Category: Aquarium

The Final Tank

Posted on by Chewbode

I’ve been sick since Tuesday night, and finally started feeling good enough yesterday afternoon to go out and get some fresh air. My wandering found me at Pet Smart where I decided to finally make the leap: I bought a new freshwater tank.

I picked up a Top Fin 37-gallon Starter Kit which came with:

  • The tank (30.25″ L x 12.5″ W x 22.75″ H)
  • Hood with a 20-watt, 30″ fluorescent bulb
  • Glass canopy
  • Adjustable 200-watt heater
  • Strip thermometer
  • Top Fin Power Filter 40 with cartridge
  • Sample fish food, water treatment pack

I also bought:

  • Black stand with doors
  • (4) new Money Wort plants
  • (4) Neon Tetras
  • Glass thermometer
  • Blue background
  • Extra carbon pellets

After getting home, I drained the 20-gallon temporary tank that was on the kitchen counter and relocated the fish into a plastic tote, then did the same with the 10-gallon tank and put those fish in a different tote (alone with the new tetras and plants).

I was then able to tear apart the 10-gallon tank and move the old stand from it’s resting place. I built the new stand and put it in place, then placed the tank on it. After mounting the blue background and properly trimming it, I pushed the entire system against the wall, mounted the filter and heater, and prepped all the electrical.

After emptying the 10 and 20-gallon tanks, I cleaned all the gravel and got the 25-lb. bag of gravel from the closet and rinsed it too. That all went in the tank, and then I added the fake rocks and plants, and mounted the thermometer.

Lastly, I added the water in. After starting up the filter and heater, I tested the pH and found it to be higher than 7.6, essentially meaning it was off my chart. I added some pH balancer before going to bed. After waking up this morning, I retested and the pH was still at the 7.6+ level, so I added in another batch of treatment as well as some balancing pellets. I’m hoping the water is ready for the plants and fish in the next few hours.

New Residents

Posted on by Chewbode

Arn swung by tonight and brought me a whole bunch of fish, a ton of fake plants, a pump, and some scenery. I finally took the 20 gallon tank out of the back of the truck (it’s been in there for about a month), cleaned it out and filled it with water and threw some fake plants. Even though this is just a temporary setup, I still treated and pH balanced the water. I’ll tear this and the 10g tank apart next weekend and then everyone will live happily in the same tank.

Tomorrow I’m heading up to Alex and Nel’s to watch the kids for them for the weekend while they go off to St. Augustine to celebrate their 10th wedding anniversary. I’m so happy to be able to do this – I’ve even lined up a little surprise for them.

I should be at their house around 3:00pm, and then they’re out of there soon after not to be home until Monday afternoon. I have a TON of activities planned with the kids. I’m SO excited to be spending time with them, acting like a kid, and just having fun and relaxing. And, I’m able to give Alex and Nel a great time by themselves on a special weekend to boot. Love them all!

Pancakes, Pucks, and pH

Posted on by Chewbode

Friday night I had dinner with a former co-worker at Hooters. We caught up on a ton of things for a few hours and I generally enjoyed myself.

Saturday, Alex and the kids met with me for breakfast at Tampa North, who was having a pancake breakfast to support the Civil Air Patrol chapter that is based out of the airport. I took the kids down to the flight line to see the planes and we all went over to see a helicopter that came. Generally, I think it was a great turnout, as several pilots flew in for the event.

Alex invited me over to watch the Lightning game that night (the first of the Eastern Conference Finals against the Bruins), so I ended up hanging out all day in the Luts/Wesley Chapel area. I flew, went shopping, and had some great pork chops at Primebar. Around 7:00pm, I got to Alex & Nel’s. I brought a couple presents for the kids, including a couple of books I got that show how to draw comic book characters. Alex and I had talked about how Brandon needed to evolve to the next level of drawing, so I got the books that I had used when younger. I think he’ll learn a lot from them and Alex said he’s going to work with Brandon to learn the techniques outlined in the books. We had some beers, pizza, talked a lot and watched the game. I love hanging out there, and it’s been a while. Had a tone of fun.

Today was work, work, work. I did take a little time out to pop Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune into the PS3 adn finish it. Overall, great game.

And speaking of games, I added the video games section of the Museum up here. Yeah, I’m rebuilding all that from the old site.

Did the usual to the fish tank today by swapping out five gallons of water from a jug Arn gave me Thursday night. I tested the pH from his jug, and it came out to about 6.0, which is pretty acidic. However, my tank has been running around 7.4 lately, and I was hoping the new infusion would balance the pH naturally. It did: 7.0.

