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What's your aquarium related "are you kidding me?" moments


Keeg
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What is your "are you kidding me?" moments while doing this hobby?

I'll start with two,

1: Test strips expired, went to a lfs to test my water because its FREE🤩 (like most fish stores lol). The lady behind the counter took my test tube of water, put in a test strip, looked at it for a solid 2 minutes and said, "everything looks perfect". In my head I said "I know it's perfect, its been running for years", so I responded, "Can you give me the approximate numerical values?". She said that wasn't possible, so I asked if I can check, she said no. Safe to say, test your own water unless you want to deal with employees that dont know what they're doing. 

2: Replaced an old heater with a new one because I didn't trust it and I felt like it was going to break any day. 20minutes go by with the new heater, tank is cold. The new exciting smell of burning plastic filled the room. I had wrapped the old heater in a towel and plugged it in and not the new one. I forgot it was wrapped in a towel so when I was looking for the object, I had a nice crispy hand covered in burning melted plastic. My gut was right to not trust it. 

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On 8/29/2021 at 4:20 AM, Keeg said:

What is your "are you kidding me?" moments while doing this hobby?

I'll start with two,

1: Test strips expired, went to a lfs to test my water because its FREE🤩 (like most fish stores lol). The lady behind the counter took my test tube of water, put in a test strip, looked at it for a solid 2 minutes and said, "everything looks perfect". In my head I said "I know it's perfect, its been running for years", so I responded, "Can you give me the approximate numerical values?". She said that wasn't possible, so I asked if I can check, she said no. Safe to say, test your own water unless you want to deal with employees that dont know what they're doing. 

2: Replaced an old heater with a new one because I didn't trust it and I felt like it was going to break any day. 20minutes go by with the new heater, tank is cold. The new exciting smell of burning plastic filled the room. I had wrapped the old heater in a towel and plugged it in and not the new one. I forgot it was wrapped in a towel so when I was looking for the object, I had a nice crispy hand covered in burning melted plastic. My gut was right to not trust it. 

One of my LFS stores around my area don't even test the water. I asked about it and asked what they kept their tanks at and the girl working there ( she was the only one at the store) Said she didn't know and wouldn't even try. Im pretty sure they hire someone to come in and do their fish tanks instead of the employees learning about the products, and maintenance of the goods they are selling. This isn't the first time this has happened at the same fish store either. So, i know its not the girls fault. A little information goes a long way with this hobby i have found out.

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Was doing water change with my python before I got the hook so entire siphon attachment was in water 10G tank that was way above drain. Filled the tank with water and poped the plug at fill attachment. And went to do something else without removing siphon from tank. I didn’t realize this could create a back siphon. Tank was nearly empty before I heard some weird noise of the gurgling. Don’t know how none of the 10 glowlight tetra didn’t get sucked through and all were healthy afterwards. 😬😳🥴

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This was a good week for "are you kidding me?" moments.

In the planted tank: I found something snagged on my dying PSO.  Either the Amazon Sword launched a probe to the other side of the tank or my Java Fern has returned from the dead.  It is too soon to tell.

In the project tank:  Yesterday I found a new plant next to a single dying Wisteria leaf that I pruned and planted two weeks ago.  The leaf was already snail food when I planted it so I wasn't expecting it to grow.

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I went to a LFS to purchase some Turbostart 700. The “manager” tried to give me the deal of a lifetime (his exact words) by attempting to sell me the largest bottle for 40% off. It was open, 25% had been used, and was expired by about 11 months. I told him he could sell ice to a snowman, but all I needed was a 4oz bottle that wasn’t expired and preferably unopened. He looked at me like I was the biggest idiot walking. Needless to say, I never have and never will return there again. 

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On 8/29/2021 at 5:23 AM, Dakota said:

 I asked about it and asked what they kept their tanks at and the girl working there ( she was the only one at the store) Said she didn't know and wouldn't even try. Im pretty sure they hire someone to come in and do their fish tanks instead of the employees learning about the products, and maintenance of the goods they are selling. 

Dang that's just running a fish store wrong😂

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Got fish. Expensive ones. Floated them to temp acclimate, then did the old plop-n-drop because everyone seems to advocate the old plop-n-drop. Fish croaked within minutes!

Never plop-n-dropped before. Will never do it again. Feels like the Russian roulette of fish acclimation. I might as well have thrown the fish into boiling water. 

Edited by tolstoy21
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2017: That panda corydoras are unlikely to overrun a 55 gallon planted community tank with some bottom dwelling fry eater fish in it including panda corydoras adults. When I found a mystery fry in April 2018 it was the sounding of the panda fry calvary charge.....my 6 panda corydoras were over 185 panda Corydoras when I broke that tank down in November 2018. I'm pretty sure I even said "Are You Kidding Me?"

 

And me being me : that my hairy puffers work well in a species colony set up at least for their first 3 years of life and counting. Even showing courtship and spawning behaviors consistently with no aggression since 2018. 

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I feel like an idiot because I read the aquarium size recommendation on the Aqua Top box and went with the recommendation of an AP-30 air pump because it is rated up to 40 gallon.  The pump is loud, small and seriously underpowered.   I couldn't power both air stones I had in UGF for my son's 29 gallon so I swapped it with my Tetra Whisper 10 which is quieter and more powerful even though it is only rated for up to 10 gallons but still too underpowered.   I am agravated because now I have to buy yet another air pump.   I ordered a dual outlet Penn Plax Air Pod which should be powerful enough because I have the exact same model running two large sponge filters in my community 40 breeder and 3 years later it is still running quiet.   I guess the moral of the story is when you find something that works stick with it.       

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Woke up to a dead filter. Order online pick up in big box store fluval canister.  This was through the beginnings of COVID so I just popped the trunk and they put it in. I rushed home and in such a frustrated hurry I thought WOW fluval must have made some design changes this is heavy. I opened the box without even noticing fluval security lock stickers were missing. I pulled it out sat it on my lap half sideways popped the lid and got flooded with rank nasty vile mulm water!  They gave me a returned canister the people did not even bother emptying!  

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On 8/30/2021 at 2:00 AM, Guppysnail said:

Woke up to a dead filter. Order online pick up in big box store fluval canister.  This was through the beginnings of COVID so I just popped the trunk and they put it in. I rushed home and in such a frustrated hurry I thought WOW fluval must have made some design changes this is heavy. I opened the box without even noticing fluval security lock stickers were missing. I pulled it out sat it on my lap half sideways popped the lid and got flooded with rank nasty vile mulm water!  They gave me a returned canister the people did not even bother emptying!  

What the heck, ive heard of people getting returned broken equipment, but never with water still inside. 

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On 8/30/2021 at 5:54 AM, Keeg said:

What did you end up doing? I've dealt with rancid water and I would have been absolutely livid!

Showered Shampoo carpet used natures miracle and several cans of febreeze. They gave me a new one and a 20$ gift card. I think I spent more on febreeze 🤣

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Many, many years ago we were having a big family dinner for a holiday (Thanksgiving I think) and everyone was seated at the table when our cat Sandy managed to fall into the fifty gallon tank as she tried to get closer to the table and then shot across the table scattering plates, food, and drinks as she tore off. Yeah. Not the ideal way to celebrate a holiday. We ended up spending lots of time cleaning everything up and ordering a pizza. 

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