A Flood Crisis

It was a do or die moment.
Or really, a do or get really soaking wet moment.

For I accidentally set off a monster.

A monster of water.

What happened?
Well, I got into work and noticed that our tanks of goldfish (the inexpensive kind you can find at carnivals) weren't circulating their water properly.
-I could tell because the fish were all swimming at the top of the tank. When they do that it means that they're not getting in fresh water.
I checked it out and yep, the two tanks of top swimming gold fish had their nozzles plugged up. So no fresh water for them!
So I turned off our system. Unclogged the nozzles. Put them back in and started the system back up. Yes! It was working!
Only...I decided to check the other half dozen tanks as well.
And found, that none of their nozzles were working either!
Now, that's super pretty ultra rare.
To have the whole row go out?
So before I unplugged every single nozzle,
I decide to check in back and see what the pond looked like. As I know that it can get empty without people realizing it.
And upon showing up to the back, the pond was indeed empty.
(The pond is a holding tank of extra water....don't ask me how it circulates through the goldfish or why it gets empty, I'm not quite sure.)
So I took the less easy route and filled up alternating pitchers of water.
-In reality I could have hooked up a hose to put them in, but I was being lazy.
Go figure that it was more work.
So I filled up the pond.
Turned the system back on.
And....no dice on the water going into the tanks.
Back into the back I went to shut the system off.
It was going to be the hard way then.
I would need to declog all the nozzles.
-I had a feeling there was a lot of gunk stuck in them as the filter wasn't properly filtering with no water in it.

So I pulled the nozzle off.
And water started spewing out of the whole as I worked on clearing the nozzle.
I wasn't too concerned...at first. For pulling out clogged nozzles usually results in a lot of water coming out quickly for like two seconds.
But then I realize.
The water was still spewing.
And that meant the levels in the tank were rising.
Which meant...if this geyser didn't turn off soon....I was about to get myself and the rest of the store very very wet.

Acting on instinct.
BAIL!
I grabbed a handy dandy fish holder thing. (plastic thingy that you put fish in while you're catching them for customers)
and started scooping water out of one tank into the other.
Only to realize...that tank was filling up fast.
And....the first tank was still playing Old Faithful and shooting out water like there was no tomorrow.
Not. Good.

And the problem?
The system was already OFF.
I couldn't stop water from spewing when water shouldn't have been coming out at all anyways!
I nearly ran to go find a manager. (Probably wouldn't have helped.)
But then I was like.
Well, I know the nozzles in ALL these tanks are blocked.
What if...all the water is coming into the tank that doesn't have the nozzle on it because that's a path it can get out of.
SO! If I pulled the nozzles off of all the goldfish tanks...that would hopefully relieve the pressure as the water would have more exit holes to escape out of and that would give the filter system a chance to pull the water back out a different hole and we wouldn't get flooded! Yes! Brilliant!
And it worked!
In like ten seconds (okay it was probably longer then that) I got all the nozzles off.
Problem solved!

Only...I had to put the nozzle back on.
Once I cleared them out, and began putting them back into place.
The water pressure on the unnozzled holes began to build again.
I realized this about...oh the second or third to last tank.
I basically had to screw the second to last nozzle in enough to hold it there before hurrying to put the last nozzle into place. As the water level in that tank was rising rather quickly.
Problem. IT WASN'T GOING ON!
Why? Every try to block your shower from spraying you? Or block off a hose in your garden going full force.
It was about the same with the fish tank.
I got sprayed more then once. Luckily not soaked though in my effort to try and get the nozzle back into it's slot.
It was difficult.
Nothing was cooperating with each other,
and the level water was rising up and up and up to the point of threatening to over flow...when walla! I got the last nozzle on!
Crisis averted. I finished screwing in the last nozzle -the one I'd hurriedly stuck in to create a plug while I fully screwed in the last nozzle.
Checked the pond and filled it.
Turned on the system...

And was rewarded by
a bunch of icky gunk flowing back out into the tanks.
EWW!
Yah, that made the water really cloudy....I hope it filters out soon.

Moral of the story?
1. Gravel Vacuum out the pond to get rid of the gunk.
2. Clear nozzles before filling pond.
3. Fill pond last!

But hey! I got the tanks working again and didn't flood my department!
Woot!
I call that a good day. :D

Until you next see these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi