We came close to disaster today. Thanks to me. Since we’ve moved the grow beds and added a new sump tank, we haven’t had a pump with the correct power on it to get the water from the sump tank back into the main fish tank for our fish to enjoy. So the fish tank empties really nicely, but the water doesn’t get back into it with quite such speed. This isn’t a problem if you only leave the pump running for 10 minutes. But today, (possibly due to my pregnancy brain or maybe even due to my abilities to get really distracted really easily) I left the pump on for an hour.
I only just realised what I done when I went down to collect my stone cold toast (which I’d also neglected for an hour) . I bolted up the back to find the fish tank, with our fish in it, was a quarter full. Much longer and all the fishies would have been gasping for breath. Also, the sump tank was overflowing as the underpowered pumps couldn’t get the water out fast enough. It was one of those terrible moments when you realise what an idiot you are and you thank your lucky stars you caught it before it got worse.
But the day wasn’t quite done with me - I grabbed the new garden hose to help refill the tank, which was lying innocently beside my foot. Now this beast has a tendancy to split into two sections - hose and nozzle. Too concnerned about the fish to show the hose any respect, I grabbed it by the nozzle, which promptly came off and a full stream of water soaked my clothes (AND BUNNY SLIPPERS) in seconds. So there I was, dripping wet, feeling pretty dumb and still nominally in charge of fixing the mess.
So I refilled the tank to half way. I decided to leave the water sit a while, instead of putting too much in, turning it from ‘hard water’ to ’soft water’. I still have to fill up the rest of the tank this afternoon.
And as I’ve said before, the tank is in our backyard, near the shed, so in all of the commotion, I didn’t hear the postman knock on the door to deliver the new pump, which would have fixed all these problems. I found out he’d been from the little post ticket he left under the door - so I’ll be going to the post office this afternoon to get our new pump. My bunny slippers are drying now and I’m feeling very silly. But our fish are alive, the beds are still growing and the hose is obviously feeling pretty cocky right now I guess I can look on the bright side.