The Fish Tank Story . . . Part 1

Well, it has begun. The chapter in our lives where a father will go to extreme effort and lengths for something he is certain his precious daughter MUST HAVE.
This tale began as a conversation about our new baby girl's bedroom. Peter, suggesting and begging that we get a fish tank for her room - "so that she can look at the fish while she is hanging out and the noice will be nice in the background."

"Sure" I agree... That sounds like a great idea and a little fish tank never hurt anyone....

So the quest begins - Pete doing research online on his new favorite addiction - Craigslist. What once in my mind was a small little tank or "bowl" with some goldfish in it - was now looking like a much bigger dream.

"Honey!!! check this tank out! It's an awesome 35 gallon tank!"
"35 Gallons! I am not good with numbers...HOW big is that exactly?"
Days go by....
"Honey! This is what I want.... This would hold all sorts of the cool fish I had as a kid. It's only a bit bigger - 45 gallons."
"How big would that be - give it to me in inches...."
Reluctantly I ask, "It will take up that entire wall practically? I am not sure we have that kind of space in there!"
(code for : it won't be as "cute" as I had envisioned it)
(in a very sad and pleading voice) "I haven't said ONE word about any of the baby room decorations... This is ALL I want. Just the fish tank. I really want to do this."

Gotcha... this is all true and very fair... The fish tank is a go. Gulp.

A few days later...
"Check this out!!! This is a really nice tank - it's a great deal!!"
"Wow, you are right, very nice... That looks pretty big - but cool. How big is that? 45 gallons?"
"Its 90 gallons!!! It will be over 6 feet tall! "

Deep breath, ok... Peter is REALLY excited about this .... Just go with it .... It will be fun.

SO, it is purchased through a verbal agreement on Craigslist.com and we have a date to drive to Missoula in 3 days to pick it up.

We made a fun day of it. We had just got our NEW (USED) FAMILY TRUCKSTER - A GMC YUKON XL... (this is a a WHOLE other blog about going to the dark side and being a suburban driving family now), we had beautiful clear roads and skies, planned a nice lunch with some friends in Missoula and made a stop in Butte on the way home to see our little 5 year old friend Caid play in a hockey tournament.

The new family vehicle

So, the tank is home... all 1,000 pounds of it! This thing is HUGE!!!! So big, even Peter thought it was "too big and too cool" to not be enjoyed by everyone, so it will now be in the main kitchen-living area instead of the Baby Girl room. Victory for everyone!

90 Gallons of tank (and cabinet) in all it's glory!

Miscellaneous parts and pieces that have to be rebuilt and put back together.

So, the story really just began with the obsessive searching on the internet and the drive to Missoula...

The real story begins with the multi -day, multi-stop search to rebuild all the filter and pump parts that were "handmade" by the last owner.

There were NO stock parts, no part numbers, no BRANDS to even begin finding similar pieces. Pete searched high and low, visited every plumbing, hardware and hobby shop in the the tri-county area --- with GREAT patience and persistence I might add.

We now have an ALMOST functional tank in our home... He is a like a little kid with new Legos. So excited. He keeps talking about how cool it's going to be to have little Howell-ette looking at her fish and learning all about sea life and the water!

Now that the pump research is near complete, we are now onto "live plants" for the tank and "cichlids" - the type of fish he wants to inhabit it.

Surely to be continued . . . . . .