effective way to kill aiptasia (now with moar lasers!)

[asylumdown]

Originally Posted by BigAl07

...but with proper safety precautions no more dangerous than many of the other things we deal with in and around our tanks.

I don't know if I'd agree with that statement. No one has ever experienced a life altering injury from accidentally dropping a heater on their toe, and normal equipment failures typically result in nothing worse than a tank crash. I know it's hypothetically possible, but something needs to go pretty dramatically wrong for a person to get electrocuted or otherwise seriously injured by normal equipment or chemicals. All it takes for a lasing session to end in tragedy is sweaty hands and a momentary lapse in concentration. When was the last time any of us heard of someone being seriously injured by their tank equipment? Ask the same question about lasers and the answer is 'last Tuesday'.

These lasers can permanently alter your, or someone else's life if mishandled for even one half of a second. My dad had an ocular aneurism in his right eye three years ago. It's not the same thing as laser injury, but the functional result was the same. The effect it has had on his quality of life has been nothing short of devastating.

Ultimately people will probably do it, and to be honest I was tempted until I read that thread on the laser forum. More than anything I know these threads are searchable on google so I just want to make sure that any conversation regarding these things for aquarium purposes have enough posts about the dangers so others who aren't necessarily members of the boards get a complete picture of the risks when they look for info.