Tip of the Day – 6/14/2011

Lugging jugs of water around can really be a pain on your lower back, and plenty of us do it. We often buy buckets of water from the fish store, fill buckets with or own RO/DI water from in the garage, and have to move the buckets to our aquariums. Almost everyone improperly picks up 5-gallon containers full of water, with each weighing in upwards of 40 lbs. When bending down to grab the bucket and lifting, we can really hurt our backs. To reduce the risk of inflicting back pain, you can use smaller containers, or do what many of us do and run water lines to our auto top off systems or even the aquarium itself. Of course, there are some risks associated with this as well, since you could flood your reef tank with freshwater if the proper precautions are put into place.