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- #1
Warning! This is a LONG post! But, it is broken up by day, so feel free to skip to any section you might want to. Thanks!
6/20/2008:
Woohoo! Friday! This was the last full day that Donovan would be here until he goes back home to his Mom for a month. So, I got off work, picked the little guy up from daycare, and went home. He decided he wanted to play Halo 3 with dear old Dad and wanted to have dinner at a local pizza buffet. We did that, got him home, packed and in bed. No tears yet!
Somewhere in all that MorI got fed. While Donovan was laying down and watching TV to go to sleep I hung out with our fishy friend for a while. He seems to really like the attention, and I have no problem giving it to him. Went to bed after watching MorI for about 45 minutes.
6/21/2008:
Donovan got on the plane bound for his Mom around 11:00 am. Still no tears, but that's cause he'll be back in a few weeks. Besides, he misses his Mom. Long story, but he hasn't seen here in several months. I left the airport and went home to start working on the 30g. I also found a LFS right down the street from where I live and wanted to check it out. Just wasn't sure what order to do everything in!
I figured I better un pack all of the goodies from Drs. Foster and Smith and take each thing out of its indivdual package to make sure everything was in order. I did that, got all the trash in one place and all of the documentation in another. Everything looks good! While doing all of this, I realized the hood and light that came with the other tank were in fine working order... The light was in NO danger of falling into the water... I was just a moron. So, now, I have an extra hood and light for a 30 inch long tank... Ugh.
After everything was unpacked, I needed to check and see if it was working, right? I mean...what if something was broken in a way that I couldn't see? Besides, I have a Python now! I can fill it and drain it real quick anyway. I know that Gabby and I need to get some new plants and aquascape the tank better, but I can at least get it set up to see how everything was working.
So, I hung the filter on the back of the tank, placed the heater where I thought it would be best and set the temperature, ran the air line into the tank and into the bubble wand, making sure to install an air check valve along the way, and cut out the right slots in the back of the hood. Everything looked good so far.
I then went about setting up the Python and getting it hooked to the kitchen sink. Hmmm, darn thing won't fit. Tried several configurations and read the instructions several times, but still no luck. I tried the bathroom sink but still no luck. Dang! I guessed I would need the universal adapter. Ugh. Well, I guess this was a good excuse to go out and see the LFS down the road.
I ventured out, got some lunch, and stopped by The Salty Fin. Looked, from the outside, like a Saltwater place, but maybe they do both. I walked in, and it was truly a hole in the wall type of place. But, they were making good use of the space and had a lot of tanks set up, both Marine and Fresh. I just browsed for a while and said hello to the one fella that was in the place and filling tanks.
They had a lot of different fish but not much in the way of supplies. I asked the guy working there if they could order fish that were not on display and he said that sure could. That was cool. I also asked him if they sold any starter bacteria (this is my litmus test for the employees). He said, "Like BIO-Spira? Nah, we don't carry it. It is expensive and hard to keep and doesn't always work anyway." I figured this guy is on a good start already just by knowing what it was!
We talked for a while, and he did seem fairly knowledgeable. He did make some funny suggestions like "If you are going to get a Cichlid tank, make sure you overstock it. It's never worked for me, but the owner of this place swears by it." He said this while pointing to a 75 gallon tank with about 25 various Cichlid's in it.... Wow.
They did not, however, have the universal adapter for the Python, so I figured I'd try Petsmart next. Drove over, but no luck there either. So, Pet's Barn it is... Nope. Dang!
Went back home, a little bummed. Tried fitting the Python onto the bathroom sink again, thinking maybe I missed something. While doing this (and probably cussing a little bit) I figured out I was a total moron and DID miss something. The instructions talk about removing a particular washer if the adapter doesn't fit but I thought they meant a DIFFERENT washer... Ugh. I removed the RIGHT washer and it fit right onto the bathroom sink! Sweet!
So, I began filling the tank. As I did so, I kept thinking, "Dang! This Python thing ROCKS!" drool
Pic 1 - New tank. Barren but with water!
So after I filled the tank, I went over to talk to MasaharI Morimoto about it. He seemed excited about it. I continued re-assuring him that I would really try to get him to be part of the community that would soon be there, but if he mis-behaved at all, he would have to come back to his 5 gallon apartment. But then, I started feeling bad... MorI was all stuck in this 5 gallon tank when there was a 30 gallon over there sitting empty...
