View Single Post
  #67  
Old 08/29/2007, 06:53 PM
NanoGurl NanoGurl is offline
Girls Rule!
 
Join Date: Dec 2006
Posts: 2,455
Thanks =)

I don't have any photos of setting up the plumbing sorry. Basically all it is is a straight PVC pipe going straight down into my tank for the drain. The return is provided with a Mag5 and flexible airline tubing which goes into the return bulkhead and back into the tank.

You can sorta see in this photo. Directly behind the skimmer is just a straight pipe down into the water. On the far right you can see the return pump leading back to the return bulkhead.


I would def drill the tank instead of having an external overflow box. If you can afford it, I would just buy the AGA 75 MegaFlow tank to save the trouble. It's worth the money IMO unless you enjoy doing things like drilling.

PBT are great fish. They are beautiful and personable with a lot of attitude. I have spent a great amount of time watching Ocean swim and interact in his tank. I am 100% positive this fish is happy (for now) based on a few things.

1. I bought him small. I believe taking a med to large PBT out of the Ocean and putting them into any tank will stress them out. The smaller PBT's aren't as used to the ocean and have less exposure to it.

2. Eliminate stress. Stress among other things can and will cause ich. I originally decided to pass on a PBT, and got a Scopas Tang. We then decided (mistakingly) to go ahead with the PBT and just put the two together since they were both small and would only be a short time. Wrong decision. They lived together (until the Scopas died), but Ocean was not happy. He would fast dart around, turn on his side, display his white bars, and other signs the PBT's do during aggression. You could just tell the way he swam he was not "happy." As soon as the Scopas was removed to QT (when we started treating them both for black ich) Ocean started to calm down. He acted a lot less stressed and comfortable in the tank. He still chases anything new we add into the tank, but that only lasts about 24 hours and then it's over.

3. Provide the proper tank. We have designed the tank specifically to keep Ocean and our zebra eel happy. Specifically to Ocean, we have not added any fish that compete with his swimming "zone." We have no other free swimming fish that take up space and threats to him. He also has rock work to swim in and out of. Something I plan to increase even more when we upgrade. I don't know if I would add another tang in with him regardless of the tank size. We also did not pack the tank full of LR. We used a lot of open top space to free up rooom for him to swim in the open as well as dive back into the rockwork. In a 75, you have to maximize space. The tank will not last a PBT very long IMO. It will work to raise up, but probably only about a year.

4. Varied diet. Get him started on as much variety as possible. Ocean eats three types of dried seaweed, many different types of dried flakes, Cyclop-eeze, and frozen brine and mysis. He also eats a lot of the natural algae off the rocks. I dose his foods with garlic extreme a couple of times a week.

5. Veggie clips. I am a strong believer in providing Ocean with a veggie clip with dried seaweed at least 3 or 4 times a week. He really looks forward to this and it gives him something to do. He grazes around the tank all day, and goes back and forth all the time to his clip. IMO this helps keep him interested in something besides just pacing a tank "bored" and hungry. Again, no stress.

6. Higher temps. I run my tank temps in the low 80's all the time. I am not sure if this actually does anything, but I kinda believe that the higher temps helps him fight off and recover from any issues he has. I have not seen regular ich on him or black ich since he was originally treated when he arrived.

Luck has a lot to do with it I'm sure. I think I got lucky and got a pretty strong PBT. He has done well and seems to have a big heart. That is another big reason why I am trying to do everything I can to make his life happy while he's around. I really think he's a great fish =)





I don't have any FTS that are current. I have my frags all over the sandbed due to siphoning FW's out, so it doesn't look very nice right now. I keep delaying using FE but I think I am going to have to and get this over with once and for all. If I kill any of my fish I am going to be devestated and I'm scared to do it.

Chapter 2 tomorrow. You can buy the book at any LBS (local book store ha ha ha)