Most Aggravating Day-Off EVER!!!

I put this in the Bucket even though it is Aquarium related.

So tomorrow is my birthday, and I had planned on doing my transfer from my frag setup to my new tank build. I had mentioned this to my wife a few days earlier, and saw the look of disappointment on her face (assuming she had some plans for Saturday), so I took today off and decided to do the transfer today. Bad move...

Timeline of events:

7:04AM Woke up.
7:12AM Chugged coffee, hardly containing my excitement to get started!
7:15AM Began to epoxy (plumbers epoxy) rock scape together.
7:38AM Finished scape, started filling tank up to bottom of overflow to test plumbing for leaks.
8:08AM Closed Loop Suction Bulkhead has a drip/minute leak.
8:09AM Draining tank.
8:24AM Re-applied Teflon tape to ALL bulkheads...I know my luck!
8:37AM Filling tank up to bottom of overflow to test plumbing for leaks...attempt #2.
8:57AM YAY! All bulkheads are dry! But wait...small drop/minute leak on Closed Loop Suction Ball Valve fitting. *Note* I beat my previous time of filling tank by 10 minutes...this trend will continue.
9:55AM Took a break, pulled some hair out, fixed the Ball Valve leak. Re-applied PVC cement to all joints.
10:06AM Filling tank...leak test...attempt 3.
10:19AM Closed Loop Suction has small drop/5 minutes near Pump at Ball Valve...stop buying Ball Valves from China!
10:20AM Put Closed Loop Pump in 5.5 Gallon Tank. Dumped PVC cement on joint. Waited 10 minutes, Siliconed the joint. Take that Chinese Ball Valve!
10:32AM Continued filling tank to 1" below overflow. Leak tests held up...starting to drain current setup. By this point, I have gone through 1 roll of paper towels.
11:12AM Draining complete, transferring livestock over.
11:39AM By this point I have all coral and fish transferred, with the exception of my flasher wrasse. 2 paper towel rolls have met there demise.
12:51PM Tank is empty of rocks and debris. Flasher remains. Took lunch.
1:24PM "**** you wrasse...you can stay in there for all I care!"
1:37PM "I didn't mean what I said. I'm sorry Mr. Wrasse."
1:39PM Gotcha you little son of a...
2:12PM Finished Screen tops, completely drained tank (which will serve as sump). Bleaching the tank now (bubble algae issue).
3:07PM Sump is cleaned, in place and filled half-way up. 4 paper towels left on roll #3. I have to wash my hands though...3 paper towel rolls done.
3:09PM Mixing more saltwater. Done for the day. Wish I had worked.

I will spend the wee hours in the morning tomorrow finishing up everything and starting the system up. I will take pictures and post once everything settles.

 

WOW! I feel liked I worked just reading that!! With that much frustration up front, the rest should be smooth...

 

lol i feel the same way bud been working on my stand for my 40g breeder, nothing ever seems to go the way it should. just now that all is said an done (assuming your over 21) set back and drink a beer or 2 and admire your work

 

Oy. Happy Birthday.

Hopefully Mrs. Deceit has something good planned for ya.

 

Glad you got it done anyways! Just curious, you are using primer with the cement correct? I just have never seen that many leaks on cemented joints before!

 

Sounds like a lot of progress though!!!!

 

LOL'd at this.

Now imagine me trying to catch 10 wrasses in a couple weeks. :

 

LOL fun times.

 

1 drop/minute LOL I would have let the salt creep seal that up in a few days LOL

 

That's it? 7am to 3pm! A real reefer would still be building. No time for posting either

Or lunch