Osage_Winter
Aquarium Advice FINatic
- Joined
- Sep 9, 2010
- Messages
- 807
Alright, folks...as I have been promising, I performed a good water change tonight -- actually, it was my wife who figured out how to use the stupid Top Fin gravel vac to make it suction the water...I'll get to that, but right now, because MORE of our home and carpets are soaked with water, and for a plethora of additional reasons, I'm really steamed right now, and it looks as though I am going back to my original sentiment of giving up on this hobby...
Okay. So, I watched a YouTube video that featured some hoochie-looking chick demonstrating how to use a gravel vac -- I tried to get some fast pointers on using these things once again, because I couldn't find the threads and posts from members here regarding detailed instructions (they were some old posts and threads, and I simply couldn't locate them)...
At any rate, after struggling to get any water up and through the Top Fin vac, no matter HOW MANY TIMES I pushed the stupid tube into the water, shook it, did the jerk motion, it did not suck the water up. My wife got up and helped me, and I don't know what she did, but suddenly the water started to pump into our bucket, and continued to flow freely, allowing us to do a good 30% change; in the midst, we sucked up some gunk from the gravel, too, but that just lead to bigger problems...
I added the Prime BEFORE putting fresh water back in, as suggested to me -- but I forgot to shut off the filters before doing the change, and as the water level dropped, the Aqueon filter made weird noises and eventually shut off. I realized it was because the water was so low in the tank, so I quickly pulled the plugs from both filters. Now, if that wasn't bad enough, I had to re-prime the AquaClear with tank water (what a PAIN) and all the while, water is being splashed all over the place as the filters started up again. Meanwhile, during the trips from the room our tank is in to the bathroom where the tub is carrying the bucket, a massive splash (my fault) of tank water cascaded out of the bucket and all over me, my feet and the expensive carpeting that was outside the bathtub. It's just disgusting, and now everything is SOAKED.
But you know what bugs me more than any of this? The fact that all the pushing and turbulence caused by the gravel vac, and the removal and subsequent addition of water, the plants, gravel and ornaments that were previously in PERFECT place in the tank are now messed up, de-rooted and the gravel has "dips" in it due to the cleaning, where previously, it was smooth and even. I can't STAND this; it's like every time you do maintenance, the whole aquascaping gets messed up -- even my bubble wands have sprung leaks somewhere, since turning them off and the new water hitting them, and now there are like sections of the wands not producing bubbles. This is just utterly ridiculous; on top of that, the evaporated water from the tank has caused disgusting crusty crud to form on the glass center brace and glass versa-tops, some of which was nearly IMPOSSIBLE to remove, even with glass cleaner (when the tops were off the tank, of course)...
Oh -- and I DID try to wipe the diatoms off with my fingers while doing this water change, and they WILL NOT come off. At all.
At this point, folks, I think I give up. People are telling me this is something that MUST get done on a WEEKLY or even DAILY basis with goldfish? There's NO WAY I can go through what we just went through on a weekly basis, ABSOLUTELY FORGET ABOUT on a daily basis. I understand this hobby takes some dedication, but this I'm just not cut out for, nor can I apply the dedication necessary due to my work schedule and other things. I simply cannot do CONSTANT water changes like this; our house is becoming a mess because of it, and I am not disrupting the tank like I just did every time we have to do one. NOTHING is in the position it was in the tank before the change...
Here's one more thing, which is really like a question -- how often would I have to replace the stupid carbon cartridges in the Aqueon filter? How do I know when they're loaded and need replacing? And, can I rinse these things off instead of replacing them every time they're dirty? The BB doesn't grow on these, do they? Just on the cheap plastic "bio grid" these filters come with, right?
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