Ibuyen Posted October 4, 2016 Share Posted October 4, 2016 woot for more sponge sales in the near future. 1 Quote Link to comment
Felicia Posted October 5, 2016 Author Share Posted October 5, 2016 Moving this over to the new page Video Time!!! I was fragging the nepthea and blue sponge tonight, so I put together a narrated video of the fragging process. I hope you all enjoy! Great video . Thanks, Gena. I've been making aquarium videos for so long that I'm running out of ideas. I figured this was something new and different woot for more sponge sales in the near future. Yep, very soon! Just have to give these some time to attach and recover from fragging and then I'll put up a for sale thread. 2 Quote Link to comment
Felicia Posted October 16, 2016 Author Share Posted October 16, 2016 Ok so we're officially having the longest power outage I've ever experienced since moving to California. The Bay Area doesn't really have bad storms, so it's rare for the power to go out and normally it's back on in under an hour. The longest it had been out before today was around 2 hours. We had a small storm come through today with a decent amount of rain and some thunder, which is rare for the Bay Area, but by everyone else's standards this is a tiny storm. Being that it's the Bay Area and we don't get many thunder storms, of course the transformer for my area went down at 10:30 this morning. The latest update from the power company is saying we'll have power by 8 pm. Blah! Hopefully the tank will be ok. I've got two battery powered aerators going in the tank. It's in the high 60s today, so the temperature in the tank shouldn't drop too quickly. Here's the tank right now. I know it's dark, but the two blue balls hanging about halfway down in the tank are air stones. The air pumps are sitting up on top of the tank and the towel is to block the salt mist that happens when you're running air stones. 3 Quote Link to comment
fishfreak0114 Posted October 16, 2016 Share Posted October 16, 2016 Fingers crossed for all to be ok! 2 Quote Link to comment
Astinus Posted October 16, 2016 Share Posted October 16, 2016 Wow...Hope the tank comes out okay. 1 Quote Link to comment
teenyreef Posted October 16, 2016 Share Posted October 16, 2016 Good luck! I had airstones going in all three tanks last weekend when we lost power for 12 hours. The temperature got down to 74, but everything came through it fine. I never thought of putting a towel on top. I spent quite a bit of time cleaning up salt spray afterwards. 1 Quote Link to comment
Felicia Posted October 17, 2016 Author Share Posted October 17, 2016 Thank you for the good luck wishes! The power just came back on and the tank seems ok. The tank got down to 75, but that's not too bad. All the fish seem fine and none of the corals look distressed, so seems like we made it through our first long power outage. I'm so glad I had those battery powered air pumps ready to go. Good luck! I had airstones going in all three tanks last weekend when we lost power for 12 hours. The temperature got down to 74, but everything came through it fine. I never thought of putting a towel on top. I spent quite a bit of time cleaning up salt spray afterwards. Sounds like you were in about the same boat as me! My power just came back on, so it was out for 10.5 hours and the temperature got down to 75 in the tank. I learned my lesson about the mess those air stones make in saltwater the one other time I ran them during a short power outage. That towel I had draped over the tank was SOAKED when I pulled it off just now. 3 Quote Link to comment
pappadumplingz Posted October 17, 2016 Share Posted October 17, 2016 Did you put on your RollaJase hat during the power outage? 2 Quote Link to comment
Sharbuckle Posted October 17, 2016 Share Posted October 17, 2016 Just checked my air pump to see if it works because i've never had to use it. Annnnnnd it doesn't work. Off to buy a new one. Thanks for the reminder to check my backup equipment. 2 Quote Link to comment
Felicia Posted October 18, 2016 Author Share Posted October 18, 2016 Did you put on your RollaJase hat during the power outage? I wish, but Jase was way more on his power outage game than me! He's got fancy backup batteries for his equipment and a generator and everything. I just have some battery powered air pumps and a bunch of D batteries Just checked my air pump to see if it works because i've never had to use it. Annnnnnd it doesn't work. Off to buy a new one. Thanks for the reminder to check my backup equipment. Glad you figured out now that it doesn't work! I've been pretty lax on power outage planning because they're so rare here and when they do happen they're usually super short. I'm glad I at least finally caved and got 3 battery powered air pumps and a bunch of D batteries a year or so ago. At least they're inexpensive on Amazon, so not a big deal to replace the broken one. 3 Quote Link to comment
