::[ kampungkai ]::

Wednesday, March 22

Flooded With Salt Water

U can smell the aroma or sate burning in Kajang Town, u can also smell the sea in my house near Kajang Town. Some 30 hours after i got home from my trip to Pulau Pemanggil, Pulau Dayang, and Pulau Aur, which was surrounded by the South China Sea, my living room was surrounded/flooded with Aquarium Sea. My aquarium cracked. Now, my house smells like some fishing village in Mersing and I'm having a hard time cleaning up the mess.

I was surfing the net when i heard water dripping in the living room. Thinking that the water pump's hose must have disengaged, i took my own sweet time continuing surfing the net. To my shock, water was flowing out from the bottom of the aquarium! It was no ordinary water, but salt water! My salt water aquarium was leaking water in the living room! HELP!

Image hosting by PhotobucketImage hosting by Photobucket

Heart-beat rose immediately. I turned off the main switch, which turns off all (3) the pumps and (4) lights, yet water was still flowing. Ran to the washroom, grab hold of a few buckets and started scooping water out from the tank. 1st priority - save the 'Finding Nemo' family! (my aquarium has the complete family of finding nemo movie - Dory, Nemo & daddy......)

While scooping out the water, i had to prepare the back-up aquarium. For hygienic reasons, the back-up aquariums had to be wash before use. The shoes right beside the aquarium was soaking with salt water, had to transfer them to safe ground too. urghhh so much work going on simultaneously, but still wondering how on earth it cracked.

Image hosting by Photobucket

Getting the salt water fish transferred wasn't an easy job. They swim way faster than those fresh water fish. It caused them lots of energy and stress swimming away from the net that eventually they went exhausted and willingly gave in to me. From such a big tank to swim in, now the family of 9 is downsized to a 2x1 foot tank.

Fish safely transferred, sigh of relief, but the worst has just started. 1/4 of the living room was flooded with salt water. I looked at the floor for a full 10 seconds, not knowing where to start from. Since it was 1am midnight when the tank started leaking, it made things worse.

Image hosting by PhotobucketImage hosting by Photobucket

Thanx to the car windscreen cleaner, it made things slightly easier (mops come to no use at all). Foot by foot, i had to drain the water out from the living room. Then, turn on all the fans in the living room to blow dry the marble floor. And when the floor is dry, it is sticky, because of the salt. So, i have to mop the floor, not once, not twice, but 10 times! no kidding! till now of which i've wiped the floor 13 times, including twice with detergent, there's still a slight stickiness which makes u tip-toe while walking.

Since the supporting structure of the tank is made from wood, i have to bring it out to the sun and dry it. And that definitely needs the minimum help of 2 guys, which my family is lack of now. (parents goes to work) The glass tank is really heavy! Any volunteers? haha...

Image hosting by PhotobucketImage hosting by Photobucket

While cleaning up the tank, I found a dried fish at the dry part of the tank Haha! i have no idea when it happened, but it seems it happened quite a long time ago as it was really dry and the eyes was hollow! It commited suicide sighhh... am i not a good owner?

Image hosting by PhotobucketImage hosting by Photobucket

For those of u wondering how to prepare the salt water environment for the fish to live in. Let me explain, it's very simple. Of course, u need salt to get salt water. So buy the salt from some aquarium shop and just mix with tap water. The difference of cooking salt and aquarium salt? i really dunno. But i definitely won't risk using cooking salt as my aquarium's source of salt water, because it's not worth trying. The nemo family is not cheap. Anyway, after mixing salt + tap water, use this meter and fill it with salt water. Check the specific gravity of the water and make sure it's in between the red color range. As simple as that.

Image hosting by Photobucket

They are doing good now, but pretty obvious that the tank is too small for 9 fish to live in, it feels like being in jail. Till then, do wait for my next post on my trip during last weekend to the islands in 2 days' time.

24 Comments:

  • And you haven't say how the aquarium cracked?

    Hehe...

