Firstly, the fish are now happy again. The alcohol arrived on Tuesday and the sealant on Wednesday. So after finishing off some transcription work I set to resealing the tank. First was scraping off as much as possible of the old sealant then wiping down the edges with 99.9% pure alcohol to ensure there was *nothing* there to prevent the new sealant taking hold. Then put all the pieces back together, use gaffa tape to hold them in approximate position, apply generous amounts of sealant, ensure corners are 90 degrees and leave to cure. Being silicone sealant this meant the living room and kitchen were slowly filled with the stench of acetic acid, aka vinegar.
fast forward to 24 hours later:
Take tank outside and place on most level paving slab available, fill bucket and slowly pour into tank. Repeat until tank is filled one bucket more than you would usually do. Leave for 15 minutes while you go and get the syphon and consider the logistics of moving the fish. Take some kitchen roll and apply to all edges, check for any moisture. If your kitchen roll comes away dry then start the syphon and then sit on your arse on the cold concrete for 30 minutes while the tank empties.
Move tank inside, position as you would like and fill to one bucket less than level wanted (in this case, four buckets). Realise that maybe you should have rinsed the grit but decide not to try and move all 10kg of it to the sink to be rinsed.
Go upstairs and collect fish parahpenalia (tank decorations, food, glass scrubber, filter, heater, tank lid) bring bits down and place in tank. Start filter and leave for another 15 minutes to get the worst of the debris filtered.
Go back upstairs and retrieve fish. This is the fun bit! Syphon off most of the water into bucket, catch large and seriously ticked off plec with bare hand, put in bucket before it wriggles out of grip or slices hand with spines. Catch smaller fish with tub. Apply lid to bucket and drain excess water before taking bucket downstairs with plec banging against sides as it is too big for said bucket.
Unceremoniously empty bucket and fish into tank. Apply lid and you're done!
The following photos show WHY one should rinse the gravel if one has the chance:
If you look to the back of the tank you can see a large fin, that's George the plec. He isn't very sociable I'm afraid and prefers to hide behind his bogwood (the reason the water is yellowy-brown)
Still, they are now transferred and happy.
I rinsed two of the three filter media about two hours after moving it into the fresh tank, they were FILTHY. I'll give the other media until tomorrow evening to transfer it's beneficial bugs and then that will come out and be washed. As an aside, I highly recommend the Fluval U range of filters. This is the U2 and absolutely fab. It has a flip-top to get to the media and each one has its own caddy with tab for easy removal. Much more reliable than the Tetratec I had that went through two clutches before I got the U2 to replace it.
Anyhoo. Once your tank is installed enjoy the view and sounds while watching your doglet being very confused:
Thinking of the doglet, do you think she might possibly like meat bones?
I'm looking into a raw diet for her as she'll avoid eating kibble for 48 hours and I worry about her getting too thin. Raw meat and bones on the other hand...gone in minutes! She had two huge chicken thighs on Wednesday, nothing left!
On to knitting news now.
It's time to start knitting hats for Innocent drinks to put on their bottles come November to raise money for Age Concern.
They have some interesting patterns this year including a pineapple and a watermelon. For the watermelon I need 4-ply and as I am definitely lacking in this I have put out a call on Phoenix and Yorkshire Knitters. One lady has replied and will be sending me some pink. I found some cream so I'm just lacking green now.
I tried the pineapple pattern and while I can do p3tog doing p1,k1,p1 into a single stitch is taking the piss just a little so I did moss stitch instead:
I also had a good poke around EBay and found some Clover pom pon makers for a non-extortionate price. They arrived today and I had a play:
I got the 1" and 3/4" set. They work absolutely fab with 4-ply. DK comes out looking a bit floppy or ovoid. I tried crochet cotton too but as that has no elasticity it comes out all floppy and blah. I'm hoping to top off all my Innocent hats with pom pons this year. Except the watermelon and pineapple ones of course.
I also got a reply from one of the transcribing companies and was sent a 65 minute transcription to do. If I did it okay it could net me $47 Not bad, although it did take me eight hours to transcribe but that's partially because I did some while tired and so took ages to do it.
I have already done the online application with HMRC about being self-employed and am keeping records of all my earnings through transcription.
That's about it really. I think I shall go to bed. I feel pleasantly relaxed. I'm really glad the sound of running water doesn't make me desperate to pee though, the fish filter sounds like running water and needs to run 24/7
Morning all (half midnight counts as morning)
Fluzz
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