Damn Algae!
I've been lurking here for a couple of weeks so I thought I would pop my head up and say hello. I was going to post pics of my finally completed tank today but I didn't expect this...
I was at my LFS today picking things up... a few fish, a couple of plants (plastic has finally been banished! Hooray!) and a chunk of driftwood to replace the rocks I had.
Once everything was ready I siphoned off a couple of gallons of water (needed to do a partial change anyway) so I could get my hands in there without overflowing the tank... don't need a flood on my hands after all. As I'm removing one of the rocks, which I should mention has a bit of algae on it, it slips out of my hands and hits the side of the tank... hard. I look and see a lovely star shaped crack near the bottom of the tank... arrhgghhhh!!
Ok...quick, get the bucket... get the hose (where's the hose??), grab a towel and put it right up against the cracks... lots of leakage. Siphon off a bucket full of water and then move the hose to the bathtub. Grab the net and get the fish out... don't let the hose suck them up!
Once all the fish are out and the tank is empty grab some towels and clean up the mess... only a couple of litres on the floor... thank God I don't have carpet. There is a benefit to these hideous floors I guess (my apartment building was build very quickly for Canadian Forces personnel in 1938 as part of the buildup for WWII).
Next up: Call the fish store... "Do you have a 20gal hex tank in stock? Yes? I'll be there in 5 minutes!". Once I get there they are a little confused as to why I need this tank right away, why I don't want a hood, stand or any other accessories, and why I'm not overly concerned about colour (my old tank was black, they didn't have black so I got cherry... they kept offerring to order one for me... should be in by Wednesday) and why I wanted it right now. "Look buddy, my 20gal worth of fish are in a 2gal plastic pail right now, just give me the tank!"
Drop $100 I wasn't planning to spend, especially since I picked up the broken one only a few weeks ago... ouch. Get it home, clean it, fill it, declorinate the water, move the gravel (hope the bacteria survived in sufficient numbers), decorations, and plants. Grab the bucket and pour the fish in.
As you can imagine they're a little traumatized by the whole thing... first a visit from the arm of doom, a ride in the net, hang out in a very small, dark and blue environment then being poured into a completly new environment. I really didn't like putting that many fish into an uncycled tank but there wasn't too much choice.
Here's hoping everyone makes it.
Ian
I've been lurking here for a couple of weeks so I thought I would pop my head up and say hello. I was going to post pics of my finally completed tank today but I didn't expect this...
I was at my LFS today picking things up... a few fish, a couple of plants (plastic has finally been banished! Hooray!) and a chunk of driftwood to replace the rocks I had.
Once everything was ready I siphoned off a couple of gallons of water (needed to do a partial change anyway) so I could get my hands in there without overflowing the tank... don't need a flood on my hands after all. As I'm removing one of the rocks, which I should mention has a bit of algae on it, it slips out of my hands and hits the side of the tank... hard. I look and see a lovely star shaped crack near the bottom of the tank... arrhgghhhh!!
Ok...quick, get the bucket... get the hose (where's the hose??), grab a towel and put it right up against the cracks... lots of leakage. Siphon off a bucket full of water and then move the hose to the bathtub. Grab the net and get the fish out... don't let the hose suck them up!
Once all the fish are out and the tank is empty grab some towels and clean up the mess... only a couple of litres on the floor... thank God I don't have carpet. There is a benefit to these hideous floors I guess (my apartment building was build very quickly for Canadian Forces personnel in 1938 as part of the buildup for WWII).
Next up: Call the fish store... "Do you have a 20gal hex tank in stock? Yes? I'll be there in 5 minutes!". Once I get there they are a little confused as to why I need this tank right away, why I don't want a hood, stand or any other accessories, and why I'm not overly concerned about colour (my old tank was black, they didn't have black so I got cherry... they kept offerring to order one for me... should be in by Wednesday) and why I wanted it right now. "Look buddy, my 20gal worth of fish are in a 2gal plastic pail right now, just give me the tank!"
Drop $100 I wasn't planning to spend, especially since I picked up the broken one only a few weeks ago... ouch. Get it home, clean it, fill it, declorinate the water, move the gravel (hope the bacteria survived in sufficient numbers), decorations, and plants. Grab the bucket and pour the fish in.
As you can imagine they're a little traumatized by the whole thing... first a visit from the arm of doom, a ride in the net, hang out in a very small, dark and blue environment then being poured into a completly new environment. I really didn't like putting that many fish into an uncycled tank but there wasn't too much choice.
Here's hoping everyone makes it.
Ian