RE: My Series of Disasters!

[<barbie@fishaholics.org>]

Are you sure it's the tanks leaking, and not the filters?  I'd think the
odds of 2 tanks leaking in that short of a time frame would be pretty slim,
personally.  The styrofoam trick works well for leveling stands, or even
cutting a piece of wood the right size, as long as you have time to paint
it or seal it somehow so it doesn't swell if (when in my case) you get it
wet.

As long as you have the 10 gallon tanks set up, I wouldn't worry about the
new tank recycling.  Just feed about 1/2 what you normally would for the
first 3 or 4 weeks, do twice as many water changes, and swish the filter
media from the 10 gallon tanks out in the "new" tank a couple times a
week.  If you've got nitrite and ammonia test kits, you can keep an eye on
your levels and do water changes as needed.  The cycling process doesn't
have to be stressful, and your fish should be relatively able to withstand
low levels of toxins.  If in doubt, do an extra 30% water change!

Barbie




>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: owner-gsas-member@thekrib.com
> [mailto:owner-gsas-member@thekrib.com]
>> On Behalf Of AuntieFran@comcast.net
>> Sent: Friday, July 02, 2004 2:20 PM
>> To: gsas-member@thekrib.com; gsas-member@thekrib.com
>> Subject: My Series of Disasters!
>>
>> Last week (June 23 to be exact) while watching the baseball game on
> TV, I
>> looked at my 29T and the water level was down about 2" from where it
> was
>> following a water change the day before. Whoops! There must be a leak.
>> Sure enough! I set about moving fish to other tanks while hubby called
> the
>> LFS. Yes, they had another 29T in stock.
>> He went and got the new tank while I drained the old one. By the time
> he
>> got back we were both exhausted. Since he gets up at 4:30 in the
> morning,
>> we decided to go to bed. I moved filters and driftwood to the
> overcrowded
>> 10G tanks. In the morning I set about moving the gravel from one tank
> to
>> the other and managed to have things up and running again. Problem? It
>> took about 18 hours to get everything finished.
>> By then, I'd lost the bacteria in/on the gravel, I'm sure. Sooo...we
> went
>> through a mini-cycle and things were really looking good yesterday.
>> Are you ready for this? I woke up this morning to find the water level
> in
>> the NEW 29T down about 4"; I think that translates to something like
> 6.5
>> gallons of water in the living room floor - AGAIN! Of course I had to
> wait
>> for the LFS to open, meanwhile moving fish, draining tank and, as long
> as
>> I had the Python out, changing water in all the other tanks.
>> I called the LFS at 9:00 sharp! No, they don't have another 29T in
> stock,
>> but have a 37T (same footprint). The general concensus is - and I have
> to
>> agree - is that the weight is somehow distorting the metal frame
> (which
>> incidentally was level) and causing the tank(s) to leak. I know that
> when
>> I looked over there last night I could see daylight between the center
> of
>> the stand and the center of the tank - not a good sign!
>> So, since I *still* can't drive (I had foot surgey in April), I sit
> here
>> waiting for hubby to come home so that we can 1) go buy a *good* stand
> for
>> the 37T (more water - that's good ) and drag all that stuff home, 2)
> put
>> the shower doors back up (they were taken down because I couldn't get
> into
>> the tub), 3) move his desk back against the wall (the shower doors
> have
>> been back there to protect them), 4) move the little (2" X 6")
> bookcase
>> back where it belongs (next to his desk), 5) put the stand where the
>> bookcase is/was) and re-establish my poor silver dollars and cherry
> barbs.
>> I've already lost two silver dollars (they were being treated for a
> fungus
>> when all this started on 6/23 and were obviously over-stressed with
> all
>> the activity of the past ten days and succumbed).
>> Will this ever end???
>> And now, the question: Once again, I've lost most of my biofilter.
> What
>> I'll have left is two pads of filter floss 4" X 12", a small bag of
>> ceramic beads (the contents are more than a snack-size ZipLoc and less
>> than sandwich-size). I can pull the filters from 5 other tanks (I
> didn't
>> wash them when I changed water this morning) and that's about it! I
> really
>> hesitate to dump this entire fish load (5 silver dollars, 10 cherry
> barbs,
>> and 1 bristlenose pleco)with no more than that to support it. My
> options
>> are to do that or move some of the fish to the 37T and leave the
> others
>> seriously overcrowded in 10G tanks. What do you think?
>> If I were to move all of them tonight, would AmmoLock help or hinder
> the
>> cycling process? Where is BioSpira now when I need them?
>> Your thoughts?
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Growing old is inevitable;
>> growing up is optional.
>>
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