Unforeseen Complications!

[eaglesaquarium]

Well, I went to my LFS to pick up my 56 gallon tank, the one I've been planning on! Great news, right? Yup. I got it home, I unpacked it and everything is going great. I leveled the stand (well, it was basically level already, I just added a single tiny shim to one corner. Then I put the tank on top. I placed the glass canopy on the top and everything looked to be going great! Then....


I disconnected the Penguin 350 I have been cycling on a smaller tank. It was time to move it to its permanent location. I carry it over to the tank, and I see the black plastic cross beam on the tank. Ok, so the filter will have to be off center. No big deal... NOPE. The filter is about 1-2 inches too wide for that to happen. So, I have purchased a filter that doesn't actually fit on the tank I bought it for. , all because of this stupid black plastic brace! Cutting it off just doesn't seem like an option, because unfortunately the brace is there to prevent any bowing to the upper portion of the tank. (in fact that is one of the instructions with the tank... do not remove the brace!)


I have emailed Marineland about the problem to see what solution they can offer, since both pieces of equipment are THEIRS.



Any solution has to have a completely CLEAN look to it, because this tank will be sitting in our dining room as a show tank.


I am just so upset right now, I can't even begin to express it!

 

[waterdrop]

I feel for ya! This happens all the time in the hobby. The actual physical sizes of things are very unforgiving and it is very easy to assume things will work. As you get older it tends to make you paranoid and you do lots of measuring!

Hopefully you'll get it worked out, there is probably some way to make some sort of intermediate thing and make it work or someone will have a clever idea.

If it gets really bad I'll put a thought in the back of your head. A nice big 56G tank would actually benefit from a significantly sized external cannister filter (an Eheim Pro II or a Rena XP3 or some sort of allpond or tetratec.) This would give you larger media volume and a bit more flexibility with trays (in fact, the mature media from the HOB wheel filter would probably fill a portion of one tray.

Anyway that's just a bug of a thought as I know it would probably feel like a huge change in plans and probably too much of an unplanned expense.

WD

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Thanks WD...


The Penguin fit on my 10 gallon! So I never even considered that it wouldn't fit on a 56! I thought about an external, and I might need to go there. What really steams me is the fact that this is made by the same company and Marineland even mentions that you should use one of their filters (specifically naming the Penguin and the fact that they offer a capacity up to 75 gallons, which is the Penguin 350 that I purchased!) In other words, I bought the Penguin 350, because they recommended it!!! And they don't work together!

Not to mention that my cycle is not going well now... My evening has not been a good one with regards to fishkeeping. (And to top it off, the Phillies are getting bombed by Jason Giambi - 3 Home Runs in one game for a bench player at this stage of his career!)

 

[waterdrop]

Glad you mentioned about the cycle as I meant to comment on it in your other thread but clicked your link and went over here. Don't get upset about blips like this, they happen and the best thing is of course to carefully check your pH and see if it has headed down a little faster. As you know that can quickly slow the cycling process.

(I won't comment on the Phillies as I grew up getting to go to the Pirates stadium occasionally. ) (but I did live near Swarthmore college for a while and love Philly! lol)

WD

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Glad you mentioned about the cycle as I meant to comment on it in your other thread but clicked your link and went over here. Don't get upset about blips like this, they happen and the best thing is of course to carefully check your pH and see if it has headed down a little faster. As you know that can quickly slow the cycling process.

(I won't comment on the Phillies as I grew up getting to go to the Pirates stadium occasionally. ) (but I did live near Swarthmore college for a while and love Philly! lol)

WD

No kidding, you lived near Swarthmore?! I had two student teachers work with me from there and I teach at a local high school! Small world! It's kind of a shame that the Pirates have made themselves into a AAA club.



Yeah, I'm trying to figure out what happened with my cycle. My pH did drop from about 8.4 to 7.6 in a period of a few days. It was at 7.4 when I did the water change yesterday. Maybe that is all it is, but with the other events of the day (tank SNAFU), the cycle is just a bit of an upsetting cherry on the top of a not so tasty sundae. I was expecting to be able to move the filter over to the bigger tank tonight, but those plans have now drastically changed and I am looking into new plans.

