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Well, I had emergency surgery on Wednesday, as I stated already in the "Beast" post. This of course happened the day after I tried the "wonderful" sand that was featured in the "Beast" post. Beast, I've gotta hand it to ya... I dont know HOW you did it...


The sand is settled... the water is FILTHY!


So I decided today to clean the tank and take out all the sand. My turt was in a temp tank for the past few days, and she was very stressed. I felt better today, the past few days I couldnt walk too good and had a VERY hard time getting up. I've been on strong medication. I'm no longer on morphine, but very STRONG Vicodin. I still cannot drive and my family tells me I ask them the same question over and over again. It sucks really, I feel helpless sometimes. I dont know how people can do drugs and live life normally. No I didnt get beat up. That bruise is from one of the 8 IV sites I had... Yes I did find more since the last post.



Here are my hands. Yes, I know you guys dont know what my hands normally look like, but they are swollen about 3-4 times the normal size. Again, I was allergic to the medication they gave me in the hospital.



So I take ALL the sand out... hmmm... gotta do something with it right? It cost $40!!!! I am SO MAD AT MYSELF FOR BUYING IT!!!!



Heres my lovely shower!!!!!!!



Again, Beast, I dont know how you did it. It was dirty like that for days, I bought a new filter, nothing changed. The sand was settled. It just turned the water filthy brown!!!!! I tried to change the water, and the same thing happened... So these past few days I have been extremely mad at myself for buying this stupid sand. So I took my pain medication and slowly removed all the water , carrying one gallon at a time to the bathtub. I then scrubed the tank, and they slowly filled it up one gallon at a time. My boyfriend got some new rocks. He helped me rinse them all, I did the water changing when he was at work because I am stubborn. My fault right??? Im the one who bought that stupid sand!!! So I put all those rocks in, along with new plants. I threw my old background away, and then switched it twice ( two sided) ... I like this one the best. Oh yeah, and my basking lights? Thats not how I normally have it. And yes, I have a UVB strip but now I have to cut a stupid hole in my screen top becasue I bought a filter that sits on the back of the tank!!! That light is now down and I put the screen half way on, and its held down with a big rock so she wont escape. Temporary until I cut a hole into the screen.











Checking out her new rocks:





So basically, I didnt accomplish anything.... oh yeah... and that air stone?? Karlyn hates it. She swims at the glass frantically. I took it out.

Heres a pic of my cutie:



And heres a pic of my mutilated belly button... Its all stretched out and MUTILATED!!! I probably ripped some stitches out too. I am happy the tank looks nice with the new plants and rocks, but I am so mad with all the MONEY, TIME, and ENERGY I wasted with that SAND!!!!!!! I am going to use it when Karlyn lays eggs I guess.




It took me about 5-6 hours to do all that... I am exhausted.

Wow Jessica! I like it that you're getting dirty in the pics lol j/k. I've had plenty of IV's in my life time so I know what you probably went through getting those. I love how your aquarium looks after you cleaned it all out. I love the background you use too. You have a really cute turtle. I'm beginning to wonder if I even have a female. I may try to post pics of my two turtles and see if anyone can help me tell. Anyways Jessice you did a great job in cleaning that all up oxoxo's for all your hard work . Hope you get to feeling much better soon. Btw what gallon size is your aquarium Jessica ?

Thanks Eric Its only a 55 gallon.... Karlyn is such a cute, that pic was taken about 3 weeks ago... she had her hands together awwwe.... And in case anyone is wondering, the heater is on the right side of the tank. I noticed now you cant see it. It was a lot of hard work.. I think it looks good though. My moochie seems happy.. I call her Moochie too because she obviously mooches for food all the time

Ya I'm still working on getting that 75 gallon. I wish my turtles do cool poses like every elses. One time and one time only I caught my two turtles on top of each other and the one on top was doing the superman pose but as I walked in my room that dived right into the water lol.

There is a 150 gallon at Petsmart that I drool over... Sometimes I go there just to admire it

oh man,now im definitley NOT getting sand..im sorry you had to go through that,if you lived closer i would have helped.i like your set up though! i gotta get me one of those background once i upgrade!

Hoooney - Glad to hear your doing better, and sorry to hear your experience with teh sand, was so bad. I think i'll just stick with rocks for now, until we can get this figured out. What a mess it is to clean up huh? wow. Well your tank looks great once again. And i hope you have a speedy recovery!

Thank guys xsaving, I wish you were here to help lol... Muirner, we gotta ask Beast just exactly how he did it. I put the sand in first and then the water.. I really dont think it matters the water would turn brown either way... I dont know if I should have rinsed the sand first... but its so fine anyways that really wouldnt make a difference because it gets stirred up. Now, just because I've had a bad experience with the sand doesnt mean you will... but I wanted to show what I went through so everyone can be prepared.... Beast's tank was BEAUTIFUL. There must be a way, but I think it would have taken forever for it to be clear.

haha,well now that karylyns tank is all nice and clean.you can sit back and relax..i cant imagine what you went through,by the way you explained it,it sounds realy bad..i hope i never have to go through that,i have a phobia of needles../=

Hoooneylynn wrote:Thank guys xsaving, I wish you were here to help lol... Muirner, we gotta ask Beast just exactly how he did it. I put the sand in first and then the water.. I really dont think it matters the water would turn brown either way... I dont know if I should have rinsed the sand first... but its so fine anyways that really wouldnt make a difference because it gets stirred up. Now, just because I've had a bad experience with the sand doesnt mean you will... but I wanted to show what I went through so everyone can be prepared.... Beast's tank was BEAUTIFUL. There must be a way, but I think it would have taken forever for it to be clear.

If I were going to put sand in which I wouldn't I would put it in a big container and slowly run water in until it overflows and allow it to overflow for awhile until all the light sand flows out and the heavy sand remains.

Right.. Spook, all the sand is very fine, but i know what youre saying.. the sand does eventually clump together, but if the water is stirred around, the sand gets stirred causing the water to get very dirty again.. so all the sand is "light"... its the special exo terra riverbed sand which has very fine grains so if it is ingested, its not harmful for turts.

hey hooney- did you say your turtles hated the airstone?? How could you tell?

she swam really frantically at the glass.. I believe grey goose called it "repetitive motion" It does make noise, and I could tell immediately after I turned it on she freaked (swimming frantically) and tried to get away... it wasnt just a normal occasional swimming at the glass. she was scared and she tried to get out of the tank... just watch your turts reaction... you'll know.
I think it causes vibration in the water... imagine being in a room with a constant noise and you can feel your ear drums vibrating.. not too pleasant

right, i know what cha mean, and that's what i thought was gonna be the answer. Sorry to hear that... Out of curiosity, could u relocate the pump somewhere where it wouldnt make as much noise? Maybe on the floor or just off the stand? Idk, i'm looking at my tank wondering what i should do, it's a love hate thing with the turts and airstones.

the pump doesnt go in the water. the air stone does... it doesnt matter where i put it.. I think the noise travels through the water.. I can hear it when I put my ear to the glass... maybe I should get one thats not so powerful... I dont know what Im going to do yet..