C.J. Cherryh's Blog, page 93

We have Tanks!

I spent the morning washing sand Jane put into the tank.

We performed the major transplant…cut off the lines to the 54g and made them go to a 10 g tank under the stand, where a pump (borrowed from the skimmer) brings the water topside again.

We extracted the corals, the live rock, and the wascally wabbitfish, and lowered the water level enough we could budge the 54g, and get it across the room; then we left it while I gathered up the wabbit, half our hammer coral, and took off to the fish store out in the Valley.

I had to pick up the new light for the 54, plus the new pump for the 54, which should have been here yesterday, but we missed them. And I turned in the wabbit and the coral for enough to pay for the 54′s new pump and partially pay for the new lights.

Drove home, and Jane had been finishing up on the 105g, and connecting it to the basement sump and pump, which was ‘off’ for the duration. We’d gotten it into place before I left, and now — time to plug it in, see if the lines leaked, and see if the vertical spraybar I’d concocted for water movement was going to explode or wimp out, or work. This also involved adding all the rock we’re going to have in there—because you use a measured amount of water, and rock volume can affect that measure. [We got all through and found 4 more large rocks, so we’re going to have to do some dipping out of water.

But it is 4pm local, and we have both tanks running marvelously. The metal halide light (like a projector light, to give you a feeling for the intensity) is on and warming up the water asap…that’s the one thing hardest to do in advance.

Now we’ll run the 54g as a salt tank until we’re sure the 105g is bacteriologically active enough to handle a few small fishes. The corals and fish are in the 54 while things warm up (warmth increases the pace of biochemical action) and we see where we are.

It is gorgeous. There will be pix. Jane and I are just about exhausted this evening, having made uncounted trips up and down to the basement, having shoved elephants left and right (tilting a partially filled 54g tank so Jane could get the teflon glides that had stuck to the base was particularly exciting: weighs about what I do..)

And we’re going to love this. Freshwater 54 in one corner of the living room, Saltwater 105 in the other, and it just looks so cool!

Even if it’s only rock and sand in there right now.

Today’s the day we start the tank in earnest…

The fish store will be open, and I hope to all getout they have the pump we want. We’re going to be building some rockwork, washing sand, installing sand, and adding some water.

This requires removing corals from the 54g, putting them in a tub with excess water from the 54g, warming water—we’ll be microwaving water and pouring it into the tubs—and arranging base rock to support the tank’s prettier rock above the sand level.

We’ll wash the bagged sand completely before beginning to put it in. We have the bottom lined with eggcrate lighting grid so it protects the bottom glass.

We’ll be establishing a pump and pot filter that circulates water in the 54. If I were really brave, I’d connect the main pump to the 105g, put a hose over to the 54g, and leave the drain hose connected to it, which would, theoretically, balance out and not flood the living room.

But I’m not crazy, and I’m not relying on a siphon to do anything involving fish tanks.

Fish, which are more fragile than my corals, are going to stay in their tank until I know the 105 has had its adjustment snit (aka ‘cycled’) and the coral acts happy.

We’re going to get our workout today.

Jane gets two ears and a tail….or at least a piece of well-worn plumbing…

Of course the flanged metal screws that would easily screw the suspension tape to the a/c vent to hold the pipe she’s putting in place of the crazed spiderweb of cords holding up hose that turned out to stretch twice its length when we turned the pump on—went missing. So it was wood screws with a washer. It was a bear of a job, but we now have secure hard piping between the living room and the basement. Then we found the screws we were looking for…

And meanwhile I was going to start washing the sand, but the weather is saying snow with the cherries and quince and apples in bloom, and me trying to do the early algae treatments on the pond…Oh, what was I doing this afternoon? Treating the pond with something derived from sewage…

Somebody called wanting a video interview and wanting to come to the house. I babbled something about my tank being delayed because of needing rock and pipes all over the house and Patty having a baby horse we need to get down there and see, so we are agreed to do this next Tuesday, downtown by the river, by which time I hope Jane and I can be somewhat saner and have water flowing in the tank…

We’ve idee’d the substance as likely silicone, having gotten there via a wiping rag…

…at the factory. But we think we’ve got it handled.

The new Easy Blade scraper works really well, which will enable us to clean all the front glass, beyond arm’s reach, even with coralline.