I had considered an external filter, but the price kind of pushed me back to power filters. The Penguin is a good filter. It's handled a couple of turtles in a 50 gallon tank at school for a 4 years now and hasn't had any issues, even with as messy as those suckers can be. We also kept some local fish in there as well, to teach the kids a bit about the local wildlife in the nearby creeks as a part of the environmental science classes. I'm just upset because the manufacturer of the two items (same company) recommended the product but didn't recognize that it wouldn't fit on a particular model. I can't wait to hear what Marineland answers back with to my complaint.

 

[KISSfn]

Hang in there Eagle! I feel your pain. Everyone said watching fish in an aquarium lowers blood pressure and is a relaxing experience.... I'll probably be upping my blood pressure meds soon. I have found this "hobby" is not for the faint of heart or those light in the wallet.... It will get better. At least that's what I keep telling myself.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Thanks for the encouragement. I think I will end up going with a Penguin 200. (It's rated up to 50 gallons, and that's just about what I will have by the time all the other stuff is added to the tank. Plus I have the Azoo sponge filter that I can add if necessary.) The 200 will have less surface area for biological filtration as it is currently setup but there is space inside the back for ceramics to be added.


Ultimately, I may add a second one, if Marineland gives me a satisfactory answer about what they are going to do... I bought the 350 because of their statement regarding its ability to be used with this tank. Ultimately, I'm just not happy with them.

 

[Smells a bit fishy]

Well if you scpecificly bought the tank for that filter to go in or vice-versa then can't you ask for compensation. Return the filter and get an external one instead?

Just a thought......

Edit: just re-read last post. Ask them if you can return the filter and buy an external one instead.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

I bought the filter, because the tank had a sign on it that said to use a Penguin, and mentioned that you could use one up to 75 gallons. The only one that is rated up to 75 gallons is the Penguin 350. (In other words, their advice was bad. That is their fault, in my opinion.)



I will be asking to return it, and a refund of the purchase price (or exchange for a 200 + the difference). None of the places that I purchased these items from had the dimensions of the issue in question. No where was the dimension of the filter made known. No where was the width of the opening at the top of the tank made known. So, I trusted the manufacturer, since it was the same company that the two would mix... They do not. Yes, I probably should not have believed them, but at the same time, I don't believe that they should mention using a Penguin 350 on a tank that it won't fit into.

 

[Miles_hot]

Hang in there Eagle! I feel your pain. Everyone said watching fish in an aquarium lowers blood pressure and is a relaxing experience.... I'll probably be upping my blood pressure meds soon. I have found this "hobby" is not for the faint of heart or those light in the wallet.... It will get better. At least that's what I keep telling myself.

Only because the pressure has been raised by the preceding period of stress It can then relax down to the "normal" level

 

[eaglesaquarium]

I think it must lower the blood pressure for everyone BUT the person who is in charge, and maybe eventually for the experienced fishkeeper. Right now, my blood pressure has been driven UP a bit by all of this. Hopefully when I actually have FISH, my blood pressure will normalize and even have some benefit. Primarily, I can't wait to watch my son react to the fish and all the things they do.

 

[Tizer]

all the things they do.

which isnt much...

 

[Smells a bit fishy]

all the things they do.

which isnt much...

Nope. If it's anything like my angel. Just sort of swims about a bit, eats and poos lol. Ruby barbs are fairly active. My gourami hardly does anything though lol

 

[eaglesaquarium]

all the things they do.

which isnt much...

To him, that won't be the case. I'm getting shoalers for that behavior, corydoras for their sifting through sand and shoaling activities, etc. Then I will be getting rams and/or apistogrammas, so there could be some spawning and brooding behaviors as well.

He gets fired up when animals do simple things...

 

[Smells a bit fishy]

Messed up don't worry!!