** The SereneScreen Freshwater Aquarium WISHLIST **

[feldon34]

I thought that was just me and FishyBusiness.

And the treasure chest is finished by the way. It's the freshwater backdrop that screeched everything to a halt because Jim couldn't really go forward without a more elaborate collision avoidance system. I presume Jim has passed that hurdle in MA3 because he's gone forward with creating the 3D background for that.

[cjmaddy]

I thought we had all seen it....
https://www.feldoncentral.com/forums...536&#post80536

[Jim Sachs]

That was a photo of the treasure chest in my test tank (no fish - just used it for background photos). The computer model looks exactly like it, though. I drained, dismantled, and took that tank up to Oregon last week.

[SteveMcBill]

I would like to see 2 or possibly 3, things with the Freshwater Aquarium:

1. The ability to have a 'black' background. I often use black paper on the rear of my aquariums as with the tank normally lit it makes the fish colours stand out so well.

2. The ability to show 'shoaling' or 'schooling' behaviour. A tank with dark driftwood, heavily/lushly planted with a black background and a shoal of 30 to 40 Neon Tetras, Cardinal Tetras, Glowlight Tetras or Harlequins is a glorius sight as they all swim in ever changing formations.

3. The ability to 'colour' the water to reflect the conditions in an Amazonian river - Tetramin sell a 'Blackwater Tonic' which colours the water varying shades of yellow to brown to reflect the dissolved organic elements to be found in such waters (it is used to soften the water, lower the pH, and to 'condition' the water by the addition of humic and other organic acids).

Hope this helps.

Steve

[cjmaddy]

Until Jim gets around to his Freshwater Aquarium, why not give this a try?... http://dreamaquarium.com/index.html

... It does much of what you require, ... except for the black backgroung.

[jleslie]

Dream Aquarium does support custom backgrounds...

[Jim Sachs]

Steve - The first two items are planned, but not the tinted water.

[carju]

thank cjmaddy for your link great job this tank !!

[Lightfeather]

Just discovered Bamboo Shrimp and built a tank just for them. Beautiful little things. Wouldn't mind having them digitized and "fanning" on my desktop while I work. <3

[Wizwad]

Lightfeather! Good to see you're still around. You've been keeping abreast of the developments regarding MA and Harvey, I presume?

[patscarr]

What a blast from the past! How are you Light? Long time no see. What have you been up to? Married? Kids?

[ESHIREY]

Yeah it's been a long time.

[Lightfeather]

Yea, I just checked my join date and this October will be my ten year anniversary on the forum! Sorry for not popping in more frequently. Real life intrudes far too often. Quick off topic thread breaking recap:

January 2003 - Got married to highschool sweetheart

September 2006 - Traumatic emergency premature birth of first (and only) child. Little girl.

August 2009 - After renting for years, finally bought our first house. Dumped all savings into it.

August 2010 - Husband and sole breadwinner laid off. No more health coverage. Panic ensues.

November 2010 - Land part time job at a retail store for the holidays. Trip to the emergency room for pain worse than that of premature labor.

December 2010 - Scheduled gallbladder removal surgery. $64000.00 In medical debt. Laid off from retail job for missing too much work due to medical reasons.

January 2011 - Writing letter after letter, filling out form after form to try and get aid with medical bills. This took months of effort. Last bill finally resolved in May. Verbosely explained my whole story in an eight page letter to the hospital, anesthesiologist, surgeon and every other tom, dick and harry who looked at me sideways while I was in the hospital. Outlined my finances, included photo copies of all important documents that define who and what we are. They took pity and forgave us our debts. We cried with relief and groveled in gratitude.

March 2011 - Began writing that novel I had always intended to write, but could never find the time, after having no luck finding a job.

June 2011 - Unemployment is running out. 40k words of my story already written down and the outline is done to the rough ending. Probably won't sell and all I'll be able to say when I'm done is, "I wrote a book. Only my mother and a few close friends bought a copy, but I finally wrote the thing..."

Then one day I was just tired of living on a shoestring and took $50 out of the grocery budget to buy some stupid freshwater shrimp, a couple of guppies and some fish food so I could reactivate my old defunct aquarium that had just been cycling water for a small catfish, a slew of snails and some plants.

Which made me think of here, when times were good and we had a flush bank account instead of this anchor of a house, no savings and no income to speak of. I'm ready for something good to happen.

[Jav400]

Wow, BEST WISHES Lightfeather for some improvement. I know that doesn't get you much, but I am sure we are all rooting for you and feel the same. Glad to see you back.

[patscarr]

Wow! What a story. There's your novel right there. Good luck.
$64,000 for gallbladder removal surgery!? That's 3 years pay for people working on minimum wage! I want to puke!

[ESHIREY]

Ain't that the truth. Our prayers are with you Hon.

[Wizwad]

It's years of pay for me, too, and I'm FAR from minimum wage!

Hang in there Light. As Michael said, we're all routing for you. And I'd love to read your story as soon as you feel it's ready to be seen by outside eyes.

[jleslie]

Wow, long time - it's a bit like where I work, everyone comes back eventually...

I'm afraid all I can do is send you my best wishes and maybe hope the book becomes a movie (well, failing that perhaps that you are all healthy and happy, finances excluded anyway...)

Take care,
John

[Jim Sachs]

$64,000 - I think I would have tried just doing it myself. (I just fixed my truck transmission, how much harder could a gallbadder be?)

[Ralph]

I don't think you can buy the right parts on eBay.