No... But, I could at least put the plants and decor back into the big tank. Make it look nice, you know. So, I did that. Still needed some help, but it looked alright. I went back over to MorI and began feeling all sad again...
So I caved... I took the BIO-Wheel from his tank and all of the large river stones from his tank and put them into a cut off piece of panty hose. I tied a knot in them and hung them in the 30g. I took the filter cartridge from the 5 gallon hex and placed it into the extra media slot of the filter on the 30g. I also took Mori's toy from his tank and put it in the 30g. With all of that, there HAD to be enough good bacteria. I felt confident.
I got MorI in his little cup and began acclimating him to the 30 gallon (my first acclimation since finding Fishlore.com!). I took it real slow as I wanted everything to be okay. After about an hour, I introduced him to the tank.
It took him a bit to get used to everything and he stuck to the left hand corners (with the filter) but everything seemed to be fine. A lot of room for the little guy!
Gabby came home later and saw what I had did. She just laughed and said we needed to get to the store to buy some more decorations and plants for the tank. First thing tomorrow!
6/22/2008:
I got up early (too excited!) and went to check on MorI while letting Gabby sleep. He was already up and swimming around. He seemed to be checking out a little bit more of the tank and was a bit more settled down. "That's good," I thought. Gabby got up a little while later but it was still too early and Petsmart wasn't open yet. So, we went to the gym.
After the gym, another shower, and NOW Petsmart was open! It was Gabby's first time there, so I showed her their display of fish and she got some better ideas of what she'd like to stock in the tank. We kind of settled on 6 Tiger Barbs, 3 Corydoras, and a male Swordtail.
After browsing through the fish, we went down the decorations isle. She saw tons of stuff she'd like to do for "the next, bigger tank." YES! MTS anyone?
We found some taller plants that we thought would look good in the tank and back home we went. I drained the water about 25% and we got our hands wet! Took us a while, but Gabby finally got the tank looking like she wanted.
Pic 2-5 - The new tank all setup. What do ya think?
I kept an eye on MorI throughout the evening. He must really like the tank better now cause he goes everywhere and I found him sleeping peacefully in several places. But, he scared the heck out of me! I thought he was dead several times! But, more about that tomorrow.
Opinions welcome!
6/20/2008:
Woohoo! Friday! This was the last full day that Donovan would be here until he goes back home to his Mom for a month. So, I got off work, picked the little guy up from daycare, and went home. He decided he wanted to play Halo 3 with dear old Dad and wanted to have dinner at a local pizza buffet. We did that, got him home, packed and in bed. No tears yet!
Somewhere in all that MorI got fed. While Donovan was laying down and watching TV to go to sleep I hung out with our fishy friend for a while. He seems to really like the attention, and I have no problem giving it to him. Went to bed after watching MorI for about 45 minutes.
6/21/2008:
Donovan got on the plane bound for his Mom around 11:00 am. Still no tears, but that's cause he'll be back in a few weeks. Besides, he misses his Mom. Long story, but he hasn't seen here in several months. I left the airport and went home to start working on the 30g. I also found a LFS right down the street from where I live and wanted to check it out. Just wasn't sure what order to do everything in!
I figured I better un pack all of the goodies from Drs. Foster and Smith and take each thing out of its indivdual package to make sure everything was in order. I did that, got all the trash in one place and all of the documentation in another. Everything looks good! While doing all of this, I realized the hood and light that came with the other tank were in fine working order... The light was in NO danger of falling into the water... I was just a moron. So, now, I have an extra hood and light for a 30 inch long tank... Ugh.
After everything was unpacked, I needed to check and see if it was working, right? I mean...what if something was broken in a way that I couldn't see? Besides, I have a Python now! I can fill it and drain it real quick anyway. I know that Gabby and I need to get some new plants and aquascape the tank better, but I can at least get it set up to see how everything was working.
So, I hung the filter on the back of the tank, placed the heater where I thought it would be best and set the temperature, ran the air line into the tank and into the bubble wand, making sure to install an air check valve along the way, and cut out the right slots in the back of the hood. Everything looked good so far.
I then went about setting up the Python and getting it hooked to the kitchen sink. Hmmm, darn thing won't fit. Tried several configurations and read the instructions several times, but still no luck. I tried the bathroom sink but still no luck. Dang! I guessed I would need the universal adapter. Ugh. Well, I guess this was a good excuse to go out and see the LFS down the road.
