death & despair [repost]

[Dan Resler]

Some people believe disasters run in threes which means I'm still due
one. What could it possibly be? I'll bet the stand on my 90gal will collapse
sometime this week. Or maybe a not-so-slow leak that will require a
complete tear down. Stay tuned.

The power went off Friday evening at 9:30pm. Outside temp: 30F. Now
our power goes off frequently here, so I didn't get too concerned.
Usually comes back on withing an hour or two. So I went to bed.

Woke up *cold* at 2am. House temp: 50. Tank temps down 6 - 8 degrees.
I threw blankents over all of 'em and went back to bed.

No power Saturday, Saturday night, Sunday, Sunday night, Monday ... and none
as I write (from work). Maybe it'll be on tonight, they say. Maybe not.

With the blankets the tank temps dropped around a 1/2 degree per hour.
I was able to slow this quite a bit in the main 90gal by keeping a
fireplace blazing continually. I ran out of wood yesterday (Sunday) afternoon
(we went through 1/2 cord).

All fish in all tanks (except a few *very sluggish* angels, corys
and rasboras in the 90gal, 60F plant tank) are dead. It surprised me how
long tropicals can live in quite cold tanks. Most died Saturday night when
the tank temp reached the low 50s. But they were still moving around (albeit
very slowly) and making `feed me' movements when the temperature was in the
high 50s.

So, George, you say model railroading is challenging and rewarding?

dan
--
Dan Resler
Dept. of Mathematical Sciences email: dre...@cabell.vcu.edu
Virginia Commonwealth University
Richmond, Virginia, USA 23284-2014