More like a nightmare! That was probably the worst hour I've had to deal with the whole time I've had fish.
My new tank (75) was set up, filters running, warmed up, etc. So I bought four 1.5 inch silver dollars. They seemed fine on the way home - until I put them in the bucket to acclimate. They all promptly flipped over on their sides, and looked like they were ready to die. I was tying a knot in the air-tube, which I use to siphon water from the tank to the bucket. The knot keeps it from filling the bucket too quick. I knocked the bucket with about half a gallon of water in it off the step-stool, falling 2 feet to the ground.
Fish and water went everywhere. This is when the screaming inside my head begins.
I picked them up and put them in the bucket, and mopped up all the water with a (more like 4) towel. I added a cup of tank water to the bucket, but realized acclimating was now impossible since the original water was gone. So I dumped them in the tank...where the instantly begin swimming normally. Possum fish, or what?
Then I went to get the filter media for the filter out of my other tank, where I put it to collect some bacteria. That wasn't too tough...until I tried putting the 4 media baskets (fluval 404 is the filter) into it. They stack on top of each other, and will hold together as long as they don't bear to much weight. Apparently 4 bags of ceramic biomedia is too heavy. I was a moron and was only holding the top one, and the bottom 3 fell off, sending media and water all over the inside of my stand. More screaming inside my head.
I picked them up and put them in the filter, which involved digging one ceramic noodle out of the pump part of the filter. Put the lid on, attach hoses, etc. Then I turn it on...and it won't prime. Ah! the 'aqua-stop' valve is engaged - it keeps water from flowing through the hoses if you want it to. Fixed that problem.
So i try to start it again, and in the process of using the little pump that primes the filter, I managed to pull the output hose out of the tank, and water goes everywhere (third time in an hour) so I extract myself from the stand and grab the hose, and put it back in the tank. Get more towels, mop up water, etc. So finally...FINALLY...I get the filter started, and everything seems to be going good.
That was freakin' terrible! Learn from my mistakes, this was an absolute nightmare.
My new tank (75) was set up, filters running, warmed up, etc. So I bought four 1.5 inch silver dollars. They seemed fine on the way home - until I put them in the bucket to acclimate. They all promptly flipped over on their sides, and looked like they were ready to die. I was tying a knot in the air-tube, which I use to siphon water from the tank to the bucket. The knot keeps it from filling the bucket too quick. I knocked the bucket with about half a gallon of water in it off the step-stool, falling 2 feet to the ground.
Fish and water went everywhere. This is when the screaming inside my head begins.
I picked them up and put them in the bucket, and mopped up all the water with a (more like 4) towel. I added a cup of tank water to the bucket, but realized acclimating was now impossible since the original water was gone. So I dumped them in the tank...where the instantly begin swimming normally. Possum fish, or what?
Then I went to get the filter media for the filter out of my other tank, where I put it to collect some bacteria. That wasn't too tough...until I tried putting the 4 media baskets (fluval 404 is the filter) into it. They stack on top of each other, and will hold together as long as they don't bear to much weight. Apparently 4 bags of ceramic biomedia is too heavy. I was a moron and was only holding the top one, and the bottom 3 fell off, sending media and water all over the inside of my stand. More screaming inside my head.
I picked them up and put them in the filter, which involved digging one ceramic noodle out of the pump part of the filter. Put the lid on, attach hoses, etc. Then I turn it on...and it won't prime. Ah! the 'aqua-stop' valve is engaged - it keeps water from flowing through the hoses if you want it to. Fixed that problem.
So i try to start it again, and in the process of using the little pump that primes the filter, I managed to pull the output hose out of the tank, and water goes everywhere (third time in an hour) so I extract myself from the stand and grab the hose, and put it back in the tank. Get more towels, mop up water, etc. So finally...FINALLY...I get the filter started, and everything seems to be going good.
That was freakin' terrible! Learn from my mistakes, this was an absolute nightmare.
