Complete tank redo

[TammyLiz]

Considering the fact that I just had a baby less than four weeks ago it probably doesn't come as a surprise that I had no intentions to be doing a complete tear down and redo of my 55 gallon loach tank today. Circumstances have forced me into it, though. The back half of the tank is buckling, and is 1/2 inch lower than the front. If I am going to err, it will be on the side of caution, so I am about to evacuate fish and plants to that 20 gallon I keep talking about setting up, drain the 55, and fix the stand. I bought the stand used a year ago from someone who made it themselves. It is a nice looking piece of furniture but apparently they didn't properly support the back. I almost added extra supports before setting it up but I figured if they had used it without trouble, then why should I worry? But I was wrong. Its going to be quite the project. Baby is sleeping in the swing right now, hopefully he'll give me a decent chunk of time before I need to take a break and care for him again. Husband is at the hardware store picking up some 2x4's. This is one of those moments I really wish I had a python. Here I go with the buckets. Wish me luck.

[loachmom]

That job would overwhelm even me, and I'm not a new mommy. Keep your chin up!!!

And no HEAVY lifting!!!!!

[Graeme Robson]

Good luck TammyLiz. I'm sure it will be worth it.

[TammyLiz]

Well, things did not go as well as expected. After filling the smaller tank with mostly old tank-water, and transferring all the plants and hardware but one heater, I came down with a bad infection (related to recently having a baby, nothing to do with the fish tank), and I ended up on the couch shivering under four heavy blankets with nets and buckets all over the place. I didn't know it was possible to come down with an infection so fast but apparently it is. I'm on an antibiotic now, and took some Tylenol, so the fever is not as high and I'm feeling a little better, but man, tough evening. I did manage to catch all the fish and transfer them last night after the chills stopped, and now they are still miserable in that little tank, skulking around in the plants, most of them stressed and washed out--all but the dominant gourami. The sub-dominant gouramis especially seem to be having a hard time of it, and the barbs aren't doing much better. That stand needs to be fixed ASAP but I am still very weak so hopefully I'll be doing better very soon, before the fish rip each other up.

Oh, the drama! To think, some people are under the impression that fish don't keep you up at night like puppies or birds. At least the baby is doing well.

[loachmom]

Someday you might look back on all this and laugh, but until then, my thoughts are with you.

Take care.

[Littlelady]

Oh no! What bad luck, right in the middle of a tank move...What a time for the infection to choose - good luck with the rest of your tank move/alterations to stand, I hope it all goes well and is worth it in the end!

I'm with you on the drama side of things! Last night I blew a fuse in the house, which has very old wiring and so needed fuse wire to be fixed, which of course was not available on a Sunday night to buy anywhere. My only thoughts were for the fish - never mind that the washing machine was in the middle of a cycle and the school uniform was not clean for this morning - oh no! All I could be heard to be saying was " I have 7 tanks - my fishies cannot go without electricity for the night!"

[TammyLiz]

Oh my! I hope it turned out well, Littlelady. Did you put your filter media in the tank so the bacteria would have a better chance of surviving?

You're right loachmom, I will laugh at it someday. I can almost laugh at it now.

[Littlelady]

Thanks TammyLiz, it was fine in the end. I called a friend who is good with electrics and he managed to salvage enough of the fuse wire to temporarily fix it for me until I managed to buy some on Monday - now it is fixed permanently thank goodness...

How is your tank move going? are you feeling any btter?

[TammyLiz]

I'm beginning to feel better today, thank-you. We're planning on fixing the stand tonight.

I'm glad to hear you had a friend to fix the wiring. Are you sure its safe to have wiring that old in your house? We have a very old house and the fuse box has been replaced for safety's sake. From the looks of the surrounding area, previous owners had an electrical fire! Not something to be toyed with.