The Tacklebox Syndrome and Other Wisdom

For those of you who have read my post about purchasing a Yeti for my boat (see 15.9 > 15), I have a new story to emphasize my trouble with measurements. I swear, I wish we just used the metric system. In practice it is so much easier.

I have a turtle that I care for. His name is Turdy and he lives in my daughter’s room in a small aquarium. Now, she feeds him and would tell you he is her turtle, but when it comes to the real, roll-up-your-sleeves, maintenance, I am the guy. Turdy was named by daughter when we purchased him several years ago with her full knowledge of what a “turd” is. Kids? What can you do?

I should note that Turdy is a yellow-bellied slider, an aquatic turtle, and spends most of his time in the water. Therefore he lives in a 20 gallon aquarium (12x12x30)” filled a little over halfway up. We are limited by how deep the water can be filled by a basking rock that is in place under a heat lamp and by his water filter that creates a little water fall for water aeration. Remember that, we are limited by the required aquarium accessories so that we can only fill the tank halfway.  

One of my main jobs, aside from making sure the filters are clean is periodically replacing the water and cleaning any algae or mildew that may have grown in the tank. I also replace any aquatic ‘plants’ we have in the tank that may need to come out. My daughter does help with these tasks, but she’s little, so a lot of it falls to me. My wife isn’t strong enough either.

I recently decided that I needed to replace all of the substrate in the tank and most of the other rocks due to a recurring algae outbreak. A little tip, you can buy big bags of river gravel for something like this at Lowes or Home Depot for cheap. The pet stores rip you off with the stuff they sell and mark it up 300%. You do have to wash any gravel you buy off very well with fresh water before putting it in the tank. It’s really not that difficult if you are committed to providing a clean tank that doesn’t cost you $100.

While assessing the tank job, I decided that if I was going to replace all the gravel, I should take the opportunity to replace Turdy’s tank with a larger environment. Turdy was the size of a silver dollar when we got him and he has now grown to a diameter of about 8 inches. We think he’s reached adult size and seems content in his 20 gallon tank, but a bigger aquarium would be appropriate. Surely, a 30 gallon tank would be the right call here. Surely?

You may have already guessed my mistake, but here goes. I went to the store and, what do you know, they have a 30 gallon tank that is 50% off. Although it was still a little expensive, I was pleased with my luck. I carried the tank out, still in the box.

I got the tank home and placed it in the spot where the old tank had been. This was shortly after my incident with the Yeti, so I was pleased to see that the tank occupied a larger area on the table when pushed against the wall. Still, something was nagging at my little lizard brain. 

I filled the tank with the clean fresh gravel and replaced some of the larger stones. I then replaced all of the ‘plants’ in the tank with new ‘plants’ and placed a cleaned and scrubbed basking rock and waterfall. With my daughter’s help I began filling the tank.

Fortunately, I have developed a system for draining and filling the tank that incorporates a washroom sink we have that has a threaded faucet that allows a hose to be attached. I just run a short hose from the washroom to my daughter’s room and with her help we fill the tank. I started filling the tank by holding the hose and having my daughter operate the faucet in the other room.

It came to my painful realization that with the basking rock and waterfall limiting the depth of the water, I could only put 10 gallons in the tank; or said another way, I could only fill the tank about 1/3 full. I then realized that the old tank lid fit perfectly on the new tank. Grabbing my tape measure, I blankly stared at the numbers (12x16x30)” as it sunk in that the new tank was the exact same size as the old tank, except it was deeper. That didn’t help me, or Turdy for that matter, with giving him more space to swim in. It only looked bigger because when pushed against the wall it hits a shelf above, BECAUSE it’s so tall. In fact it has only made it harder for myself or my daughter to reach down in there because the tank walls are so much higher. Again, we have added Zero additional space for Turdy after going from a 20 gallon to a 30 gallon aquarium!

Anyone want to buy a 30 gallon aquarium and a 35 quart Yeti cooler?