Mr. Blue's Emergency.
Tonight something went awry with the heater in Mr. Blue's tank. That would be the 6 gallon tank with the Male Fish.
When I arrived home from work the tank thermometer was reading 72.8 degrees. Ummm, yeah, that's pretty cold for him. I turned the heater up a bit, it's been so warm here lately that I had turned the heater down a couple degrees.
Then I noticed that somehow the water level had dropped about two inches below the rim, I don't know how it got that low. I refilled the level just two days ago. But the filter pump also acts as a secondary heater as it puts off heat. So I thought maybe that was the problem, that the water level had dropped so far that it wasn't touching the filter pump anymore, so I filled the tank to the rim.
When I checked the tank a couple hours later, the temperature was 78 degrees, a little on the warm side, so I adjusted the heater back down as the indicator light was on. An hour later, I checked the tank again and it was at 79.1... WTF???
As I stood there and watched it for a minute, the heater's indicator light came on and the temperature went up to 79.4. Holy Crap! My husband was there, thank goodness, because I kind of freaked out. I'm thankful for his steady mind because he simply unplugged the thing.
Over the next hour, with no heating apparatus turned on in the tank, I watched the temperature fluctuate all over the place -- from 78.5 to 78.2 to 77.9 to 77.4, back up, back down. It was ridiculous, how can that be? But the thermometer wasn't incorrect, I pulled a thermometer from another tank and it said the same thing. Mr. Blue seemed okay, swimming around and stuff. Didn't seem to be stressed. But I was sure stressed. I moved the thermometer sensor around to the back of the tank and then to the side of the tank and noticed a one degree water temperature difference. I don't know how that can be, the tank isn't THAT big you know? Sure is strange.
When the water temperature cooled to 76.5, which is the temperature that I like to run all of my tanks, I moved the heater to the front of the tank and plugged it in. The idea being that perhaps its location in the rear of the tank was throwing its thermometer off? I set it to 73 degrees, which for some reason, this brand of heater runs 3 1/2 degrees hotter than its temperature controller (see how scientific ths is?). When I plugged it in, the heater turned on. Not good. I turned the controller all the way down to 68 degrees and it didn't turn off. I waited a minute, it still didn't turn off. (sigh)
Verdict: Heater broken.
I hemmed and hawed, whined and cried. I don't want to deal with this tonight or ever. The heater is virtually brand new, only what -- less than a couple months old?
Finally, I moved the four white albino babies out of the five gallon tank and back into the 12 gallon baby tank. Either the fish have gotten slower or I've attained a real talent in fish capturing because I was able to get one in the net and then three in the net all at once. That was easy.
When I put them in the 12 gallon tank, I was surprised at how much bigger they are than the other babies. Wow, they've grown BIG. I need to move about 20-30 more babies over to the fish store, soon. Really soon. And I need to replace the heater in the six gallon tank. Crud. Things have been going so smoothly and maintenance free the last few weeks.
Then I moved Mr. Blue's rock into the five gallon tank. He was behind the rock, which has a hole in it that he likes to peer through. As I pulled the rock out, he followed it. I moved it up, he moved up right with the rock hole. It was really adorable. Who knew fish could be adorable? I captured Mr. Blue with a cut off bottle, just cornered him until he had no other option to go into it. The tank is small enough that I can do that and it's pretty stress free for both of us.
Tonight, Mr. Blue is back in the five gallon tank. The tank I was so happy to get him out of not that long ago.
When I arrived home from work the tank thermometer was reading 72.8 degrees. Ummm, yeah, that's pretty cold for him. I turned the heater up a bit, it's been so warm here lately that I had turned the heater down a couple degrees.
Then I noticed that somehow the water level had dropped about two inches below the rim, I don't know how it got that low. I refilled the level just two days ago. But the filter pump also acts as a secondary heater as it puts off heat. So I thought maybe that was the problem, that the water level had dropped so far that it wasn't touching the filter pump anymore, so I filled the tank to the rim.
When I checked the tank a couple hours later, the temperature was 78 degrees, a little on the warm side, so I adjusted the heater back down as the indicator light was on. An hour later, I checked the tank again and it was at 79.1... WTF???
As I stood there and watched it for a minute, the heater's indicator light came on and the temperature went up to 79.4. Holy Crap! My husband was there, thank goodness, because I kind of freaked out. I'm thankful for his steady mind because he simply unplugged the thing.
Over the next hour, with no heating apparatus turned on in the tank, I watched the temperature fluctuate all over the place -- from 78.5 to 78.2 to 77.9 to 77.4, back up, back down. It was ridiculous, how can that be? But the thermometer wasn't incorrect, I pulled a thermometer from another tank and it said the same thing. Mr. Blue seemed okay, swimming around and stuff. Didn't seem to be stressed. But I was sure stressed. I moved the thermometer sensor around to the back of the tank and then to the side of the tank and noticed a one degree water temperature difference. I don't know how that can be, the tank isn't THAT big you know? Sure is strange.
When the water temperature cooled to 76.5, which is the temperature that I like to run all of my tanks, I moved the heater to the front of the tank and plugged it in. The idea being that perhaps its location in the rear of the tank was throwing its thermometer off? I set it to 73 degrees, which for some reason, this brand of heater runs 3 1/2 degrees hotter than its temperature controller (see how scientific ths is?). When I plugged it in, the heater turned on. Not good. I turned the controller all the way down to 68 degrees and it didn't turn off. I waited a minute, it still didn't turn off. (sigh)
Verdict: Heater broken.
I hemmed and hawed, whined and cried. I don't want to deal with this tonight or ever. The heater is virtually brand new, only what -- less than a couple months old?
Finally, I moved the four white albino babies out of the five gallon tank and back into the 12 gallon baby tank. Either the fish have gotten slower or I've attained a real talent in fish capturing because I was able to get one in the net and then three in the net all at once. That was easy.
When I put them in the 12 gallon tank, I was surprised at how much bigger they are than the other babies. Wow, they've grown BIG. I need to move about 20-30 more babies over to the fish store, soon. Really soon. And I need to replace the heater in the six gallon tank. Crud. Things have been going so smoothly and maintenance free the last few weeks.
Then I moved Mr. Blue's rock into the five gallon tank. He was behind the rock, which has a hole in it that he likes to peer through. As I pulled the rock out, he followed it. I moved it up, he moved up right with the rock hole. It was really adorable. Who knew fish could be adorable? I captured Mr. Blue with a cut off bottle, just cornered him until he had no other option to go into it. The tank is small enough that I can do that and it's pretty stress free for both of us.
Tonight, Mr. Blue is back in the five gallon tank. The tank I was so happy to get him out of not that long ago.
posted by Jammie J. at
5/23/2006 11:53:00 PM
