Bad Day

[TwoTankAmin]

This afternoon when looking for a small piece of hinnge in a stack of boxes under the 150 gal. I discovered a bunch of water where it should not be. It was a ouddle in a box lid/ I jad dome a big bleaing of the tank recently and I was hoping I had missed spillong water when working on it. So I dried up the water and felt around and felt water on the botto, hlass. I hoped it had run there abd tgen dripped down. So I set up a test and was cheking one and odd for new water/

I found it about 30 minutes ago. There is no daoubt that he tank ahd a very slow leak in the bottom. I worked all day on other stuff and am sinply too tired to deal with it tonight. I have it set up so the water will not be a rpoblem and I hope the leak will not worsem overnight. But tomorrow I have a very long day. Fortun. The 125 gal. which I wmptied months ago is still in the room and very near the 150. The problem will tbe moveing it all over. There is and under tank with tge 125 and it cannot be removed even though it is empty. The fanister on the 150 will have to go inside the under tank. I can not move either stand or tank.

The 150 holds my 9 clown loaches including the biggest at 1 foot and the next biggest at 10 inches. I am not sure I have a net bid enough. I am not sure how O will hamdle it all. What I so know is I have to move everything tomorrow and do so in a way the move will not harne the filtration. there are 3 fiolters on the tank, big soze gravel on the bottoms and a ton of wood with anubias on it.

I am 77 and recently and no longer full of get up and go. I hope this doesn't kill me.....

Here iss a pic of the tank from 2022

There is more stuff in it than in that pic but the biggest clown is no longer there. I lost it a few months after that pic was taken. It was about 23 years old.

*SIGH*

 

[GaryE]

At least you seem to have caught it before it drained out. Old tanks...

 

[Back in the fold]

That’s only happened to me once . A tiny seep on a twenty gallon . You have a big job ahead of you Man . Catching those Clown Loaches is going to be a feat in itself . Good luck !

 

[TwoTankAmin]

I started almost 3 hours ago. I have most of the stuff in the room moved out. I had two big challenges. The first is the 40L under the 125. It can only get punt underor be removed if I take anything between the tank end and the wall out of the way. This included a book case filled with all sorts of things and then an empty 10 and 20 gal tank stacked vertically. Removing the tank requires that it be done at a 45 degree angle and slid out until it is vertical and free of the stand. Then the hand truck to move it onto the deck outside where it will get cleaned and then be added to the terrace with all the tanks, stands, l;ids and other stuff I will be listing for sale- pick-up only.

One the under tank was out came the 2nd challenge. The 125 and the 40L under it ran on a single DAPMH15 "
Diaphragm Air Pumps: Professional grade continuous duty pumps Economical pumps with higher outputs"
Som the stanf and tank were closer to the wall than the 150. i needed to pu;; the tank one the stand 3 inches further from the wall so the H.O.T. Magnum and the AquaClear 110 could hang on the back. The main filter is an Eheim Pro II 2o26.

I am on a break writing this. In a few minutes a I will figure out how to move stuff and begin doing so. I am prepared to have to do this over two days. I have to move the riser on which the canister sits to shorten the ose length some and reduce the height of hte water being lifted. The shore it is the higher the return gph get.

I had been toying with a plan to allow me to keep ny clowns to the very end and be the last tank to go. The plan required the 125 yank would go out but its stand would then be cut down so that it would be poxssble for me move the 150 onto the shortened stand and thus be able to work in it without needing a step small Aframe ladder. I am thinking I may have to change the plans I may have to let the two big clowns go and keep the other 7 and move them all into an empty 75. Maybe even back into th inwall 75.

I am really wanting to get down to well under mu current 12 tank total. One is a 29 with only shrimp amd snails to serve as Q if I need to addfew filler fish. 4 ranks are all related to my final pleco breeding group, the WC L173, and their offsrping plus the final 4 or 5 RB line superwhite 236 offspring I kept as fry when I soldall the rest. I have te=he the 236 in a divided 33L with 17 173 fry in the other1/2.then I have a33 Lunderneathit which hold 21 L173 offspting 1- 1.5+ inch 173 kids. inally there is another 33L with 20 more 173 kids of which 19 are sold. Finally there is a 33L with the breeding group I have now had since I got them Oct. 8, 2015. It was at CatCon the following year that Ingo and Dale put me bacl on track to get them to begin spawning.

Enough stalling, its time to get rear in gear.....

 

[GaryE]

Hang in there.
I can almost guarantee you won't be putting that one in the tank of the month for larger tanks this time around.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

I worked hard but could not get it all done yesterday. I got too tired/ I had just moved the riser for the canister and then the cansister wjem I realized I need at least another hour to hook up the hoses and then to drain the leaker to a very shallow level to catch the huge clown and rhe redline barbs which will leap feet into the air to avoid being caught. I had managed to move the other 5 clowns and set up the 125 with the other two filters on it. The 125 is all set save for moving the canister.

The leaker was almost empty except for one huge cave and about 16 inches of water. So I pulled a big anubias from the 29 gal. Q tank and added it to the 150/ Then I had to add a lot of water to it so the plant was submerged. Both tanks should have been fine overnight and I am close to going back to work. I figure it will take a couple of hours to get it all done.

And then there are several hours of returning all the things I had to remove from the room in order to make the move and to empty the 150 of water. I had to cut diown a couple of the plants because the 125 is not as deep as the 150 and a few of the plants were not completely submerged when they went into the 125.

I was supposed to be taking a week off after a procedure last Tuesday. I was warned the recover could take that long. Fortunately it all went well and I recovered faster than average. I am too old for this stuff

 

[GaryE]

From the progress you've made in a rotten situation, you aren't too old to do this stuff. Too old to enjoy doing it, maybe.

No fun.

 

[Back in the fold]

That’s a lot of work Man . A lot of work .

 

[anewbie]

Man if my 600 springs a leak i'm gonna cry.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

I got it finished. I had to redo all the wiring as the tank was not set up with power strips. I need to plug in 3 filter, 2 heats and two lights.

The big clown was easy. I left it no place to hide but a big cave. Once it was inside I just lifted out the cave and dumped the fish into the 125. The big challenge was catching the red line barbs. They are fast but am smarter. I lowered the water tp about 5 inches which made it a lot easier.

Almost everything I had to move out of the room is back where it belongs. ALl in all it was about a 10-12 hour project. I am looking forward to soaking in a hot bath tonight. My aches are sore......

I will see about getting a pic, tomorrow. My camera cable to connect it to the PC is flakey and I am ordering a new one. I don't use a smart phone so pics must come from a digicam. I think mine is about a decade old now....