Hammers, Soup, and Bits

Posted on by Chewbode

I took Friday night off to grab some dinner at Chipotle and go see Thor with Arn. We decided to not see it in 3D, as I’ve heard it’s not worth the extra money. All-in-all, I thought it was a pretty awesome movie. Definitely portrayed Thor’s power well. And was a lot of fun to watch this franchise come to life. Asguard was beautiful. Best part: The sound that the Destroyer made was incredible and really projected how menacing of a device it is.

Saturday I went with Arn to Auburndale to go pick up a large saltwater tank he wanted to get. I helped him take it apart, load it in the truck, and unload it at his place. We then grabbed a bite to eat at Holy Hog BBQ.

After running a few errands on Saturday, I ended up coming home to work on Allie’s project and spent most of the day Sunday doing the same. Oh, I did make a big pot of some simple vegetable soup with mushrooms, celery, rice, and onions too.

Feeling… Eh.

Posted on by Chewbode

So, lately I’ve been noticing that I have very little energy. I think a lot of that has to do with the fact that I’ve been working non-stop for weeks, haven’t been eating right, and my workouts aren’t long enough. The workload will taper off very soon, as I’ll finish Allie’s project in the next few nights. As for eating, well, I need to do better on that (not today though – I just ordered some hot wings). And I intensified my workout tonight to see if that helps. I also stopped off at CVS to pick up some multi-vitamins with lots of B12 and B6 in them.

I get home, walk in the door and look at the fish tank and see the two Moneywort plants I bought floating on the surface. What the fuck. These plecostomus’ have to go this weekend. I went to Target for a couple minutes today to see if they had pH conditioner for the tank to get the levels down to around 6.8, but no luck. I’ll have to get that on Saturday I guess.

Well, back to work…

Lost Another One

Posted on by Chewbode

Was able to get a bunch of sleep last night for the first time in quite a while. Feel a lot sharper mentally today, although the coffee I have will no doubt help that along.

Last night I tested the fish tank and found the pH to be around 7.6, which is high. This may explain the recent die-offs I’ve been having, including another victim this morning – an orange tetra. This guy had been sick for a bit, I believe, as he had some weird molting going on. This weekend, I’m getting rid of the plecos and getting some new algae eaters along with a kit to bring the pH down to a more acidic level (6.8 or so).

I played through some Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune last night since I didn’t have any work to do. With the PlayStation Network being hacked recently, I also spent some time changing some passwords on some accounts around the inter-webs. Me thinks Sony’s gonna get sued big time over this one.

Success

Posted on by Chewbode

I went out and ran some errands today and got a few new things for the fish tank. I’m still using the 10gal tank, but I wanted to add some toys. I got a 25lb. bag of lighter-colored gravel (mostly for the new tank), two Sword plants, two Moneywort plants, some plant food, a freshwater testing kit, and some new 15-watt accent light bulbs for the ballast. I added some of the gravel in to thicken the bed so the plants had rooting area. Then, I added the plants in. The fish seem to be interested and genuinely like the additions. I’ll let everything settle until tomorrow then will test the water.

Also, got the slow-cooker. Currently am soaking 3lbs. or beans and will be making a soup tomorrow morning.

Fish Tanks and Slow Cookers

Posted on by Chewbode

On Thursday, I got a new fish tank from Arn, who picked it up in a deal on Craig’s List. It’s still sitting in the back of my truck, but I plan on getting it up into the apartment this weekend and cleaning it out. There’s some brightly-colored gravel and a large fake rock reef that came with it along with a lighting fixture. I believe it’s a 20 gallon tank. Hopefully it’s still small enough to fit on he existing stand.

I’ve also decided to pick up a crock pot this weekend. I want to start slow-cooking things; it’d be nice to put food in it in the morning and come home from work with dinner already made (dinner for multiple days even). I’m going to start out with some soups, to learn the heat settings and understand fully what to expect out of the cooker. This won’t be my fist crock pot, but I’ve learned over the years that the different types and shapes can change the cooking times.

This’ll hopefully be the last weekend where I need to work. If I can accomplish all the stuff for Allie’s project, then I reward myself with some fish time and slow-cooker goodness.

Blub, blub.

Posted on by Chewbode

A couple of week ago Arnold picked up a complete freshwater fish tank for me. I got it home, scrubbed it down and cleaned it real good, put new gravel in it, clean water, and changed out the filters.

Currently, I have two large plecos (they’re going away soon to be replaced with snails), two neon tetras, one lemon tetra, five orange tetras, and some blue fish – I’m not sure what it is yet.