Gentlemen Prefer Cubes

[gena]

 

I made the star... Construction paper, taped to a letter opener, binder clipped to the tree.

 

ETA: You really inspired me more than you know. Cold weather always puts me in a funk. I haven't decorated for Christmas in literally 4 years. Got my tree out and up just now. I'll share once it's got decorations on!

Can't wait to see!

That's about the price for new ones. The good thing about decent DSLR lenses is once they take their initial value hit from being used, they tend to keep their used value. The one I got was under $300 used and I could sell it tomorrow for the same price. Still expensive though..

I'm fine with used. My husband is all about deals and would have no trouble finding a nice used one. Me....I wouldn't know where to start looking LOL.

[cindyp]

ok, the santa marilyn is HILARIOUS.

 

i went to china for the first time (as an invited

author to a bilingual high school) this june

and it was amazing. definitely a bit mind boggling too.

 

those montis definitely look challenging to keep

to me. i can't even keep my blasto or acans happy!

[gena]

ok, the santa marilyn is HILARIOUS.

 

i went to china for the first time (as an invited

author to a bilingual high school) this june

and it was amazing. definitely a bit mind boggling too.

 

those montis definitely look challenging to keep

to me. i can't even keep my blasto or acans happy!

How embarrassing for Santa LOLOLOLOL. Was it really smoggy there?

 

I don't want to jinx myself and say monticaps are super easy to keep .

[jedimasterben]

My cats are definitely in the Christmas spirit

 

Dunno where this garland came from.

 

 

 

 

[cindyp]

suzhou, where my littlle cousin lives, was terrible.

 

i actually couldn't believe how bad it was. and the kicker

is--this was in southern china. nowhere near beijing where

the air is REALLY bad.

 

i'm super sensitive to cigarette smoke, and just my

two days in suzhou, my throat felt raw and it was as

if i was breathing in second hand smoke the entire time

without anyone smoking near me.

 

it was crazy.

 

and you couldn't see very far at all, either. it was just

muggy and brown. i don't know how long you've lived

in LA, but you know the brown kind of skies we get?

(i grew up in LA.) well, think on a bad day but 10x worse.

or at least 5x.

 

i splurged on a nice boutique hotel for my two nights

in shanghai after my author visit. and here was the

view of the famous bund from my room. now that

was spectacular.

 

[gena]

My cats are definitely in the Christmas spirit

 

Pets and Christmas are the best . Which reminds me of this, I saw on FB today LOLOLOL.

 

 

i splurged on a nice boutique hotel for my two nights

in shanghai after my author visit. and here was the

view of the famous bund from my room. now that

was spectacular.

 

OMG...that's gorgeous!

 

We've been here 11 years now and the smog is nowhere near as bad here as it was when we first moved out in 2003. Things have improved greatly! I can't imagine what Beijing must be like after hearing how bad it was in Southern China.

[Pancetta]

suzhou, where my littlle cousin lives, was terrible.

 

i actually couldn't believe how bad it was. and the kicker

is--this was in southern china. nowhere near beijing where

the air is REALLY bad.

 

i'm super sensitive to cigarette smoke, and just my

two days in suzhou, my throat felt raw and it was as

if i was breathing in second hand smoke the entire time

without anyone smoking near me.

 

it was crazy.

 

and you couldn't see very far at all, either. it was just

muggy and brown. i don't know how long you've lived

in LA, but you know the brown kind of skies we get?

(i grew up in LA.) well, think on a bad day but 10x worse.

or at least 5x.

 

i splurged on a nice boutique hotel for my two nights

in shanghai after my author visit. and here was the

view of the famous bund from my room. now that

was spectacular.

 

Cindy,

Beautiful shot! My sailing partner lived in Shanghai for 4 years

and worked in Beijing a lot before the Olympics. He has a lot of war stories about the pollution.

 

David

[gena]

Fat head dendro coming soon to this tank . I'm so glad Glenn posted that special. I was going to get a bunch of sponges, but I like the idea of a dendro colony even better for under the monticap. Which, BTW...I trimmed again today. It needed it so badly on that right side. Shading my poor Z&P rock. The Zs and Ps are so much happier now.

 

Tank is a little cloudy from dosing phyto and oyster feast. It's probably not obvious that I trimmed, but I did on that right side. Took out a huge chunk .

 

 

I really love the color this scoly is changing to. It's taking on a seafoam green in some places.

 

 

My order with Cultivated Reef has changed. They are out of the Gender Bender micromussa . So I substituted with a dragon soul favia...which I've also been wanting for awhile now. She said they'd make it a nice big frag to make up for their error . That order will be here next week.

 

 

 

Here's the last FTS so you can see that big chunk I removed on the right side.

[Sk8n Reefer]

There's a lot going on in that little section of the tank?

[gena]

There's a lot going on in that little section of the tank

Yep...it's crowded .

[hypostatic]

Wherever you put the dendro, make sure it's in an area of high flow if you want it to stay open and happy, and an area where you can easily feed it.

[cju84]

That scoly color is amazing. I always think of the movie Avatar when I look at your pics. Unreal colors!

 

And I just had a revelation (thinking out loud)... I need to add some blue colored corals somewhere in my tank.. I think that is what is missing after looking at your setup.

[gena]

Wherever you put the dendro, make sure it's in an area of high flow if you want it to stay open and happy, and an area where you can easily feed it.

Thanks for the tips! I have the perfect spot for it! I think . It's very easy to get to anyways. I think the flow is good. I have a sponge under there and it's doing VERY well.

That scoly color is amazing. I always think of the movie Avatar when I look at your pics. Unreal colors!

