Last Saturday as the cab pulled up to take us to the airport for a 10 day vacation, I hear Ethan's voice from under the 75g say, "oh no." (Okay that is the polite rendition.)
Those are words you don't want to hear with a cab waiting outside.
Turns out one of our canisters had been leaking, probably for a couple days. We keep them in plastic tubs in the cabinet, and there was a gallon or two in there by then from whenever it had started.
Panic ensues.
We got it fixed within a half hour or so, got another cab, and made our flight with plenty of time (no pat-downs either!) -- but I realized a few things:
From now on I will always check all the hardware underneath before leaving. Preferably a couple hours before leaving.
Beware last-minute maintenance. We had changed water both Thursday night and Saturday morning in preparation for going a little longer between WCs. I'm not sure: this might have happened one way or the other, but Saturday morning maintenance might not have given us time to fix if something went wrong.
I need to think about who is looking in on our fish. I hadn't felt we needed anyone to come by at all; we have auto feeders and 10 days isn't really that long. Then on Saturday I was forced to envision what would happen if our (non fish owning) friend stopped by on Tuesday and found water all over the floor. I'm sure she would have no idea, and we were out of the country. Even that would be far preferable to having it go for 10 days with no one to know. Let me know if anyone in NoVA wants to make a standing fish-sitting swap arrangement!
Looking at it today, it looks like the seal went bad and we have a bad valve too. It's a Rena canister and actually is probably still under warranty. We'll probably look into what it will take to fix it and engage in a little bit of trial and error; hoping not to have to spring for a new one but what price peace of mind.
Of course, everything turned out fine, but it was not fun at all while we rushed to fix it and wondering for 10 days if we really had! Whew.
Those are words you don't want to hear with a cab waiting outside.
Turns out one of our canisters had been leaking, probably for a couple days. We keep them in plastic tubs in the cabinet, and there was a gallon or two in there by then from whenever it had started.
Panic ensues.
We got it fixed within a half hour or so, got another cab, and made our flight with plenty of time (no pat-downs either!) -- but I realized a few things:
From now on I will always check all the hardware underneath before leaving. Preferably a couple hours before leaving.
Beware last-minute maintenance. We had changed water both Thursday night and Saturday morning in preparation for going a little longer between WCs. I'm not sure: this might have happened one way or the other, but Saturday morning maintenance might not have given us time to fix if something went wrong.
I need to think about who is looking in on our fish. I hadn't felt we needed anyone to come by at all; we have auto feeders and 10 days isn't really that long. Then on Saturday I was forced to envision what would happen if our (non fish owning) friend stopped by on Tuesday and found water all over the floor. I'm sure she would have no idea, and we were out of the country. Even that would be far preferable to having it go for 10 days with no one to know. Let me know if anyone in NoVA wants to make a standing fish-sitting swap arrangement!
Looking at it today, it looks like the seal went bad and we have a bad valve too. It's a Rena canister and actually is probably still under warranty. We'll probably look into what it will take to fix it and engage in a little bit of trial and error; hoping not to have to spring for a new one but what price peace of mind.
Of course, everything turned out fine, but it was not fun at all while we rushed to fix it and wondering for 10 days if we really had! Whew.
) - no way that they can leak!
