The tank has been up and running since December 2008 for those that haven’t seen the pictures of the making of “The Tank” check out this link:

http://www.texasrarebooks.com/tank

So the biggest fish in The Tank is called “The Big Guy”…pretty self explanatory! LOL! He is a Bala Shark and He’s about 14 inches long and weighs close to 5 lbs.

Here’s my latest fish story: and this happened about a week after The Big Guy and all the inhabitants of the Tank survived tank temperatures in excess of 96 degrees (for less than 8 hours) because the AC was out in the house! ….that’s another fish story I’ll post later!

Bala Sharks are known to dig through the gravel (basically sucking rocks into their mouth) looking for food. It’s just what they do. I never in my wildest dreams thought this would happen… see, I put medium sized gravel in the Tank, thinking there’s no way that the Bala’s could get such huge rocks into their mouths…well I was wrong. Last week The Big Guy sucked into his mouth a rock the size of a nickel. And it got stuck in his throat! My first thought was “ok, I’ll give it a few days to see if he would work it out”. Well, two days went by, and the rock was still stuck in his mouth. He wasn’t able to close his mouth. So, I set up my 30 gallon tank that I keep in reserve as a hospital tank. It took me at least 2 hours to catch him. So by the time I threw him into the hospital tank, he was exhausted enough for me to stick a pair of tweezers down his throat in an attempt to get the rock out! Well, the rock slid in even further down his throat, and I wasn’t able to touch it anymore with the tweezers. I figured, ok, he’ll just live the rest of his life with a rock in his belly! Hell, sharks in the ocean live with much worse in their belly’s all the time. The Big Guy was able to close his mouth and he looked like he wasn’t stressing out, so I waited 24 hours and threw him back in the Big Tank.

24 more hours go by, and The Big Guy apparently choked the rock back up to the point where it was caught back in his mouth. I could actually see the tip of the rock poking through his lips! So out came the net (I had to make out of a pool leaf catcher and pvc pipe), and I went to work trying to catch him again.

This time however, I was going to knock him out with fish anaesthesia and pull the rock out. Now fish anaesthesia was new to me, It’s a mixture of Finquel (which is an amphibian and large fish anaesthesia) and baking soda in a gallon of water. So I mixed it up and prayed… because this was either gonna help him or kill him. There wasn’t much in between! So after I caught him, I dunked him in the Finquel bath, and counted to 10…

The Big Guy started to float on his side, but his gills were still moving, so I knew the drugs were working! The Big Guy was down for the count! I had placed a pillow case over a towel on the counter, with a large desk lamp (so I could see better), a large magnifying glass, a timer, and several pairs of different size tweezers.

So I took the now very docile Big Guy, and laid him on the pillow case and started the timer (the experts say to not keep them under for more than 5 minutes). It took less than 30 seconds to wiggle the rock out of his throat! Thank you Jesus! So in the hospital tank he went so I could get fresh water moving through his gills. I had to hold a very groggy Big Guy in the hospital tank for about 5 minutes before he started to get his bearings back and could keep himself upright. But by God, I got that damned rock out!

As the Big Guy, was recovering in the hospital tank, I decided that the gravel that was in the Tank had to go. So I ended up scooping out all the medium sized gravel (all 175 pounds of it) and replaced it with the small regular gravel you can get in about every aquarium store! By the time I was done replacing the gravel, the Big Guy was ready to go back into the Tank.

I’m proud to report, that That Big Guy, the other 4 Bala’s and all the rest of the inhabitants of the Tank are all well and happy! wheeeeeeew! :)

Here's the link to see "The Making of The Tank"!!

http://www.TexasRareBooks.com/tank

The tank has been up and running since December 2008 for those that haven’t seen the pictures of the making of “The Tank” check out this link:

http://www.texasrarebooks.com/tank

By Feb. 2009 I was battling heat exchange in the tank (the tank was running around 84 degrees) versus the humidity the tank was leaving in the house. I had to find a happy medium for both fish and me!

Solution Number 1 – The Hood:
The first solution to the tank heat was to raise the temporary hood away from the surface of the tank by about a foot. So I built a one-foot tall wall surrounding the tank, that sits on the top of the tank by 1-inch triangular feet. The temporary hood now sits on the temporary walls! LOL! I built 5 doors into the wall so I could get to the surface of the water. This seemed to drop the tank temperature by a few degrees, but also added to the humidity that was going into the house. The humidity in the house was running in excess of 67 percent. Not good!

A temporary fix to the humidity problem was to buy a dehumidifier. But the drawbacks to running a dehumidifier was the extreme costs on the electric bill, probably $185 extra a month in electric charges. So a better solution needed to happen fast!

Solution Number 2 – The Filtration System:
When I designed the filtration system, I submersed the submersible/inline 4000 GPH pump into the second 45 gallon tub that was inline with the filters. Well this size pump, puts out a lot of heat, which was adding to the heat in the tank. So the next chore was to put the pump inline (outside of the second filtration tub). This involved re-plumbing the filtration system to accommodate the now inline pump. Once the project was done it dropped the tank temp by about 2 degrees. Still not enough for happy fish!

Solution Number 3 – The Lighting:
When I designed the lighting for the tank I was using (4) —> 40watt, 4-foot, Coral Reef 50/50 Fluorescent Tubes. Nice look these lights put out! However that was 160 watts of heat I was putting into the mix! Not to mention the strain on the electric bill the ballasts were putting out! So my solution was to get (4) – 4-foot, 12 volt, LED tube lights that I found at LEDLight.com. Not only did it significantly drop the heat exchange in the tank, but it also dropped the usage on my electric bill (they don’t need ballasts). The only problem I found with the LED lights was that their “warm” look couldn’t match the look of the Coral Reef 50/50’s, but being the lighting person that I am, I fixed this by putting L201 filters over the LED’s, and the beauty of this is, I can change the color in the tank to whatever I like in the future.

Solution Number 4 – Air Circulation:
I put a fan that blows across the water to cool the tank.

After solutions 1-4 were complete the tank temp was down to 80 degrees, very nice, but I still wanted it down to 78. And I was still getting a lot of humidity in the house. That was the next problem that needed to be addressed.

Solution Number 5 – Enclosure:
I decided to enclose the top of the tank inside the one-foot walls with plexiglass. However, I didn’t want the heat to be trapped inside the tank and the plexiglass. So to battle this I installed 2-feet by 3-feet sections of plexiglass across the top of the tank and left (2) 2-inch spacing between two of the sections, and still left the fan blowing across the top. Wow! what a difference this made! Humidity dropped! I could now stop running the dehumidifier! WooooHoooo!

Solution Number 6 – The Heaters:
Well they (those pesky little experts in the aquarium field) always tell you to leave your heaters plugged in, since the temperatures could drop during the night. Well those experts must have never lived in Texas! LOL! I unplugged my heaters — all 5 of them, and the tank temperature was now at a VERY stable 78 degrees. With the fan blowing across the top off the tank I am now able to set my Air Conditioner in the house to 80 degrees, and the tank will stay at a stable 78 degrees. Humidity in the house is around 42 to 50 percent without running the dehumidifier. WoooHoooooooo!

My electric bill is happy again, and so are all the inhabitants of The Tank!