 

And I just had a revelation (thinking out loud)... I need to add some blue colored corals somewhere in my tank.. I think that is what is missing after looking at your setup.

Isn't it? I don't know if the color change is a good thing or not. Could be from too much light, but hopefully it's not that and it's just responding well to my tank . I really love the color it's becoming .

 

Blue in a reef tank isn't quite as common, I don't think. It really does add a lot to a tank .

 

 

 

Check out this prettiness....I have 3 planters on my porch filled with succulents. I wanted to festify (I made that word up LOL) them for Christmas. So I jammed poinsettias and some fake berries and a swirly glittery thing in there . I think it turned out great. The red really pops with the green. And it's been raining so the raindrops just add to the photo, I think .

 

[TigerLily]

 

Check out this prettiness....I have 3 planters on my porch filled with succulents. I wanted to festify (I made that word up LOL) them for Christmas. So I jammed poinsettias and some fake berries and a swirly glittery thing in there . I think it turned out great. The red really pops with the green. And it's been raining so the raindrops just add to the photo, I think .

 

 

I promised the kids that we could decorate this afternoon when they get home from school. I guess we are going to "festify" too!

[kimberbee]

I've gone through 4 of 6 boxes of decorations and haven't found the tree ornaments yet...

[owenj]

Sucks about the micromussa, but at least you get a dragon soul now

 

Weird, but when I went to China back in 2008 I thought Shanghai was way worse air quality-wise than Beijing. That might be because it was dead on summer by the time we got to Shanghai, but ewwww, you went outside and it felt like breathing in water. The humidity was awful. Here's a crappy pic (I had a cheapo camera back then) of my view of the Bund/bond whatever it was called. Smog galore, and it was grossly hot.

 

I was standing directly across the waterway from this and that's how hazy it was. Crazy!

 

Water pollution is pretty bad too. This lake is referred to as "Green Lake" because of the algae bloom.

 

Sorry to clutter up your thread, Gena! I can remove them if you want

[HVani]

Hey Gena, what salt do you use?

 

Your tank looks amazing!

[hypostatic]

Thanks for the tips! I have the perfect spot for it! I think . It's very easy to get to anyways. I think the flow is good. I have a sponge under there and it's doing VERY well.

 

 

Just keep in mind that sponges are filter feeders, and dendros require large meaty foods

[gena]

 

I promised the kids that we could decorate this afternoon when they get home from school. I guess we are going to "festify" too!

Yay!!!! I love to festify things .

I've gone through 4 of 6 boxes of decorations and haven't found the tree ornaments yet...

Keep looking .

Sucks about the micromussa, but at least you get a dragon soul now

 

Weird, but when I went to China back in 2008 I thought Shanghai was way worse air quality-wise than Beijing. That might be because it was dead on summer by the time we got to Shanghai, but ewwww, you went outside and it felt like breathing in water. The humidity was awful. Here's a crappy pic (I had a cheapo camera back then) of my view of the Bund/bond whatever it was called. Smog galore, and it was grossly hot.

 

I was standing directly across the waterway from this and that's how hazy it was. Crazy!

 

Water pollution is pretty bad too. This lake is referred to as "Green Lake" because of the algae bloom.

 

Sorry to clutter up your thread, Gena! I can remove them if you want

I don't mind the photos at all! I was really bummed when she said they didn't have the micromussa. That was the only reason I placed the order for heaven's sake! But the dragons soul will be a good replacement for it .

Hey Gena, what salt do you use?

 

Your tank looks amazing!

Thanks! I use Red Sea Coral Pro. It really works well for my tank.

 

Just keep in mind that sponges are filter feeders, and dendros require large meaty foods

Oh, I know . I just mentioned the sponge because it's obviously getting a decent amount of flow/nutrients to it. I will be sure to feed the dendro some meaty mysis shrimp .

[ninjamyst]

I was gonna buy dendro from Glenn too but a local vendor got some in at the same time. Gonna try to snatch one this weekend =)

[Chris!]

 

I really love the color this scoly is changing to. It's taking on a seafoam green in some places.

 

 

My order with Cultivated Reef has changed. They are out of the Gender Bender micromussa . So I substituted with a dragon soul favia...which I've also been wanting for awhile now. She said they'd make it a nice big frag to make up for their error . That order will be here next week.

 

 

 

Here's the last FTS so you can see that big chunk I removed on the right side.

 

Looks good G! That scoly is looking super sweet, love the colors its developing

[gena]

I was gonna buy dendro from Glenn too but a local vendor got some in at the same time. Gonna try to snatch one this weekend =)

I hope you're able to pick one up! I don't know what took me so long to finally get one .

 

Looks good G! That scoly is looking super sweet, love the colors its developing

Thanks, Chris . I hope it keeps getting more and more turquoise in color .

 

 

So I got my dendro this morning from Glenn and it's everything and more! I wanted to get a rock for it to sit on under the monticap, so I ran out to the better LFS and found a nice flattish rock for it. I broke that rock up and will use a part of it for the new forest fire digitata that comes next week. Plus I put my pink acro on it as well.

 

Here's a crappy FTS with my iPhone. You can kinda see the dendro under the monti on the left side and the new rock pieces in the middle. They are little pieces so not that noticeable.

 

 

 

And then.....I don't know how the heck this happened, but somehow a new fish came home with me as well .

 

Can you guess what it is? I bet Chris would know .

 

 

 

I'll give a hint....she's a gorgeous little cat .

[cju84]

One of these?

 

[jedimasterben]

 

 

meeeeeeeeyooooowwwwwww

[cindyp]

awww i spy the little dendro! i hope he

does well in your tank. and what kind of fishie???