Rebuilding an old abandoned 29g

[FishHobby99]

Ok. This is one for the native speakers, which I am not, but I think I can explain at least part of the phrase. "Goober" is just another name for "peanut", so if I were to write this in more formal English it would be:

"Those are not goobers, they are just peanuts"

I'm not entirely sure of the meaning of the idiom. It's a slang phrase which I believe means something like "that's the plain truth" (esa es la pura verdad). But I really don't know, this is a question for the native speakers here.

No, not yet. It's next Friday.

You’re not a native speaker? Coulda fooled me! And you did.

 

[FishHobby99]

Hopefully the more shaded tank will make your cories wander around the tank a lot! What cories do you have? (I don't think I've seen a journal about your tank? If you have one, just point me to it!)

They are albino cory cats. I‘m a rank amateur & not journal worthy. Been doing fish since all of 7/21.

 

[wgoldfarb]

You’re not a native speaker? Coulda fooled me! And you did.

Thank you for saying that!

My native language is Spanish and I was born and raised in Venezuela, but I attended college and grad school in the US, all my professional experience has been in English-speaking companies, and I have now lived in the US for almost 30 years (first in Pennsylvania for 7 years, now 22 in DC). For all practical purposes I have "native fluency" in English, both oral and written (although I do have a slight Spanish accent in English, which becomes more noticeable when I am nervous. I tell myself that it's "sexy" ). My parents were European, so I'm also somewhat fluent in French, but nowhere near native.

The mathematically inclined of you out there will have noted that since I have lived in the US for 30 years, I must have moved here when I was... <doing math on my head>... Ah, yes, two months old.

 

[wgoldfarb]

They are albino cory cats. I‘m a rank amateur & not journal worthy. Been doing fish since all of 7/21.

First of all, I am sure you are journal worthy.

I started keeping my first journal from day 1, and I hadn't even started my first tank yet! I have seen from your posts that you have more than one tank, so you are already well ahead of where I was when I started keeping my first journal.

But the truth is that keeping a journal is not necessarily for others, it's also for yourself. Just now I'm going back and reading my old journal from a few years ago, and the notes I took back then of the problems I had or the things I did were a very good refresher. There are a lot of tricks and things I had forgotten!

But if you'd rather not start a journal, you're more than welcome to post stuff about your tank on my thread! That way at least some posts here will have fish in them, since I still don't

 

[FishHobby99]

Thank you for saying that!

My native language is Spanish and I was born and raised in Venezuela, but I attended college and grad school in the US, all my professional experience has been in English-speaking companies, and I have now lived in the US for almost 30 years (first in Pennsylvania for 7 years, now 22 in DC). For all practical purposes I have "native fluency" in English, both oral and written (although I do have a slight Spanish accent in English, which becomes more noticeable when I am nervous. I tell myself that it's "sexy" ). My parents were European, so I'm also somewhat fluent in French, but nowhere near native.

The mathematically inclined of you out there will have noted that since I have lived in the US for 30 years, I must have moved here when I was... <doing math on my head>... Ah, yes, two months old.

Always wish I took Spanish rather than French in high school & college. Taught at a high school in California where 90% of the students were from Spanish speaking countries. Would have been great to be able to communicate with their parents etc.

Yes, I read all about you coming from Venezuela & beginning undergrad as a whiny little toddler.

 

[FishHobby99]

First of all, I am sure you are journal worthy.

I started keeping my first journal from day 1, and I hadn't even started my first tank yet! I have seen from your posts that you have more than one tank, so you are already well ahead of where I was when I started keeping my first journal.

But the truth is that keeping a journal is not necessarily for others, it's also for yourself. Just now I'm going back and reading my old journal from a few years ago, and the notes I took back then of the problems I had or the things I did were a very good refresher. There are a lot of tricks and things I had forgotten!

But if you'd rather not start a journal, you're more than welcome to post stuff about your tank on my thread! That way at least some posts here will have fish in them, since I still don't

Why, thank you! I do wish I kept better notes for myself, but not online. Plain old paper notebook.

 

[wgoldfarb]

Yes, I read all about you coming from Venezuela & beginning undergrad as a whiny little toddler.

Hey, I resent that remark. Whiny, yes. Little, yes. But toddler??? Nope. I'm a whiny, little, full grown adult!

Ok. Enough procrastinating. I'm off to work on the tank for a bit. It's been a few days...

 

[wgoldfarb]

Ok. I'm going to derail the thread for a moment with tank-related stuff

After procrastinating for a few days, last night I took out the driftwood. It is attached to a piece of slate which was buried under the sand. I took it outside, hosed it down to get rid of all the sand, let it sit overnight to dry, and just now I unscrewed the DW from the slate.

The DW is falling apart so I will just toss it.

Next I will get all the sand and gunk off of the tank, to get the tank ready for a thorough wash.

 

[MonsieurLaGrenuoille]

Well done! Keep it up! And thanks a lot to everybody, I'm learning much of the language and some more other things!

 

[itiwhetu]

First of all, I am sure you are journal worthy.

I started keeping my first journal from day 1, and I hadn't even started my first tank yet! I have seen from your posts that you have more than one tank, so you are already well ahead of where I was when I started keeping my first journal.

But the truth is that keeping a journal is not necessarily for others, it's also for yourself. Just now I'm going back and reading my old journal from a few years ago, and the notes I took back then of the problems I had or the things I did were a very good refresher. There are a lot of tricks and things I had forgotten!

But if you'd rather not start a journal, you're more than welcome to post stuff about your tank on my thread! That way at least some posts here will have fish in them, since I still don't

Love Spanish first word I learnt was Cerveza second word was Bano.

 

[FishHobby99]

Well done! Keep it up! And thanks a lot to everybody, I'm learning much of the language and some more other things!

I can teach you to cuss in my Native American language, a skill not widely mastered

 

[wgoldfarb]

I managed some progress today. I used a gardening hand trowel to dig out as much sand as I could from the tank (along with all the other gunk that was in the sand).

I tried to save the two plants that were there, but unfortunately I couldn't. The sand was quite compacted and covered by a THICK carpet of algae and other unidentified stuff. They were both up against a corner and hard to get to. I couldn't manage to dig out the plants from under all that.

As soon as I disturbed the sand I felt a strong sulfur smell, and a lot of the sand underneath the surface was stained black. I'm assuming these are the same bacteria that were inside the filter. It convinced me I need to disinfect everything thoroughly with bleach before reusing. I read in a couple of posts on this thread that disinfecting with bleach is safe, as long as you rinse thoroughly and let whatever you disinfected dry out completely before using it. Apparently the chlorine will just evaporate. So, that is what I will do.

There is small amount of sand left that I wasn't able to remove with the trowel:

My plan is to add a few inches of water to the tank, and hopefully siphon the sand out with the water. Then I'll take the tank outside, hose it down, and give a good rub with vinegar and magic erasers (thanks Jan for the tip!). Will post the results once that's done!

 

[Tacocat]

 

[FishHobby99]

I emptied an unused 20 G tank the other day, scooped sand out with a plastic measuring cup & then used a spatula to move sand to one side, making the sand deep enough to be scooped. A little remains & maybe I can take a shop vac to it when dry. Wet sand is heavy!

 

[wgoldfarb]

Wet sand is heavy!

Yes! Mine was wet, tightly packed, and "protected" by a thick carpet of algae. I don't think I could have used a plastic cup, in many places I had really dig the trowel into the mess! On a very good note, though, I managed to get what must have been over 40 pounds of wet sand, algae and other "stuff" out of the tank, without making a mess on the floor!