Fishkeeping: The Installation, Part 2

Even though I was thoroughly tired, I was way to motivated to not take the water pump and Chichlid substrate mix back to the pet store.

I called the store and they told me they would take everything back. I asked about regular gravel, and they said because of the moving sale they are giving away used gravel for $5 a bucket. Not having a bucket, I grabbed the closest thing, which was my neighbor Tony's giant crab pot.

Gravel Anyone?

I trucked it over to the pet store and exchanged the substrate and water pump for a water bubbler pump and a giant load of used gravel.

Once I got back home, I took the very heavy pot to the bathroom and started washing the gravel.

After doing what I thought was a thorough job of washing the gravel, I dumped a load into the tank. Another long sigh exited my mouth as I watched the tank once again become cloudy. Although this time was not because of putting substrate in the tank, but filling it full of algae and old fish poop.

I called my friend Tony, who told me to just let the filter do its job and by tomorrow morning, it should clear up a lot. I took the rest of the gravel and dumped it out back, cleaned the pot and returned it to its owner.

At this point I didn't have any tubing for the water bubbler and I was exhausted, so I decided to call it a night. Tomorrow, I finish the tank, and start the process of getting the water ready for the fish.