RollaJase Posted October 19, 2016 Share Posted October 19, 2016 Power outages can be scary, especially if they last a long time. I hope everything is ok! I would definitely recommend getting a battery backup for your return pumps. The coral box battery backup is a pretty inexpensive solution and can work with a large number of pumps (Vortech, Jebao, Maxspect). What powerheads are you using again Felicia? 1 Quote Link to comment
Felicia Posted October 31, 2016 Author Share Posted October 31, 2016 Power outages can be scary, especially if they last a long time. I hope everything is ok! I would definitely recommend getting a battery backup for your return pumps. The coral box battery backup is a pretty inexpensive solution and can work with a large number of pumps (Vortech, Jebao, Maxspect). What powerheads are you using again Felicia? Everything came through just fine thankfully I've thought about getting backup batteries, but power outages are so rare here that I've never really worried about it too much. I may have to look into getting a couple, but in the meantime, luckily the battery powered air pumps work well and last a nice long time. It was more the temperature dropping that I was worried about instead of flow. I'm using MP10's and my return pump is a Jebao DC pump. 2 Quote Link to comment
Felicia Posted October 31, 2016 Author Share Posted October 31, 2016 Sorry for being so MIA again! I've just been busy and I there hasn't been much going on with the tank. Its doing well and just running along on autopilot. All the fish and corals are doing great right now and I'm just keeping up with maintenance and enjoying the tank being so easy atm. The only real update is that I've been busy and didn't want to take the time to go get fresh seafood and make my own food blend for the predators, so I decided to try out the LRS Chunky blend. Its really very similar to what I was making myself and my fish seem to enjoy it. It includes scallop, shrimp, perch, squid, krill, clams, and oysters. It seems like a good food option for the predators and I appreciate that its much easier than making my own. 4b74dcddaf9935f403c30de2277cbd1f by Felicia Svedlund, on Flickr I did make a fish store trip the other weekend and was pretty excited to see that they had a golden dwarf moray. You don't see those come in too often. I enjoyed watching him for a while, but was glad I already have an eel because I don't need to drop $250 on a golden dwarf moray Sorry I don't have a bunch of tank photos right now, but I do have lots of fun Halloween photos! I absolutely love Halloween, so I hosted a pumpkin carving party last weekend and then went to a big charity costume party is a mansion in San Francisco yesterday evening. Here are a couple photos of our pumpkins from the carving party. All the finished pumpkins. IMG_7164 by Felicia Svedlund, on Flickr My pumpkin. IMG_7181 by Felicia Svedlund, on Flickr I also made pumpkin spice cupcakes with cream cheese frosting for the party that turned out delicious! IMG_7158 by Felicia Svedlund, on Flickr For my costume this year, I dressed up as Edward Scissorhands! I put a lot of work into the costume and the makeup for it and I was thrilled with how the whole look came together. As much as I love costumes, I normally just buy an inexpensive halloween costume from one of the big box costume stores, but this year I went to the effort of putting the costume together from different pieces I purchased and then putting a lot of work into the makeup. IMG_7248 by Felicia Svedlund, on Flickr IMG_7263 by Felicia Svedlund, on Flickr IMG_7257 by Felicia Svedlund, on Flickr The scars are made from "fake flesh" by Mehron. IMG_7258 by Felicia Svedlund, on Flickr And of course, Halloween wouldn't be complete without Lily's costume! This year, she actually ended up with two costumes I bought the first costume while I was at Petco a while before Halloween, and then later I had a brilliant idea for another costume that ended up being her main costume. However, I figured I might as well take photos of her in both costumes. Lily costume number 1 was a fish! She was just thrilled about this one IMG_7219 by Felicia Svedlund, on Flickr IMG_7233 by Felicia Svedlund, on Flickr Ok and now for Lily's absolutely awesome, main costume! As all the Lily fans know, Lily is a HUGE fan of Downton Abbey and of course her favorite is the Dowager Countess Violet Crawley (played by Maggie Smith). Due to Lily's love of Downton Abbey, my friends now have a running joke that Lily is the "Meowager Countess", so I got inspired to use that as her Halloween costume for this year. I found a dog dress on Amazon that worked and then she needed a huge, elaborate hat like the Dowager Countess wears, so I ended up making her a hat for the costume. So now, here is the always fabulous Meowager Countess! IMG_7300 by Felicia Svedlund, on Flickr IMG_7306 by Felicia Svedlund, on Flickr IMG_7311 by Felicia Svedlund, on Flickr IMG_7322 by Felicia Svedlund, on Flickr IMG_7333 by Felicia Svedlund, on Flickr 13 Quote Link to comment
