*lightbulb*
Okay, so I went grocery shopping today. When I got home, I was totally bored (see previous pointless post). I sat around watching an old tape with some Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Xena: Warrior Princess and The X-Files episodes on it for a bit... then I got this bright idea!
I know! I thought, I'll set up my aquarium!
It's something I've been meaning to do ever since I moved in here, and I always put it off because I knew it was going to be a time-consuming task to set it up again. But since I had nothing to do anyway, and was dying of ze boredom, I figured why not?
So I dug it out from the back corner where I was storing it for the time being (wrapped in garbage bags to keep as much dust out as possible), and started mucking around.
First, I needed to clean the damn thing; when I got it (about four years ago), I set it up and got it running properly. By "properly" I mean it was a completely self-contained and running ecosystem. No algae, no illness in my fish. I never had to clean the tank or anything--all I had to do was toss in fish food and add algaecide every couple of months.
But.
Then I went to live with Dad for a few months and asked Mom to keep watch over it, since it was going to be a pain in the ass to transport... the plan was to settle in down there, find myself a place to live permanently (I was only staying with Dad on a temporary basis) and then haul it down.
That didn't work out for various reasons, and I ended up going home... only to discover that Mom sucks at taking care of fish. 3/4 of them were gone ("gone" as in POOF! GONE! because Mom swears she never had to take any dead ones out of the tank), and the entire aquarium was teaming with algae.
Curses!
From then on, it was a nightmare. No matter what I did, I couldn't keep the algae from growing back. The tank was so overrun with it you could barely see the two little suvivors of the goldfish-armageddon. (Who only lived a couple of months after that, by the way.)
Once those two goldfish were gone, I pretty much gave up. Screw it. And thusly, the aquarium went even more downhill. Fast.
So, as I said, the first thing I needed to do was clean it out; I took it down to the bathroom and scrubbed it until my fingers were wrinkly and it practically shone, sunlight or no. When I was finally satisfied with that, I bright it back up stairs and set it on the stand.
Next came the rocks, which got taken into the kitchen, along with the plants (plastic, of course), and in four huge-ass pots, I boiled the hell out of all of them. Much easier than scrubbing them all by hand, and I love my Mom for suggesting it and lending me a big stainless steel pot. ^_~
Whilst that was going on, I was in the bathroom, scrubbing out the lid, heater and filter. At least those were small, so they didn't take long, though they are kind of a pain in the butt because of the little tubes and whatnot.
ANYWAY!
That done, I set all those things to the side and (while still boiling big pots of rocks), started filling it up with water.
Here is where the exhausting part came in. =_=;;
I don't have a water tap up here, since I share the kitchen and bathroom downstairs. Which meant... that I had the fun... of running two flights of stairs, filling a 20 gallon aquarium with water... using a 3.7 litre jug.
*COLLAPSES*
The entire ordeal took me about two hours, but now it's set up, running smoothly, looking shiny, and I'm happy with it. I really like aquariums, so it's nice to have it set up again, fish or no fish.
I dumped the first dose of algaecide in right away, and it's running through it right now. I'm going to leave it running empty (as in fishless) for a while to make sure the ecosystem is balanced once more, before I start stocking up on fish again.
So, in general, Sena is exhausted but very happy. >^-^<
While I was up past my elbows in water, placing the plants and rocks, I had this sudden overwhelming urge to go swimming... O_o;
I know! I thought, I'll set up my aquarium!
It's something I've been meaning to do ever since I moved in here, and I always put it off because I knew it was going to be a time-consuming task to set it up again. But since I had nothing to do anyway, and was dying of ze boredom, I figured why not?
So I dug it out from the back corner where I was storing it for the time being (wrapped in garbage bags to keep as much dust out as possible), and started mucking around.
First, I needed to clean the damn thing; when I got it (about four years ago), I set it up and got it running properly. By "properly" I mean it was a completely self-contained and running ecosystem. No algae, no illness in my fish. I never had to clean the tank or anything--all I had to do was toss in fish food and add algaecide every couple of months.
But.
Then I went to live with Dad for a few months and asked Mom to keep watch over it, since it was going to be a pain in the ass to transport... the plan was to settle in down there, find myself a place to live permanently (I was only staying with Dad on a temporary basis) and then haul it down.
That didn't work out for various reasons, and I ended up going home... only to discover that Mom sucks at taking care of fish. 3/4 of them were gone ("gone" as in POOF! GONE! because Mom swears she never had to take any dead ones out of the tank), and the entire aquarium was teaming with algae.
Curses!
From then on, it was a nightmare. No matter what I did, I couldn't keep the algae from growing back. The tank was so overrun with it you could barely see the two little suvivors of the goldfish-armageddon. (Who only lived a couple of months after that, by the way.)
Once those two goldfish were gone, I pretty much gave up. Screw it. And thusly, the aquarium went even more downhill. Fast.
So, as I said, the first thing I needed to do was clean it out; I took it down to the bathroom and scrubbed it until my fingers were wrinkly and it practically shone, sunlight or no. When I was finally satisfied with that, I bright it back up stairs and set it on the stand.
Next came the rocks, which got taken into the kitchen, along with the plants (plastic, of course), and in four huge-ass pots, I boiled the hell out of all of them. Much easier than scrubbing them all by hand, and I love my Mom for suggesting it and lending me a big stainless steel pot. ^_~
Whilst that was going on, I was in the bathroom, scrubbing out the lid, heater and filter. At least those were small, so they didn't take long, though they are kind of a pain in the butt because of the little tubes and whatnot.
ANYWAY!
That done, I set all those things to the side and (while still boiling big pots of rocks), started filling it up with water.
Here is where the exhausting part came in. =_=;;
I don't have a water tap up here, since I share the kitchen and bathroom downstairs. Which meant... that I had the fun... of running two flights of stairs, filling a 20 gallon aquarium with water... using a 3.7 litre jug.
*COLLAPSES*
The entire ordeal took me about two hours, but now it's set up, running smoothly, looking shiny, and I'm happy with it. I really like aquariums, so it's nice to have it set up again, fish or no fish.
I dumped the first dose of algaecide in right away, and it's running through it right now. I'm going to leave it running empty (as in fishless) for a while to make sure the ecosystem is balanced once more, before I start stocking up on fish again.
So, in general, Sena is exhausted but very happy. >^-^<
While I was up past my elbows in water, placing the plants and rocks, I had this sudden overwhelming urge to go swimming... O_o;