She gave us a 10 gallon tank, which I thought was kind of small for the number and sizes of the fish. The largest was about 5 inches long, with several in the 3 to 4 inch range. I figured I'd get a larger tank and move them eventually. Moreover, my wife was excited that we were getting "free" fish. Several hundred dollars later (new gravel, filter, new lid, air pump, line, etc...).
We put the fish tank in my son's room and he pretended for a while that he liked fish. My wife then found another person giving away fish - some little guppies. I got another 10 gallon tank from Goodwill in Owings Mills and put them in it - also in my son's room.
Soon thereafter, one of the air pumps stopped working. I decided that until I could get a new air pump I would move the working pump from one tank to another. It would only be a few days. I disconnected the air line and let it drop to the floor and moved the pump to the other tank.
The next day I get a phone call at work at 7:45am. It's my wife. "Eludius Jr. came downstairs screaming. All of the fish are gone and there's no water in the tank! I think the fish tank broke. You need to come home now!" Oh, boy.
I race home. Run up the stairs. And leap into his room. Squish. Squish. Squish. "I found the water!" His carpet is soaked. 10 gallons of fish tank water. How did it happen? I have no idea. I look in the tank and there's a 1 inch puddle of water and 11 of the cichlids are flopping around in it. I race downstairs and grab the 3 gallons of fresh water that I keep to top off the tanks. I dump them in the tank. There's now enough water for the fish to swim upright. However, we do have one casualty. Fortunately it's one of the smallest cichlids.
I then proceed to examine the fish tank. I see the aerator line that attaches to the inside of the glass. The water stopped right at this piece. Which is connected to the tubing, which, as I look down, goes all the way to....the.....floor. For crying out loud! By disconnecting the line from the pump I created a siphon and drained the tank myself.
I try to soak up the carpet as best as I can. No matter how many of my wife's good bath towels I use, I cannot seem to soak up all of the fish tank water. I put a fan on it and decide to check on it after work.
When I get home...the floor is still wet. I pull back the carpet. The padding is soaked. My wife and I finally decide that the carpet has to go. And like any good Carroll County resident I rip up the carpet, roll it up and store it on my porch for several days.
What do we do now? We've always thought it would be great to have hardwood floors. So let's start with my son's room. I begin the prep and get the floor all cleaned. Unfortunately, it was right at the same time my daughter was diagnosed with leukemia, so it sat for a while. But finally, I got the time and with a little help from my neighbor we finished it.
And I have to admit - it looks fantastic. My oldest daughter wants me to do her room next. My wife wants me to do our bedroom. It cost about $800 to do his room. I estimate to do the entire upstairs it would costs about $3000 - money we don't have right now.
For the record, the cichlids are now in a 35 gallon tank in the living room. It's pretty cool. Stop by and check it out some time!
Here are the pictures of the progression:
Note the water damage on the left side. It's not terrible. I wrote a note on it explaining what happened and I dated it. When they rip up the floors in 100 years they might find that interesting. Or they'll think I'm a dork.
We had to move everything out of my son's room onto the landing. It was quite a mess.
On our way. With power tools!
Almost done.
All done. Nice and shiny.
You know - for a guy that's not very handy, I think a did a pretty darn good job.
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