IT'S ALI-IVE!
Untitled by
Magdaline Chu, on Flickr
The husband told me to stop procrastinating, so I finally put water into the tank. I still wasn't sure I understood it completely but once it was running, everything made sense. I re-read the entire GMA Herbie method basic guide again and understood it this time. It did show the that the two downspouts should be under the waterline (not sure how I missed that). The main line as I have it now is probably a bit too long (?) as it should be about 1/2" underwater I think. I left the emergency for now as it was good to see how it worked as I adjusted the valve. We turned off the pump and it was all good. My husband showed a lot of interest in playing around with the plumbing - he doesn't really care all that much about the livestock haha. He also looks forward to all the clutter being cleaned up.
I'm not really a religious person but I did say a little prayer before I went to bed. And lo, there was no deluge this morning.
So I added the vinegar and will let it run for the 2 days. Then some final adjustments, clean up the back, etc. When should I be testing the skimmer. It won't be working properly when there's nothing to skim, right?
Also, the sight of all that water in the tank made my husband think about insurance coverage. Any insight into this?