Our saltwater tank so far and what I've learned

This hasn't been an easy hobby set up for us for multiple of reasons that I'll get to later, but I'm hoping we've hit most of the speed bumps and pot holes now and life with the tank will be easier. 

Our clean up crew have all survived (YAY!) so we bought more fish a week and a half ago.

Four blurry green chromis, they're one of the cheaper fish at only $6 a piece. We're going cheap until stuff will live longer than a week. They moved around the tank A LOT and were full of personality. We'll be getting a couple more in the future.

Two Banggai cardinalfish just like the first fish we bought. They really don't do much moving, but they're pretty cute little guys.
 Sadly all but one fish didn't make it, the bigger of the two cardinals.
 So I jumped onto the World Wide Web to figure out why 4 of our fish were dying in perfect water conditions. I learned that a marine tanks need a super high turn over of water and our sump/overflow/bulk head just wasn't cutting it. For a fish only tank, like what we're starting out with, you need 10 to 20 times your tank volume in water turn over. If you want corals and such you go even higher! We were getting about 800 gallons an hour with just our sump return and when we needed more like 3000 I needed a quick fix.
I had no idea that water flow was really that important. When the guys set up our tank they mentioned water flow, but it was in passing and they made it sound like it wasn't a huge deal. If this is why our fish were dying then it is a huge deal! It helps oxygenate the water for the fish to breath and helps push waste into the sump to be cleaned. 

Since we were going out of town after we made this discovery we put in our pump that we use for water changes that moves 400 gallons an hour and hoped it would save the two fish left until a power head could be purchased.
I bought a dual power head that pushes 3200 gallons per hour from Amazon for $14 and it came while we were out of town. It's big, bulky and ugly, but the ones we really want are about $400 a pop and we'd more than likely need two and a bunch of other gear to go with it so those will have to wait a while.
Sadly we lost the last chromis last night, but I think it's because we accidentally plugged the pump into the power strip that's on the light timer so it was only turning over water 6 hours a day. I'm hoping that since we installed the power head last night our cardinal will survive and we can get more fish.

We did buy two more peppermint shrimp that have survived. John had to fish them out of the sock the day after we bought them, but since then they've stayed in the display tank and look happy. We'll be adding more snails soon, but then things we'll take a rest and we'll focus on keeping one fish alive.

I am no expert by any means, if you haven't figured that out by reading the above then you should probably click on the red X at the top right of the screen now. I do feel like I've learned a little from this hobby so far though.

 1. I'm a tank dabbler who may eventually turn into a reef enthusiast based on Mark Callahan's tank personality quiz. This means that I don't want to spend a ton of time or money on the tank. More on Mark later.

2. Don't get into this hobby if you don't want to spend money.
Just getting the tank to a point where we could put water in it cost John and I thousands. Of course we did go with a big tank and it's built into the cabinetry, but surprisingly bigger is easier (eventually) and all lovers of this hobby seem to upgrade to bigger over time.
Fish and corals aren't cheap and they don't have a return guarantee if they die. Also most are taken out of the wild so if it dies you just killed Nemo. Now some fish can be tank bred and the cardinals we bought were, but most are not. This makes me extremely sad when a fish dies and until we can keep things alive I don't want to be experimenting with valuable fish.

Once you have all the equipment and things are living you're still not done spending money. You have to buy salt for water changes and the bigger tank you have the more salt you have to buy costing more money. Right now we get by just fine on a water change every two weeks and I really hope we never have to go to once a week. This means that we can't over stock our tank with fish.
Also when you start buying corals you have to buy supplements to have them thrive. So even if you want to be a tank dabbler, like me, it will still cost money.