I ventured out, got some lunch, and stopped by The Salty Fin. Looked, from the outside, like a Saltwater place, but maybe they do both. I walked in, and it was truly a hole in the wall type of place. But, they were making good use of the space and had a lot of tanks set up, both Marine and Fresh. I just browsed for a while and said hello to the one fella that was in the place and filling tanks.
They had a lot of different fish but not much in the way of supplies. I asked the guy working there if they could order fish that were not on display and he said that sure could. That was cool. I also asked him if they sold any starter bacteria (this is my litmus test for the employees). He said, "Like BIO-Spira? Nah, we don't carry it. It is expensive and hard to keep and doesn't always work anyway." I figured this guy is on a good start already just by knowing what it was!
We talked for a while, and he did seem fairly knowledgeable. He did make some funny suggestions like "If you are going to get a Cichlid tank, make sure you overstock it. It's never worked for me, but the owner of this place swears by it." He said this while pointing to a 75 gallon tank with about 25 various Cichlid's in it.... Wow.
They did not, however, have the universal adapter for the Python, so I figured I'd try Petsmart next. Drove over, but no luck there either. So, Pet's Barn it is... Nope. Dang!
Went back home, a little bummed. Tried fitting the Python onto the bathroom sink again, thinking maybe I missed something. While doing this (and probably cussing a little bit) I figured out I was a total moron and DID miss something. The instructions talk about removing a particular washer if the adapter doesn't fit but I thought they meant a DIFFERENT washer... Ugh. I removed the RIGHT washer and it fit right onto the bathroom sink! Sweet!
So, I began filling the tank. As I did so, I kept thinking, "Dang! This Python thing ROCKS!" drool
Pic 1 - New tank. Barren but with water!
So after I filled the tank, I went over to talk to MasaharI Morimoto about it. He seemed excited about it. I continued re-assuring him that I would really try to get him to be part of the community that would soon be there, but if he mis-behaved at all, he would have to come back to his 5 gallon apartment. But then, I started feeling bad... MorI was all stuck in this 5 gallon tank when there was a 30 gallon over there sitting empty...
No... But, I could at least put the plants and decor back into the big tank. Make it look nice, you know. So, I did that. Still needed some help, but it looked alright. I went back over to MorI and began feeling all sad again...
So I caved... I took the BIO-Wheel from his tank and all of the large river stones from his tank and put them into a cut off piece of panty hose. I tied a knot in them and hung them in the 30g. I took the filter cartridge from the 5 gallon hex and placed it into the extra media slot of the filter on the 30g. I also took Mori's toy from his tank and put it in the 30g. With all of that, there HAD to be enough good bacteria. I felt confident.
I got MorI in his little cup and began acclimating him to the 30 gallon (my first acclimation since finding Fishlore.com!). I took it real slow as I wanted everything to be okay. After about an hour, I introduced him to the tank.
It took him a bit to get used to everything and he stuck to the left hand corners (with the filter) but everything seemed to be fine. A lot of room for the little guy!
Gabby came home later and saw what I had did. She just laughed and said we needed to get to the store to buy some more decorations and plants for the tank. First thing tomorrow!
6/22/2008:
I got up early (too excited!) and went to check on MorI while letting Gabby sleep. He was already up and swimming around. He seemed to be checking out a little bit more of the tank and was a bit more settled down. "That's good," I thought. Gabby got up a little while later but it was still too early and Petsmart wasn't open yet. So, we went to the gym.
After the gym, another shower, and NOW Petsmart was open! It was Gabby's first time there, so I showed her their display of fish and she got some better ideas of what she'd like to stock in the tank. We kind of settled on 6 Tiger Barbs, 3 Corydoras, and a male Swordtail.
After browsing through the fish, we went down the decorations isle. She saw tons of stuff she'd like to do for "the next, bigger tank." YES! MTS anyone?
We found some taller plants that we thought would look good in the tank and back home we went. I drained the water about 25% and we got our hands wet! Took us a while, but Gabby finally got the tank looking like she wanted.
Pic 2-5 - The new tank all setup. What do ya think?
I kept an eye on MorI throughout the evening. He must really like the tank better now cause he goes everywhere and I found him sleeping peacefully in several places. But, he scared the heck out of me! I thought he was dead several times! But, more about that tomorrow.
Opinions welcome!