And, after 2, count ‘em, two trips to Lowe’s in a 40 mph gale, I got all the pieces I need except the 2 valves. We have the tank plumbed, ready to connect to the sump. We have determined we didn’t get enough rock for the rockwork we want.

We have some planning on the rockwork, we have the eggcrate liner laid down, we’ve got everything ready to plug in except we need the bottom ‘junk’ rock to lay down as a base for the prettier rockwork, and we need to start unbuilding the main tank WITHOUT stirring its sandbed, which is incredibly bad juju in a marine tank. That’s where, once we start to move, we need to have our wits about us and hours when shops are open to work in. So since the fish store doesn’t open until Wednesday, we’d be crazy to start this going— without recourse to them for additional rock, to take the fish I want to get rid of, to take the coral I want to trade in, and to be open and able to provide things I forgot to get.

So tomorrow may be a day off from this, except for connecting up the new drain line and pulling some of the old hose up to give us more maneuverability with the elephant-dance above. We’ll later cut it off, when the ability to go out from the wall is less important.

The bulkheads are holding water…

We screwed the bulkhead connectors in last night. Never try to put teflon tape on a bulkhead connector. It took an extra 30 upside down and backwards minutes to figure that out.

Today we install the power strip for the lights. We moved the two tanks side by side.

We drill a pipe with large and small holes to serve as a water-distributor down deep in the tank.

Having proved the downflow [drain and refill] box holds water, we are safe to add water.

Jane has prepared new plumbing for the basement. We are going to pull up the spaflex drain line [downflow] instead of cutting it, so we can, when it’s time, just cut it to appropriate length and move the new tank back to the wall.

We have put eggcrate in the bottom of the tank to prevent rock points from contacting the bottom glass.

Next step involves our base rock, some of which is live, and washing 100 lbs of dusty sand out on the driveway.

Also constructing a ‘pot filter’ for the 54g tank, to keep the fish safe until the new tank ‘sets up’ and is able to handle their waste. We have very tiny fish, except for the one I’m trading in, so they won’t put much bioload on the system at all.

An unusual application for vodka…

Well, we found out why the tank was on discount. Someone had had an accident with a spray gun involving, yes, glue. Superglue. That haziness on the inside glass has to be dealt with, or algae will make that its home. A razor blade helps, but isn’t a total answer.

OTOH, alcohol is a solvent and vodka is sometimes fed to tanks to handle a chemical problem.

It can be applied internally to the owners, if it doesn’t work. Alcohol’s not on our diet and we’ve been good since mid-March, so we’d be cheap dates. But we’ll have to see whether this works. We have to get our tallest painting ladder and go half into the tank to reach the bottom, so the fumes alone should be entertaining.

We’ll get it. We’re inventive. I ‘ve been at this for Crom-many years and there isn’t much that gets on glass that I can’t deal with. Paint would be a snap. Glue—a little tougher.

I don’t want to use a petroleum-based remover for obvious reasons, so no ordinary goop-off will work. Vodka either will or won’t, but it’ll make us feel better.

We have a weird shopping list involving computer fans (2), adapter, super glue, vodka, sand, I-C-Gel, small rocks to be used as coral ballast, small squares of glass, several pipe adapters, hose of various diameters, a freshwater skimmer and a Mag 9.5 pump.

We made it, and it’s gorgeous…

And large.

I’m sore…and getting stiff…the forward sprawl onto the pavement is having its effect…you could figure. I fell, however, skater-fashion, ie, no stopping the fall, I’m going down—how to do this damaging the fewest parts of me. And as per the prior comment—it did fix the lower back. It’s just every other muscle I own that’s protesting.

I’m sunburned; we weren’t about to leave that pallet in the street unprotected, on the approach to the stopsign, with 3 sets of garbage trucks waltzing around and the normal corner traffic. So we both worked in the front yard. I’m not as athletic as Jane, so I got the plastic stepstool and handpulled 20 feet of a weed infestation in the lava rock…

I broke two nails, right before the filk party tomorrow: it’s not the look—it’s the playing fingers. I haven’t had time to figure if I need to find one of the metal caps or whether I can play without.

The truck delivered the tank into the street at 10 am. And the last of our crew arrived 5-ish. Jane and I could get the canopy in. Patty and Mike arrived 3-ish, and they got the stand in, which was a good thing, because we needed it to be able to set the tank on it inside.

