Tuesday-6am

Hard to take a photo of this, but this is the back of the tank from an aerial view. See how this acrylic tank has bowed!! Another design flaw. Kind of scary. Made me nervous about scrubbing hard on the back side of the tank. I'll just get more algae and my arm and back were really tired after three sides, so (confession) I left the back pretty much alone.

This is the Python! I'd be lost without it since I can't carry buckets with my bad arm like I did in the old days. It attaches to the faucet on my kitchen sink--you can suck water out to clean the gravel and send clean water back into the tank. You can buy the Pythons in different lengths. I was lucky I have a hole in the wall--hehe! Saved me some money. :)
Karma loves to watch the yucky stuff scoot along the hose and up into the kitchen! She remembered the hose from last time and got all spazzy excited when I unfurled it--chuckle!

After an hour or so of emptying and refilling the tank (twice) to clean that gravel as well as I could, Karma had gotten quite comfy and parked herself for observation. Exhausted from running back and forth along the length of the hose chasing pieces of dead plants and fish crud.
This is how the suction is created to draw the water out of the tank. The nozzle contraption gets plugged with debris, loses suction, and has to be cleared out every so often. I think I had to do that three times during the process. When you want to fill the tank back up you get the water to the temperature you want it and twist the very bottom piece upward to stop the water flow into the sink.
Here's the hood when the pump is working. Since it is all black it was hard for me to get a picture of how close the water comes to the top edge on the back of the tank--but, trust me, it is pretty close.
I did discover a smaller hole higher up in the corner under the swivel top piece of the hood (to use instead of the larger hole you can see above the blue back of the tank). I fiddled around until I figured out how to remove that entire section of the hood so that I could run all the cords up thru that high corner hole. Luckily, I figured out how to get the top piece back on--haha! Now, maybe that will keep the cords from dripping water?? I sure hope so!!
This is the tank after it was filled. So many bubbles all over the sides that you can barely see into the tank and the water is a bit milky colored. This is normal. I'll take a picture after it clears up--takes about a day.

I was so exhausted and sore (especially from bending over the tank and scrubbing) and I hadn't gotten much sleep the night before--I was in bed by 10pm. Slept till 3:30am and couldn't get back to sleep. Took a couple more pain pills (glad I now know it is okay to take two at a time--and up to eight a day--hurray!), watched some stuff on tape in the bedroom, took a shower, and here I am in the living room with one light on in the dark trying not to annoy Gracie too much. She is FAR from ready to wake up. The tank probably looks much better by now, but the fish are zonked out, too.

Karma is up with me. She's parked in one of the chairs by the living room window watching the early birds go off to work, I guess. Cat TV.

I may be sore, drained, and tired--but my spirits are lifted! I am soooo glad to have the yearly cleaning projects done! Feels soooo good! They are much bigger projects for me to accomplish than they used to be now that my life has down shifted into low gear--hehe! But they are just as satisfying when they are completed! :)

Caroline comes this afternoon, so the place will be all spiffed up! :):) Right now I am going to go watch some stuff on tape here in the living room. Won't be too long and the sun should peek out? Me and my unpredictable hours--I might try to doze off in my chair...