teenyreef Posted October 31, 2016 Share Posted October 31, 2016 Wow, great Edward Scissorhands costume! And Lily looks like a complete natural as a Meowager Countess. It doesn't even look like a costume on her 2 Quote Link to comment
Felicia Posted October 31, 2016 Author Share Posted October 31, 2016 Wow, great Edward Scissorhands costume! And Lily looks like a complete natural as a Meowager Countess. It doesn't even look like a costume on her Thank you, Teeny! Yeah Lily would definitely fit in with the cast of Downton Abbey. She'd be a natural at having a bunch of servants She was definitely channeling the Dowager Countess today in her costume. She was sure posing! 1 Quote Link to comment
vlangel Posted October 31, 2016 Share Posted October 31, 2016 O my, I loved both yours and Lily's costumes. The hat you made her is adorable. I am glad that she did not wear the fish costume long. It creeped me out because it looked like she was being swallowed by the fish! I loved the all the pumpkin carving too. 2 Quote Link to comment
Pinner Reef Posted October 31, 2016 Share Posted October 31, 2016 That's a cool idea for a costume! and you did an awesome job on it! 1 Quote Link to comment
gena Posted October 31, 2016 Share Posted October 31, 2016 I didn't know you made that hat.... . It's fantastic! You could sell those on Etsy . 1 Quote Link to comment
FlowerMama Posted October 31, 2016 Share Posted October 31, 2016 You look so good and kitty looks divine!!!! 1 Quote Link to comment
Felicia Posted October 31, 2016 Author Share Posted October 31, 2016 O my, I loved both yours and Lily's costumes. The hat you made her is adorable. I am glad that she did not wear the fish costume long. It creeped me out because it looked like she was being swallowed by the fish! I loved the all the pumpkin carving too. Thank you! I was thrilled with how Lily's hat turned out. It was so dang cute and she was so cooperative wearing it for the photos. Yeah I saw the fish costume at Petco a while back and thought it would be funny to make her a fish, but its a bit weird and creepy. Definitely looks like she got eaten by a fish. Also she's so not into the aquarium, so it was a bit mean to dress her up as her arch nemesis The Downtown Abbey costume was way more her style! That's a cool idea for a costume! and you did an awesome job on it! Thank you! I had a ton of fun with it! I didn't know you made that hat.... . It's fantastic! You could sell those on Etsy . Yeah, sadly I could not find a pre-made hat like that for cats I found bonnets and fascinators, but those were the wrong style. Also, expensive! I'm glad you like the hat I made! I wasn't sure if my crafting skills were up for it, but I ended up being really happy with how it turned out and it was easy. The key was that I bought a cheap felt top hat made for dolls from Joanne Fabrics. Then I just draped that with ivory chiffon (I got a partial yard of really nice chifon for cheap in the fabric fragments bin), hot glued on the string of pearls from the jewelry making section of Joanne's, and then attached that large flower broach. The final touch was just hot gluing on an elastic chin strap to hold it on Lily's head. I think I just took my crazy cat lady status to a whole new level by making a cat hat You look so good and kitty looks divine!!!! Thank you, Annette! Lily was sure looking sassy in that costume 4 Quote Link to comment
gena Posted October 31, 2016 Share Posted October 31, 2016 Yeah, sadly I could not find a pre-made hat like that for cats I found bonnets and fascinators, but those were the wrong style. Also, expensive! I'm glad you like the hat I made! I wasn't sure if my crafting skills were up for it, but I ended up being really happy with how it turned out and it was easy. The key was that I bought a cheap felt top hat made for dolls from Joanne Fabrics. Then I just draped that with ivory chiffon (I got a partial yard of really nice chifon for cheap in the fabric fragments bin), hot glued on the string of pearls from the jewelry making section of Joanne's, and then attached that large flower broach. The final touch was just hot gluing on an elastic chin strap to hold it on Lily's head. I think I just took my crazy cat lady status to a whole new level by making a cat hat No...It's AWESOME. I want one!!!! LOL I love your costume too!!!! I love how you kept the right facial expression in all of the photos too . Quote Link to comment
Pjanssen Posted November 1, 2016 Share Posted November 1, 2016 Is there no end to your creativity and talents? your cat is adorable. Awesome. Thanks for sharing Quote Link to comment
WhiteWulfe Posted May 30, 2017 Share Posted May 30, 2017 How's the tank doing? Been a while since I've seen any updates on this one ^_^ Quote Link to comment
Lula_Mae Posted June 13, 2017 Share Posted June 13, 2017 I saw your post on Gena's thread so I came over to see if there were any updates on this awesome tank. I'm sorry to see the title says "retired" now but I can only hope it's because the Predator Paradise has gotten a great big upgrade! 5 Quote Link to comment
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