1, 2, 3, how hard can it be?
Yo, a big-up to all those who’ve signed in recently, good work homies.
Yesterday I finally filled my fish tank with water. About 10 minutes into the process I remembered what a pain in the arse having a fish tank can be!
First I had to get all the plumbing hooked up. Then, I had to fill buckets with tap water, add dechlorinator, then add salt and mix it up (no it isn’t table salt). I felt kinda silly making up salt water when I literally live across the road from the Pacific Ocean!! But, the water out there is so fuckin brown, nothing would survive in my tank, ‘cept maybe a croc. mmm….
Anyway I turned the pumps on at about 9pm (having started at 5:30), only to discover a few problems. Firstly, the paint on the “inside” of the overflow box started peeling off, so I had to stop everything, block the overflow pipe and scrap all the paint off, then syphon it out. If you’re not sure what that means - it’s a pain in the arse and you wouldn’t want to have to do it!!
So then I turn the pumps back on, only to find that the overflow pipe is leaking salt water on the floor. Fuck!, so I had to drain the overflow box and dry it out, take the fitting out, silicon it up and sick it back in there. Of course it’s like changing an oil filter on a hot engine, except that instead of everything being hot, it’s wet and instead of oil, it’s water. But… it’s just as fucking tricky, and just when you’ve got it, you drop the parts into an area that you can’t get to.
I dropped the bottom part of the bulkhead fitting in between the stand and the sump, which even Zoe’s little arms can’t get to (trust me I nearly got her arm stuck - shoving it in there). So I grab the tongs Zoes’ been cooking dinner with and use them to grab the silicon covered fitting from down the side.
I’ve nearly got it out whem, clunk, I drop it. By now I’m well and truely pissed off! Carrying on etc… Next I grab a coathanger and, macgyver style, fashion a hook and pull the thing out. But, by now the silicon is dry. So, resilicon and finally get it on with Zoe’s help! Yey!
Then the water isn’t salty enough, actually it’s stratified into a fresher layer on top and the heavier, saltier water at the bottom, so I have to stir it all up using a pump! GAY!!
Finally got it pretty much worked out and hit the hay at 11:30. This morning = very tired!!
This arvo I’ll head back and check it all out (test the water etc, and start the pumps). I’m pretty sure the water will be very hard because of all the CaCO3 that I’m using as a substrate but it might have to do for now.
Hopefully, in a couple of months I’ll have a fat reef in my living room. Just in time for summer heat to kill it all. That’ll be the next bit - making a chiller from a bar fridge and a bucket of water. You do the math!!!