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at March 22, 2006 4:30 PM  

  • JUST FOUND OUT THE REASON OF LEAKING. I REFILLED THE TANK WITH WATER, AND FOUND OUT THAT THERE WAS NO CRACK ON THE GLASS, BUT THE ATTACHMENT POINT OF 2 PIECES OF GLASS WERE WEAK. THE SILICONE BONDING WASN'T SEALED PROPERLY BY THE MANUFACTURER, THUS CAUSING THE LEAK. SCREW THE AQUARIUM MAKER! MAKE ME WORK LIKE MAD!

    By Blogger Kampungkai, at March 22, 2006 7:13 PM  

  • But then, how come after so long only leak??!?

    By Blogger Jason Lioh, at March 22, 2006 7:23 PM  

  • how come u have d time to hold the camera and click the button to snap this and that while ur aquarium is leaking and u r in d process of cleaning and transfering ur lil nemo family away?

    *chris doesnt wanna talk to me, all he could do it go-speechless-in-msn to keep me away*

    *hmmpp*

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at March 23, 2006 1:27 AM  

  • ahaha your fish committed suicide!! maybe cuz hor.. u seldom take care of them xD

    ei btw.. u mopped ur floor for more than 10X dat's very good sia.. i had nver even mopped that many times in a day! xD

    By Blogger Alicia, at March 23, 2006 9:01 AM  

  • haha.. interesting post. poor fish btw.. :p

    ryc: you mean there actually is a video?? o.O

    By Blogger Rainbow, at March 23, 2006 9:20 AM  

  • wah lao eh... very excited story huh~ lucky u are at home when the incident happen~~~ hehe!!! if not... your 'Finding Nemo' family.... haha!!!

    By Blogger Blur^Sand, at March 23, 2006 10:09 AM  

  • I think the commited suicide fish watch too much of Nemo cartoon... hmmm... pity the fish.. anyway. cant wait to hear the trip post

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at March 23, 2006 10:14 AM  

  • Who else : Obviously, this is called blogger syndrome. :P

    By Blogger Jason Lioh, at March 23, 2006 5:55 PM  

  • you know what? I was just thinking the same thing as whoelse that how can you in the panic situation manage to take so many pics and at the same time think of what to blog.

    I like the fish tank. I heard its pretty tough to keep the salt water fishes alive one wor. And also pretty expensive right?

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at March 23, 2006 9:27 PM  

  • We tried keeping marine fish for a while. But none of the poor fishies we bought survive over 2 weeks. We finally got sick of buying fish for the sake of killing them, so we gave up. :(

    By Blogger Olive Poppy, at March 24, 2006 12:51 AM  

  • Jason: have no idea why it leaked on that particular day. But i'm glad that it leaked when i was at home, cos my parents would grumble non stop if they were the 1 doing the job.

    who else: chris still talks to u wat, chris is nice guy rite? blogger syndrome = snap photo non stop in watever situation haha!

    Alicia: eh i sayang my fish very very much! i kiss them once a while haha! would u wanna help me mop the floor for the 14th time? i would greatly appreciate your help!

    Passion Flower: it became ikan kering masin! should have tried it and see how it tasted like (vomit) bout the video, there really is, i've seen it, it's sick. If u intolerent (is there such word?) with brutality, i suggest not to watch. It involves lots of blood and screaming, imagine.

    Blur^Sand: yea, i was really lucky to be at home when it happened, else the situation would be worse! They are stil alive now, doing well, but i plan to transfer them into a bigger tank soon.

    keith: haha.. he aws learning from Nemo issit? Pemanggil trip... coming up! stay tune :)

    Jason: that's right!

    ic3_que3n: blogger syndrome ler! well, if u have the correct equipment, then it wouldn't be a problem keeping them alive. all u need to do is feed them fish food. as for the price.. yea pretty expensive. u can buy maybe few hundreds of edible fish?

