End of the Year Cleanup, Aquariums and the Big Green Nasty

I wasn't planning to write any sort of end of the year post. I had no intention of getting all "navel gazer" on you all. There was going to be no "2005 in Review", no "Top NN Things to Do in 2006". Then, I cleaned my aquarium.

It all started with my ongoing plans to put in a bigger aquarium. I want something between 125 and 180 gallons. So, I've been researching how I want to set it up, what fish will work, etc. I had a great conversation with Aaron where he helped me design a stand that will hold the 2000+ pounds this beast will weigh when completed and still let me work underneath it.

So, I'd been doing all of this planning when I looked over at my existing 20 gallon tank and started thinking it had been a few weeks since I had done much besides water changes. The fish were still all OK, the contaminant numbers were all within normal ranges and I figured I was in for a quick maintenance cycle.

Apparently, it had been more than a few weeks. I started by scrubbing the inside of the glass. There weren't any big patches of algae or anything. The glass looked fine from across the room. However, once I started scrubbing, I realized just how bad the thin film of translucent green gunk was. After 20 minutes of scrubbing, I kicked back and ran the polishing filter to pull the floating bits out of the water.

Wow. The whole tank looked so much better. Since I was already in grungy clothes, I decided to take on the canister filter. I put on my rubber gloves, disconnected it from the tank and pulled it from the cabinet. In the utility room, I popped the top and started pulling out the inner bits. I was greeted with some seriously foul nastiness. So, I scrubbed and rinsed. I cleaned intakes of algae and removed general scum from the inside of the housing. I put in a new bag of carbon and put it all back together. Once installed, I again sat back to review my handiwork.

Wow again. The water flow from the filter was much better and an hour later, the tank was looking great. But … the water still had a greenish tint to it. I put my face up to the glass and couldn't see any algae on the glass or floating anywhere. No, the water was crystal clear. Yet, it was still a "greenish" crystal clear.

Then I looked up and found the source of the green. When I clean the tank, I usually take the hood and light off and set them in the utility room over the sink. The light isn't attached, so I usually don't tip it over and look underneath. Well, apparently that was a serious mistake because there was a thick coating of green growing under the light providing a nice color tint to the light.

On came the surgical gloves again and out came the scrubbing brush and the green was removed. I put it all back together and flipped the light back on.

Un-freaking-believable how good it looked. I was amazed by how great it looked.

Then I thought about the whole process. I started out with what looked like an "OK" aquarium. The fish appeared to be fine, the tank appeared to be fine and I was only intending some quick maintenance. However, something that I hadn't given any serious attention in a while had been gradually in decline. It still looked OK mostly because I didn't have the original to compare to.

Like anyone who has driven on salted roads knows, you can get a windshield that still looks fine, but is covered in salt. Only when you run the windshield wipers do you realize just how bad it was.

So, as I head into 2006, I'm looking through the rest of my life to find where the other big green nasties are hiding. Where else have I got lurking messes that look fine from a distance. Where else has my neglect led to a steady decline that needs my attention. And, I'm watching the aquarium to see if there's anything I missed.