Then Tim and Cheryl showed up, well, Tim first, and a really good thing I had two very strong guys, and Patty to help balance it, because that glass is half an inch thick, and the 150 lbs is really strangely balanced, being triangular. But we made it without a ding or blemish.

The whole tank thing was a surprise…I was just looking at the sales site just as a, gee, these are beautiful, beautiful things, way out of my reach. And then—there was this section called ‘deals.’ Which was almost too good to be true. way too good to be true. I called them. No, it was sold. No, wait, it wasn’t sold. It’s available. What’s the shipping?

Couldn’t believe it. And Jane nudged me toward it. I’ve got that fish book I’d written, kind of in hopes of paying for the larger tank. And, well, when was I going to find another? So I took a deep breath and did it. Haven’t issued the fish book yet, but I’m hoping.

And it’s just gorgeous. We were afraid of the color, but its a warm reddish oak, that plays well with the other furniture. And with it came a durso (standpipe/drain, which ordinarily costs fifty, the bulkhead connectors, another ten, and the interior pipe, already the right size, all of which you normally have to buy separate. It’s got amazingly thoughtful things, like a hole with a pipe through which you can feed without lifting the lid. It’s got pre-cut holes I can install cooling fans in (computer fans do wonders for cooling off a tank)…and the finish is beautiful. We have pix.

Rejoice! The tank has made it to Spokane, and Tim and Cheryl and Mike and Patty…

…are all going to help.

The tank will get here between 9 and 3, we get Tim and Cheryl around 5, and we get it in, figure it out, and go to dinner…

All will be well! Patty and Mike are driving clear up here from the Tri Cities and driving back the same night, bless them, after helping us out.

And Tim has endured practically hourly e-mails each with a different battle plan…for days now!

Friends! Gotta love ‘em!

Managed to throw my back out just dealing with the water tubs…

…for the new tank.

I tell you, this getting older is a bitch.

3 Advil, 2 pain patches, and the S-I belt…I need to shake this by tomorrow, but this is about as painful a thing as I’ve had in a while. It’s just sciatica, which is a leg pain transferred from the lower back, so that’s where most of the treatment needs to go, but ow! Really ow, here! [to quote Bela the Bat.]

No tank today. Sigh.

I hadn’t gotten an update from Roadrunner Freight in hours, so I finally, at 2pm on the day (today) it’s supposed to be delivered, and that I have crew (Tim) to help— called Roadrunner. Well, Rocket Rangers, it was interlined. Translation: Roadrunner doesn’t have a freight office here for regular trucks, only car-haulers. So they interlined it to Diamond Freight at Bolingbrook IL, and Diamond, who services both Bolingbrook and Spokane, will be getting it here Friday, but because I’m residential, it won’t be delivered until Monday.

UPDATE: I located it via Diamond Lines, which is not Diamond Freight, both with offices in Spokane. It may get here tomorrow, and if so, may be delivered Friday, when I don’t have crew (Tim), and can’t be delivered to the front because we have 3 steps. We may be able to get it to our driveway, but this means we have to break down or move the greenhouse so we can open the back fence to let it in, and then we have to get the 150 pound glass part either up four steps into the house and through the (not real large) kitchen to the living room, or we have to put it on a dolly and get it 300 feet up the busy arterial we live on, around the corner, up the curb, up 3 steps in the sidewalk, and up to our porch steps, 4 more; and through the front door, which is the requisite 32 inches wide, plus some. We’re not sure about the back door. And we have to find out whether our crew (Tim) can help us on Friday.

I’m going to have an apoplexy yet.

UPDATE OF THE UPDATE: none of the back doors are large enough. Only the front door can accommodate the tank package. That means we are going to have to have them deliver it to the strip of public walk below the retaining wall, below our steps, and we have to unpack the pallet there. Now, if the 150 pound glass tank is sitting atop the 65 pound base, we will have to get help somewhere to carry the tank up 2 flights of steps and inside and set it back on the base. We know we can manage the 20 pound canopy. But the rest of it—we’re in an increasingly large fix. And we can’t call in favors, because we have only the hint that it will arrive on Friday, but no assurances. And the only joy in this situation is that rain is NOT forecast for Friday.

I may spend the day out there sitting on the roadside hoping one of our friends can help.