The Glass is Too Big - Home

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.

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