3. RESEARCH!!! I'll be honest this is where I failed. I'm sure if I would have done better at researching we would have succeeded quicker, but I was basically doing this alone. In the 8 years I've been with John I have never seen him truly research anything. He doesn't read and he'd prefer to not use computers so it leaves me to do most of the leg work. My research usually consists of trial and error instead of digging into the facts so it was a lethal combination.
Instead of caring about how the system was supposed to work and the equipment needed, I dove into the livestock. I can tell you most of the fish names at the store, what they'd like to eat and who they're compatible with before I can tell you anything about how our RODI filter works. Not a smart move on my part.  
This is also a hard hobby because there are so many different opinions that it gets overwhelming and confusing. I'd think I'd know a subject pretty well, go to the fish store and leave so confused that I was pretty sure they were speaking Russian. This is why I just had someone set the tank up because that was too over my head.

If I were to start again I'd buy Mark Callahan's guides to setting up. That way I'd only have one source to go by and wouldn't confuse myself nearly as much as I did. I still plan on buying one of his guides in hopes that it'll help us out of the money pit and into enjoying our tank.

4. and last, but not least, a silly thing I would/should have done. Put more than one electrical outlet in our canopy.
Again, when I researched I only thought of lighting and we knew we wanted LED lights so I thought that would only take up one socket, maybe two at the most. I didn't realize that it would be years before we even got the tank set up and still not have the thousands for LED lighting so we'd have to go with something cheaper.
The lights we have now heat up the tank and the canopy traps in the heat so to fight that we have to run two fans, one that runs all day and one that runs with the lights on a timer. Now we have the power head too so that comes to a total of 6 plugs that need power. I really wish we would have put in multiple outlets like we did in the sump so we couldn't have to run two power strips.

Since we've already put so much money into this I don't want to throw the towel in. I'm hoping that it will get easier and not so pricey at some point so I can actually enjoy the tank.

May's block of the month

I finished these blocks a while ago, I just kept forgetting to take pictures of them. When I was planning my class I saw this pattern in a magazine and adjusted to what I needed. Since then they have become one of my favorites and I know I'll be doing a whole quilt in this pattern one day.

They're the first of what I'm  calling The Flying Geese series. In the series of 3 blocks I'm showing the 3 methods I know to make flying geese. I'd show you what a flying geese block actually is, but I'm blogging from my phone because my computer is throwing a temper tantrum and my phone is broken so I can't take a screen shot of one, just remember that google is your friend. 

Anywho, without further ado here are the blocks. 

Winston's training part 2 plus vet news - sorry no pictures!

Winston is continuing his social training at K9 by going to daycare once a week for 10 days. We decided to go this route because he'll get ALL DAY with other dogs once a week instead of just an hour at K9's weekly social group. Also because working two jobs has me exhausted and very busy trying to fit in the rest of my life in a week, I need those Saturday mornings! The way we chose actually does cost us money when the social group wouldn't, but it's worth it.
We were doing all this for our annual dog vaca in July, but in the end we decided to leave Winston home. I'm unsure of the hiking area so that means he can't come hiking and leaving him locked up in the cabin while we're out doesn't sound very nice. My brother in law will be watching him instead.

Anyway, when I went to pick Winston up from daycare a couple weeks ago I noticed that John had put a regular harness on Winston and not his Easy Walk. The poor girl was being dragged out of the room and I apologized.
Getting Winston into the car wasn't easy either. He'd try to go in himself, but them back out and if I tried to help him he'd freak. I wanted him in the car as quick as possible in case any dogs came in or out so I finally had to crawl into my backseat and tug on his leash. He got in, but then I had to maneuver around his giant body to get out again. I'm sure I looked ridiculous.

Once home is when the real adventure started, I'm sure years from now I'll look back and laugh, but I still don't find this remotely funny.
I have to let Winston out opposite whatever side I put him in on because he can't turn around in my small Taurus. This meant that he got let out on the driver's side facing my neighbor's house. After he got out I was facing my backyard, holding his leash with my left hand and going to lock to door with my right when all of a sudden I was somehow on my side being dragged through my neighbor's front yard. My shoes, purse and lunch were strewn behind me like some one's dirty laundry and my heart was racing. I don't think I have been more scared in my life! I had no idea what Winston was chasing and in such shock that I couldn't just let go. I really was only dragged a couple feet and once I was able to grab onto his harness he stopped moving, but he was still barking and going crazy. I was able to lift my head up enough from my weird, contoured position to see that it was the neighbor's damn cat that had put Winston into this frenzy. And that damn cat wasn't moving, which I don't know if that was a good thing or bad thing.