    Princess Poo Poo: huh? how come it didn't survive? water temperature too high? too salty? not salty enough? yea it's better not to rear anymore if it doesn't survive, good job. nvm la, always invited to come over my house and have a look! haha...

    By Blogger Kampungkai, at March 24, 2006 1:09 AM  

  • Blogger syndrome haha.. you are full of it :p

    Call me stupid, but this the first time I heard of people having salt water fish tank at home.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at March 24, 2006 1:19 AM  

  • (tis is from d dired, die fish...)finally...somebody found my body...

    *ouch*....apa la lu...very unsafe to b ur fish leh...

    *wink* wink*....luckily im not d dried fish....

    By Blogger py, at March 24, 2006 9:02 AM  

  • tak ingin mau mop ur floor haha.. u shud do it for me instead xD

    By Blogger Alicia, at March 24, 2006 9:11 AM  

  • u really have a "Nemo" family in your aquarium tank..
    wow...
    are they edible?
    (just kidding leh..)

    the dried fish look so cute..
    she/he must be too disappointed with life :P

    btw,
    u mentioned u sayang your fish very much till u kiss them once in a while..
    i'm just wondering.. how u kiss the fish? :P

    By Blogger Chen, at March 24, 2006 11:37 AM  

  • oh no.. You murdered Dory.. or it did the Finding nemo stuck on you?

    Have you found out why it cracked?

    By Blogger Robin CHAN, at March 24, 2006 4:17 PM  

  • err... i'm curious to watch it.. but scared pulakk.. :p

    By Blogger Rainbow, at March 24, 2006 11:27 PM  

  • Lol, you have beautiful fishes.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at March 25, 2006 1:12 AM  

  • Jee: too much of blogger syndrome makes ppl think u r nuts haha! the salt water fish rearing started to boom after the movie FINDING NEMO, but now that lots of ppl find it high in maintenance, less are interested now.

    phindoltheploy: hahahhahha damn funny la! 'finally, somebody found my body' :P i feel bad for the fish because no1 saw it dry up! very unsafe to be my fish? what fish are u talking about? human fish? or fish fish? :P

    Alicia: nahhhhhhhhhhhh! u never pay me gaji also?

    Chen: the dried fish looks cuter when it was alive! wahhaahhaa! about kissing the fish, i was kidding la... i meant that i love my fish very much hehe! maybe i will kiss the glass of the aquarium? then the fish will come to the glass too? :P

    mingming: yea lo, poor fishy :( Nemo is cute, but Dory is cuter!

    Robin: the dried fish is not Dory. Dory is fine... but getting restless cos the tank is too small for it. Gotta get it transferred to a bigger tank soon. There was no crack, but the silicone seal in between the glass wasn;t good, manufacturer's problem. I bought a tube of silicone and re-sealed the glass, gonna test the tank with water tomorrow, hope the seal works.

    Passion Flower: i have 3 videos in my PC. If u want it, i can send to your mailbox. But u sure u want? it's brutal. My female friend vomitted after watching and skipped dinner.

    Jo: thank you, they are indeed beautiful. Eh, i have problems commenting at your blog, can't seem to upload my comment, what's the problem? I've not seen u here b4, hie!

    By Blogger Kampungkai, at March 25, 2006 2:08 AM  

  • hm... yeah i think wanna watch it.

    i wanna see for myself, the truth.

    By Blogger Rainbow, at March 25, 2006 10:24 AM  

  • wakaka,, no wonder got fish smell when we mamak on thurs nite.. =p

    By Blogger ymeiosis, at March 25, 2006 12:02 PM  

  • No no no no.... it is because the fish in your tank trying to escape!!!! you sure all the fish's parent are dead? no "finding Nemo" in here? you sure? you sure?

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at March 25, 2006 5:49 PM  

  • Aiyo.. when did the 'humyue' died? You didn't realise until now?

    Bad owner!

    By Blogger ZMM, at March 27, 2006 4:19 PM  

Post a Comment

<< Home