mskohl
Active member
Friday morning I woke up to the kids yelling that the tank is leaking.
Interesting tidbit:
Under 2 feet of head pressure, water will shoot 1 foot off the side of the tank.
There were two small holes in the silicone seam on the back corner. The tank was in the process of splitting. Fortunately, the kids waking up and walking past was perfect timing. I estimate that we had about 10 gal of water on the floor - not enough water had drained that any of the power heads or pumps were sucking air.
I had the 10 year old hold the 5 gal bucket to catch water while I brought in the rubbermaid stock tank. I hooked up the drain hose and started syphoning the water out. That's when the other kid noticed that the carpet was wet under that tank. UGH! The drain plug was not in the hole. I figure this time, I poured about 20 gal on the floor. Totally blaming that move on my husband b/c he removed it.
So, I fixed that blunder and got back to draining the tank and moving rocks.
Everything was out and in the stock tank in about an hour or so. Surprisingly the fish were very easy to catch. They readily took turns coming to the corner to be netted out. The last two wrasses were a bit more of a pain b/c they buried themselves in the sand and it was impossible to find them once the sand was stirred. We ended up scooping out the sand sifting through it to find the fish. It took just a bit longer than if they had not been in the sand, because it all had to come out anyway.
So, the upside in all of this, I am now going to get that awful wallpaper off the wall! I think I'll also pull out the carpet.
I don't know if I will set up a new tank yet or not. It's likely that we may start trying to sell our house and move in a year and a half and it seems like a lot of work setting it up and taking it down in that amount of time. Plus, my maintenance was really slacking and I could probably use the break. On the other hand, I am already missing the sound and just the number of times I would gaze at the swimming fish. I'm going to give myself a few days to consider my options.
Anyone keep snakes? I have a 6'x2'x3' Terrarium available.
Interesting tidbit:
Under 2 feet of head pressure, water will shoot 1 foot off the side of the tank.
There were two small holes in the silicone seam on the back corner. The tank was in the process of splitting. Fortunately, the kids waking up and walking past was perfect timing. I estimate that we had about 10 gal of water on the floor - not enough water had drained that any of the power heads or pumps were sucking air.
I had the 10 year old hold the 5 gal bucket to catch water while I brought in the rubbermaid stock tank. I hooked up the drain hose and started syphoning the water out. That's when the other kid noticed that the carpet was wet under that tank. UGH! The drain plug was not in the hole. I figure this time, I poured about 20 gal on the floor. Totally blaming that move on my husband b/c he removed it.
So, I fixed that blunder and got back to draining the tank and moving rocks.
Everything was out and in the stock tank in about an hour or so. Surprisingly the fish were very easy to catch. They readily took turns coming to the corner to be netted out. The last two wrasses were a bit more of a pain b/c they buried themselves in the sand and it was impossible to find them once the sand was stirred. We ended up scooping out the sand sifting through it to find the fish. It took just a bit longer than if they had not been in the sand, because it all had to come out anyway.
So, the upside in all of this, I am now going to get that awful wallpaper off the wall! I think I'll also pull out the carpet.
I don't know if I will set up a new tank yet or not. It's likely that we may start trying to sell our house and move in a year and a half and it seems like a lot of work setting it up and taking it down in that amount of time. Plus, my maintenance was really slacking and I could probably use the break. On the other hand, I am already missing the sound and just the number of times I would gaze at the swimming fish. I'm going to give myself a few days to consider my options.
Anyone keep snakes? I have a 6'x2'x3' Terrarium available.