So I laid in the grass trying to think of my next step. Do I lay here until John gets home hoping that it's soon and Winston won't move, do I hope that one of my neighbors take pity on me and save me or do I actually try to get him inside.
I decided on the latter because if I didn't I probably would have turned into a blubbering, sobbing idiot once the adrenaline wore off.
One problem with my plan was Winston. He was still freaking out about the cat and every time I tried to stand up Winston would go forward a few steps again throwing me off my balance. I was hitting his back legs and yelling his name to get him to focus on me, but nothing was working. I finally grabbed a hunk of fur and twisted while I stood and was able to haul him inside by his harness and that hunk of fur. Most of the journey inside is a blur, but I do remember coming back out to pick up all my things and going through the early motions of an asthma attack.

After I got Winston's harness off and him outside I looked down at my pants. My white, not cheap pants. I think there were more green than white then and I was furious. I sat down in a kitchen chair and glared at the door waiting for John to get home so I could pounce.
The first words out of my mouth once John took in my appearance with wide eyes were, "You put on the wrong harness." Probably not my best choice, but I think I was in the right. This started an argument that resulted in us not talking for four hours unless you count my angry mutterings under my breath.

Of course this whole fiasco has made me really nervous to walk Winston or to pick him up from daycare. He out weighs me by at least 50 pounds and has never pulled me off my feet before. So I kept repeating to John to put the correct harness on him when daycare came around again and I had the trip from the car to the house planned out in my head.
It actually went swimmingly after I put the harness on the correct way when I picked Winston up. I still had to crawl into my backseat, but I put Winston in on the driver's side so he'd be facing the house when we got home. I think left him in the car while I unlocked the house, disarmed our security system and set down my items. I then made sure there were no distractions around, calmly walked to my car and with authority walked Winston inside. There was no dragging, cursing and hitting involved. It was peaceful.
Winston has now gone to three day care sessions and they say he’s doing really well and getting back into the swing of things.


Winston had a check up on his ears last Tuesday and to be honest no one was looking forward to it, even the vet and his wife/assistant said they had to talk themselves into it.
When they walked into the door Winston remembered them and didn’t want a thing to do with them so he took off through the kitchen and down the stairs. After I retrieved Winston he still gave the vet some distance so we pretended like they were just here to visit and the wife won him over with neck scratches.
Treatment was so easy this time that it was shocking. I still muzzled Winston just in case and John and the vet’s wife held him down, but there was no need. Winston just laid there while I stroked his nose. When the treatment was done the wife, who had her head buried in Winston’s side, asked if we had started yet because he didn’t react at all. It was such a sigh of relief.

He did ask if the Pentosan shots were helping and after I told him about Winston dragging me he laughed and said, “Looks like they are….but is that good or bad?”
Winston is like a completely different dog with these shots!!! His energy is sometimes a little too much for us and the other dogs, but I’m sure it’s something we’ll get use to over time.

So there's another Winston update, I hope things will calm down on his end for a little while and stop making me spend so much money on him so no updates on him is great news!

Iron tote

Taking my hot iron home from class hasn't been easy. I'd either have to drive one handed so I could  hold the iron up with the other or strategically place it in my car and hope it didn't fall over (it always fell over). It just wasn't working out. When I was taking my class at Floyd and Lizzie's they showed a pattern for an iron caddy, but that was months ago and they no longer carry the pattern. After searching online I found it again, but I didn't want to pay $20 plus shipping for it so I decided to wing it.

The pattern cover said how big it folded out to so I knew how much fabric to buy so that wasn't a challenge and once someone at Joann's directed me to the heat resistant iron fabric I was good to go.
 I cut a rectangle out of the iron fabric, batting and regular fabric and 45 degreed the corners off. I then basted them together and used pictures of the completed tote to figure out where the quilted seams went.
I changed my design up a little and added a loop of elastic for the cord so that it didn't have to sit next to the hot iron plate. 
A fat quarter of fabric was enough to do the binding and make the handles and I used a decorative stitch off my new sewing machine to attach it. I did have to remove my elastic loops and buttons because I put them on the wrong side, but other than that this project went together very smooth. It turned out so cute and I'm very pleased with it.

