reef is going to have childproofing first and foremost because I'm also expecting in October. Who knows if baby #2 will be as inclined to listen?

2 Is a awesome age.. But super curious.. We thought we were done with tiny kids in the house . Even So called Grown up kids.. Our Son Got married and moved away.. NOW We have a 6 month old Grand son.... AND A Big OPEN Pond in the Living room..... Yea the One he has Already spotted in his Walker..:headwally:

Congrats on the up Coming youngster Two under 3 Will be Fun Teenagers... Drinking Helps.... Giggles.

 

[wbwhale]

It's great. He likes to look at build threads with me and ask what all the parts are and I have no idea so I have to go look up and really learn. Also obsessed with videos of fish on YouTube. Ha!

But yeah... interested as he is, I'm not about to trust him to not get into mischief since that's basically his job.

 

[neededahobby]

Out of sight / Out of mind -

We keep a box with all the test kits/ light remotes/ fish food that you can store up high out of reach when not using. Had to install a curtain rod / shower curtain around the fuge area because no cabinet doors to lock (open stand) and the red knob on the skimmer was just to tempting to the toddler. Our tank is in the dinning room so no way to 'lock' the room but not the den so kids aren't hanging out in that room unattended for no reason.

Also we work to "train the kids" what is and isnt okay. The toddler loves the tank and wants to feed which we let her do with help (measure out food into cup which she can then dump while we hold her) - and helps re-enforce the constant "no hands in the water" training.

 

[Bpb]

We are childproofing our house now for our 8 month old who has become mobile. Cabinet locks are a must. There are teachable moments all day every day for "don't touch" why gamble on the tank. I'm sorry...I won't put my faith in a toddler to do the right thing. Cabinets will be locked. She can help with anything else in the house, but tank maintenance is all me. I'm a big proponent of teach the right thing, but where possible, removing temptation entirely from the equation is far more effective than simply talking and hoping.

On a side note...babies aren't the only problem. My 18 year old sister in law who may have 1/2 a brain has, this year alone, pulled the dry side of the vortech off the glass and pulled the jaebo magnets off the glass simply due to a "oh what's this do?" Moment of curiosity. Worst of all she pulled the magnets off my frag rack while I wasn't home out of curiosity, sending 10-15 acropora frags crashing to the sand to meet their demise at the hands of lots of Favia and frogspawn below. Unfortunately my wife had no idea what to do and wasn't able to remedy it. That was the last straw. I told her in a not so delicate or tactful manner to keep her hands off my stuff which ended up in a lot of tears and "you're a jerk" comments from the rest of the family

 

[CuzzA]

I recently setup a tank in a pediatric office. Kids of all ages 15 hours a day. I used these magnetic locks and I did not install door knobs/pulls. Works excellent. No worries about losing a key as all you need is a magnet to open the lock. No permanently blemishing your cabinet doors with an unsightly through hole locker style lock. I highly recommend them. The latching locks are easily circumvented by a child that is 2+. Trust me I know.

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Safety-1st-Magnetic-Lock-System/16782921

If you wanted to go high tech, these are an option too. They can be controlled by a simple switch or your tank controller. However, I would advise on having some sort of way to power them in the event you lost utility power and needed access to the cabinet.

http://www.adafruit.com/products/1512

 

[gone fishin]

We are childproofing our house now for our 8 month old who has become mobile. Cabinet locks are a must. There are teachable moments all day every day for "don't touch" why gamble on the tank. I'm sorry...I won't put my faith in a toddler to do the right thing. Cabinets will be locked. She can help with anything else in the house, but tank maintenance is all me. I'm a big proponent of teach the right thing, but where possible, removing temptation entirely from the equation is far more effective than simply talking and hoping.

On a side note...babies aren't the only problem. My 18 year old sister in law who may have 1/2 a brain has, this year alone, pulled the dry side of the vortech off the glass and pulled the jaebo magnets off the glass simply due to a "oh what's this do?" Moment of curiosity. Worst of all she pulled the magnets off my frag rack while I wasn't home out of curiosity, sending 10-15 acropora frags crashing to the sand to meet their demise at the hands of lots of Favia and frogspawn below. Unfortunately my wife had no idea what to do and wasn't able to remedy it. That was the last straw. I told her in a not so delicate or tactful manner to keep her hands off my stuff which ended up in a lot of tears and "you're a jerk" comments from the rest of the family

I always tried to make the tank area as safe as possible for the young ones, you know I did not want anything to happen to them. The ones that scared me though was the older ones doing something stupid and not saying anything.

 

[mluntz]

To make a long story short, don't let your kids play piggy back through the house, especially near the tank, where they can bang their head on the tank. Thank god the kid was ok, but it cost me well over $1000 worth of fish and a tank!

Twenty year slater I still get ****ed off about it and talk about it!