Buh .. :( Just a random rant

[Delphinus]

After a weekend where I was only home for a few brief hours at nights and spent the daytimes in the hospital with a new baby, I come home at the end of it to find my tanks in a fairly sorry state.

In one, I find my longspine urchin upside-down and unable to move around on its own, unable to feed. I can only assume it's on the way out, which is odd since it's only a year old and their lifespan is reported more like around 5 years or more. Not sure why he's not doing well, but he's not dead yet, but it wounds me to see this thing languish like that.

Plus the tank he's in, the cube, is starting to once again accumulate nitrates, despite being dosed by Polyp Labs. The ability of this tank to resist any form of nitrate management is truly remarkable. ... although I mean remarkable in a demoralizing sort of way.

Somehow during the night I found my 75g tank's skimmer feed hose popped off the feed pump. The resulting water spray from the sump kicked the GFCI off and the sump return and heater were off during the night. However the GFCI servicing the powerheads did not, so they were still running. BUT, the siphon holes were blocked (I clean these things every week, man it boggles the mind how fast they clog up), so the tank drained to the point where the powerheads were above the waterline. And water of course on the floor.

Of course I don't notice this until after I wake up, of course it must have happened shortly after I went to bed because the tank temperature was 67F. This tank has been flatlined before for several hours and never had a temperature drop like that (setpoint is 77F, but usually runs more like 78-79 with all pumps and lights on).

Tang obviously got a little freaked out because he looks like he's been through a blender. Sides all scraped up, few chunks of flesh missing.

I know what fate is telling me .. it's time to take these tanks down and retire them. I have to find a way to work on the replacement tank.

I think that since I'll be home now from work for the next couple of weeks, it's time to find a way to continue working on my basement project. Now that my older son is almost 3, and loves tools, I think I should put him to work. This will be interesting. Either my basement will get done in record time ... or .. my basement will be "done" in record time.