JProx
Aquarium Advice Freak
i am sorry for this topic, but i have been having a rough go with setting up my old 55gallon tank.. here's the story and its just meant to blow off steam and give people a laugh.
i moved about a yr ago, at the old house i had a 55gallon salt water, lr and soft coral.. a couple of clowns, a powder blue tang, nice looking setup, i like it alot. when my family moved, i had to dismantle and 'sell back' my live stock to some local LFS. i was a little bitter about selling back my 4yr old clown and 4yr old powder.... but i had no choice. anyways i moved the tank and stand and all the other belongs to the new house, when i unloaded the stand i noticed it wasn't secured properly and that the moving had damaged it severely. it was a crappy particle board stand.. but still it worked well for 10yrs.
so i thought when i got everything unpacked and settled i would start the tank up.. 1yr later i started the tank. first i built the stand, and it was a fun diy project took longer to do (because of the strange ohio winter this yr) but it got done, as building progressed the stand became more and more intricate (doesn't it always?) and soon after it was skinned a bunch of trim was applied, painted and stained it looked great. so i bring it downstairs re arranged the entire 'basement' for optimuam viewing of the tank.
my idea was to go back to saltwater, and have another similar setup to what i had before. when 2wks ago one of my close friends asked if i could take his freshwater sharks, as they have overgrown their tank and that they are 'took much work' for him. so after some consideration, i decided to hold off on the saltwater tank, and take his sharks. and plus i was thinking it might be a blessing in disguise.. since i have always wanted a bigger salt tank anyway..
then i cleaned out the tank again and noticed strange scratches all on the inside of one pane of glass, i say strange because they were not there a week ago .. so i decided that would be the back of the tank, so i go to place the tank on the stand yesterday and it doesn't fit.. by about 1/4 inch. after about 20mins i figured out the trim i added was to blame. so after spending another 20mins widdling away a portion of the trim, in an attempt to save the nice spiffy trim, i tore the trim off the stand, and then the tank fit pretty well. so i was thinking.. i am going to need some styrofoam to guarantee that it was perfectly level. i went my local hd to buy some, and could not find 1 employee to cut it up for me.. so i decide that it would be fine in it's 8feet by 4feet condition i pay for it, leave the store.. and took 5steps and a big gust of wind came and cracked my sheet into 2 pieces, one of which i had to chase 1/2way through the parking lot to retrieve. i get the pieces in the car, and go to my cheap local pet store for filter media. i walk in and find they re-arranged the store lately and i can't find anything i need. so after more time spent.. i learn they don't carry media for my one canister filter anymore (arg!) and after making some compromises on media and gravel selection i leave the store.. get about 100feet from the house when i remember i forgot to buy tubing for the canister plumbing and fittings for the bio wheel i planned to used. so after debating i decided i would buy the stuff tomorrow (today)
so after positioning the foam, i deiced to scrub the filters one last time. i finished up with my aqua clear and reassembled it and test ran it to find it making a cracking sound.. so after inspection i learned the impeller (which only had a few months use) needed to be replaced, so i replaced it with the last one i had on hand, fired the filter back up and found it has a crack running down over the entire water intake area and leaking like a sieve. i emailed hagen a few minutes ago to find out how much a new filter case will run.. but got a 'you will get a response from us in 3-5business days' i know they will be quicker than that (dear lord, i hope so) but still.. and i know thatpetplace.com sells a new aqua clear 300 for 35bucks.. and i payed like 60 for mine back in 93ish..
and so concludes.. the story for past few days, i am sure i will run into another calamity in a few hrs.. stay tuned.. if you like listening to some have uber bad luck....
bry
and thanks for reading.
i moved about a yr ago, at the old house i had a 55gallon salt water, lr and soft coral.. a couple of clowns, a powder blue tang, nice looking setup, i like it alot. when my family moved, i had to dismantle and 'sell back' my live stock to some local LFS. i was a little bitter about selling back my 4yr old clown and 4yr old powder.... but i had no choice. anyways i moved the tank and stand and all the other belongs to the new house, when i unloaded the stand i noticed it wasn't secured properly and that the moving had damaged it severely. it was a crappy particle board stand.. but still it worked well for 10yrs.
so i thought when i got everything unpacked and settled i would start the tank up.. 1yr later i started the tank. first i built the stand, and it was a fun diy project took longer to do (because of the strange ohio winter this yr) but it got done, as building progressed the stand became more and more intricate (doesn't it always?) and soon after it was skinned a bunch of trim was applied, painted and stained it looked great. so i bring it downstairs re arranged the entire 'basement' for optimuam viewing of the tank.
my idea was to go back to saltwater, and have another similar setup to what i had before. when 2wks ago one of my close friends asked if i could take his freshwater sharks, as they have overgrown their tank and that they are 'took much work' for him. so after some consideration, i decided to hold off on the saltwater tank, and take his sharks. and plus i was thinking it might be a blessing in disguise.. since i have always wanted a bigger salt tank anyway..
then i cleaned out the tank again and noticed strange scratches all on the inside of one pane of glass, i say strange because they were not there a week ago .. so i decided that would be the back of the tank, so i go to place the tank on the stand yesterday and it doesn't fit.. by about 1/4 inch. after about 20mins i figured out the trim i added was to blame. so after spending another 20mins widdling away a portion of the trim, in an attempt to save the nice spiffy trim, i tore the trim off the stand, and then the tank fit pretty well. so i was thinking.. i am going to need some styrofoam to guarantee that it was perfectly level. i went my local hd to buy some, and could not find 1 employee to cut it up for me.. so i decide that it would be fine in it's 8feet by 4feet condition i pay for it, leave the store.. and took 5steps and a big gust of wind came and cracked my sheet into 2 pieces, one of which i had to chase 1/2way through the parking lot to retrieve. i get the pieces in the car, and go to my cheap local pet store for filter media. i walk in and find they re-arranged the store lately and i can't find anything i need. so after more time spent.. i learn they don't carry media for my one canister filter anymore (arg!) and after making some compromises on media and gravel selection i leave the store.. get about 100feet from the house when i remember i forgot to buy tubing for the canister plumbing and fittings for the bio wheel i planned to used. so after debating i decided i would buy the stuff tomorrow (today)
so after positioning the foam, i deiced to scrub the filters one last time. i finished up with my aqua clear and reassembled it and test ran it to find it making a cracking sound.. so after inspection i learned the impeller (which only had a few months use) needed to be replaced, so i replaced it with the last one i had on hand, fired the filter back up and found it has a crack running down over the entire water intake area and leaking like a sieve. i emailed hagen a few minutes ago to find out how much a new filter case will run.. but got a 'you will get a response from us in 3-5business days' i know they will be quicker than that (dear lord, i hope so) but still.. and i know thatpetplace.com sells a new aqua clear 300 for 35bucks.. and i payed like 60 for mine back in 93ish..
and so concludes.. the story for past few days, i am sure i will run into another calamity in a few hrs.. stay tuned.. if you like listening to some have uber bad luck....
bry
and thanks for reading.