Now I'll be safer on the road and that's a blessing for everyone.

I have enough heat resistant fabric left over to make a case for my straighter and curling iron so that's what I'll be doing next. 

Flower Time Lapse

I hate how fleeting spring flowers are, in just a couple of months they'll bloom and go and you're left with just the stocks. Sunday afternoon I cut them all down, this is important with all bulb flowers so that the bulb will stop trying to keep the greenery alive and put its efforts into making a bigger, better bulb for next year.
It took a good hour since I have so many in my backyard now, but we also pulled some weeds while we were at it.

Here's a time lapse of the flowers' journey:

Very beginning of April, still some snow in the shade and still pretty chilly:

End of April:

 

Beginning of May:

 

End of May, all cleaned up. 

The ones still standing are my irises, lilies (my backyard flowers seem to be on a later blooming schedule, I think it's because they get more shade) and my summer gladiolas. I'm slowly adding more flowers, but I think it'll always be a work in progress. P.S. Winston killed the middle tree by ripping the bark off, hence the chicken wire on the others. I wonder if he has $150 to fork over for a new one!

Some of my favorites:

 These purple tulips were so tall and had a unique bloom to them, delightful!

 These are a breed of parrot tulip, they were the very last to bloom and I'll definitely be buying more of them.

 

 Queen of the Night tulips are also towards the end of the blooming season and so purple they're almost black. I have some if my front yard and love their dark hue.

I talked about my favorite daffodils in this post.  

 

Now it's waiting time for my summer flowers in the front yard. I'm always battling the cats that use my garden as a litter box, but I did win the snail battle so my dahlias made it. No more flower posts until the next thing blooms! 

Sigh

Yes this post is titled Sigh because that it exactly what I did just a half hour after meeting a new vet. After Winston's last ear infection stressed everyone out I vowed we wouldn't put us all through that again and googled home vets. A very small pool to say the least, but I found Dr. Brett Packer's web site. I read through his site and decided to give it a go.

When I started explaining Winston to the doctor he asked if we happened to train with K9 and when I said yes he said that he had heard all about him. So nice to not have to go through detailed explanation for the 100th time! I scheduled the appointment for last Tuesday at 7PM, which I loved by the way since I didn't have to take time off work or wait for John to get home and rush to the vet only to get there late.

Dr. Packer and his wife bring such a calming effect into the house that I knew all was going to go well. Winston was so stocked that people came to see him and had no idea his ears were getting treated, it was a relief.
We still had to muzzle him, but when you're that big it wasn't a shock. Dr. Packer's wife held Winston down and Dr. Packer squirted in the magic goo. Much less painful for everyone involved this time.

When we let Winston outside to shake the gunk out of his ears we all sat down to talk about Winston, his wobblers and how to keep him around for as long as possible. Dr. Packer is the exact vet I want in my pets' life. He's more holistic, supports raw wholeheartedly, and only wants to do what is necessary. It was nice to not feel rushed and I felt like it was just about us since it was at our house. We'll be giving Winston fish oil pills (cheaper than the salmon oil we were giving him already) and a monthly Pentosan injection for his joints.We'll also be seeing Dr. Packer in 3 weeks to check on Winston's ears, but I can text the good Doctor any time and with any thing.

Surprisingly all of this was cheaper than Winston's last ear infection and all we got out of the was his ears treated and him totally stressed out. Dr. Brett Packer is definitely who I'll be calling all the time now!He's not paying me to say this, I'm just saying this because I know how stressful and hard it is to find a vet you love.

Winston's not drooly like the last time, but he is sleepy now!

April's block of the month

I knew that the Bear Paw was a block I'd be teaching because it's one of my favorites. There is a lot of cutting and ironing so it takes quite a while, but everyone got it done....even though it took an hour past class end.