# Macna 2017



## Crayon

Tomorrow is the start of MACNA 2017 in ....................










New Orleans! That may have been confusing. It's a shot of a really cool building in the French Quarter which is only a few blocks from the hotel.

Actually, it's probably closer to go to the French Quarter than it is to walk from the host hotel to the convention centre where MACNA is.

Plus once you get inside the convention centre, it's probably another kilometre until you reach the show floor. At least it's inside. With temperatures in the high 80's and humidity around 95%, lets just say it's not my favourite weather.

And for those of you looking for selfies, this is not that kind of thread. And no, this is not lifestyles of the rich and famous either, that belongs in another universe far far away.

Onwards! Did you know there are street cars in New Orleans?


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## Crayon

Any city however that lets you walk the streets with a cold beer or cocktail in your hand definitely gets &#128077;&#127995;&#128077;&#127995;

John was happy.










We found a small pub with 54 local craft beers on tap. The ones we sampled were excellent. Maybe not as adventurous as those we had last year in San Diego, but well made. I would say they are as good as any we have in Ontario, maybe even a bit more complex.

Ok, that's starting to sound a little hoity toity. Let's just leave it at good beer.


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## Crayon

Do ya think they like their hot sauce?


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## Crayon

*Fish stuff tomorrow*

Sorry, nothing fish related today. Just sight seeing and getting registered.

It's supposed to rain all weekend, but thankfully Hurricane Harvey is missing the city.

The Audubon Aquarium is right next door, too. Might go by there if we have enough with the show.

More tomorrow!


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## tom g

*macna*

thanks for the update Cheryl, looks like u and john are having a blast.. 
20 years ago in that aquarium I accidently touched a aquarium that had hundreds of jellyfish in it .when I touched the aquarium I lodged a glass sheet that was separating them it fell on all the jelly fish , I never ran out of anywhere so fast , right to the cruise ship ... I guess u had to be there ...lol


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## wtac

There's an Art of Shaving in NO. The Oud and Sandalwood shave cream is frikking awesome in scent and performance...something to break up the day of fish and booze


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## Crayon

wtac said:


> There's an Art of Shaving in NO. The Oud and Sandalwood shave cream is frikking awesome in scent and performance...something to break up the day of fish and booze


It's right by the hotel.......just keep walking.......it's ok, we don't have to stop..........


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## Crayon

tom g said:


> 20 years ago in that aquarium I accidently touched a aquarium that had hundreds of jellyfish in it .when I touched the aquarium I lodged a glass sheet that was separating them it fell on all the jelly fish , I never ran out of anywhere so fast , right to the cruise ship ... I guess u had to be there ...lol


We may have to stop in and see if your "Wanted" poster is still there........


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## Taipan

*Hot Sauce.....*



Crayon said:


> Do ya think they like their hot sauce?


I have nothing further to add to this discussion or body of knowledge thus far except for these unrelated tidbits:

- Found this sauce while shopping for BBQs for Father's Day. Found the name amusing.

- Take the Huy Fong Siracha tour during "chili crushing season" Sept-Oct. if you're ever in that part of CA.


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## Crayon

Floor show opens at 10 but the speakers start at 9 AM.


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## Crayon

*Lighting, using PAR and SPD to evaluate lighting*

Maybe it was too much science too early in the morning,
But here is the takeaway. Most of which we all know.
There are good things about MH, LED and T5.
To get the most from your lights, we should be watching the PAR as well as the Spectral
Power Distribution of our lights.
To get the most of any lights, keep them cool w fans. It allows them to be more efficient and provide better lighting for the tank.
And even LEDS need to be replaced.

Everything else was "blah blah blah". Need more coffee......


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## Wiser

Following along. 

@Taipan. I laughed out loud at that bottle of hot sauce. 


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## advanced reef aquatics

Nice
No go for me as we have no booth this year at Macna.
Enjoy though.


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## Crayon

advanced reef aquatics said:


> Nice
> No go for me as we have no booth this year at Macna.
> Enjoy though.


Hey Flávio,
I noticed there is no Vertex booth. What's up with that? Will miss you.


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## Crayon

Count down for opening. Always a mad rush. For those lucky enough to buy corals, it's a chance to find some killer pieces.

Here's the entrance. Sense I get it that attendance is down. Ok for us walking through the show, not so good for those trying to sell stuff.


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## Crayon

Anybody ever read the posts or blogs by Bill Wann? He has a 20,000 gallon aquarium in his house. He now runs a company called Aquarium Engineering.
He did a talk on how to plumb your system.










Here's the take away.
Sched 40 pipe is good, but use Sched 80 fittings.










Use this glue and always use primer.










Build your drains like this










More later. We went and sat w Bill and talked about his equipment (tank equipment) for over 45 minutes. Good stuff.


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## Crayon

We need a cool fish car in Toronto that does deliveries, or just shows up at events, or maybe rents out for special occasions?


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## Taipan

*Bill Wann's Skimmers.....*



Crayon said:


> Anybody ever read the posts or blogs by Bill Wann? He has a 20,000 gallon aquarium in his house. He now runs a company called Aquarium Engineering.
> .....More later. We went and sat w Bill and talked about his equipment (tank equipment) for over 45 minutes. Good stuff.


Ask him about his skimmers. If I'm not mistaken he's made some kick-a** skimmers for the retail and commercial levels. He's made some recently.


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## Crayon

*Seriously, is that for real?*










Yes, this coral frag is 10,000.00. No shit.

And the photo is not retouched, and the frag actually looked that bright in real life.


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## Crayon

Every year there seems to be a highly sought after extremely desirable coral. This year it's the Homewreaker Acro. Not sure how much it's selling for, but everyone has some.

On the other hand, I've seen bounce mushrooms going to 800.00 down from 3k last year, and JF beach bum monti going for 75.00 (not at Jason Fox) down from 800.00 last year.
Ricordias are around 20.00 and Yumas about the same.


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## Wiser

Awesome updates! 

Very interesting about the drain configuration. Wonder how those stay quiet or is there enough flow to submerge all of them!?!


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## Crayon

*Speaking of Bill Wann*










Here is his sump, skimmer system. No filter socks of any kind, all pumps external.

To explain:
That is a freestanding independent skimmer on the left. On the right is his custom sump, available for sale, including pumps and skimmer for 4,500.00 USD.










The sump is the black crate looking thingy. The skimmer is mounted to the top of the sump. So in fact, there is nothing inside the 100 gallon sump chamber. On the right side of the sump top is a bio reactor for bio balls or other media.

He doesn't believe in filter socks, as his take is that it forces the particulate in the socks to break down and become dissolved organic waste and raises your nitrates. He doesn't believe in algae reactors cause it turns the colour of the water.

He is building a kick ass calcium reactor with a super programmable controller to monitor it. He also builds a sweet sulphur reactor, which we didn't discuss much. He does build a titanium heat exchanger which is pretty cool.

Engineering overload..........time to find food and beer.


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## Crayon

Wiser said:


> Very interesting about the drain configuration. Wonder how those stay quiet or is there enough flow to submerge all of them!?!


That was actually raised. Here is what he said.

Put a gate valve on your main drain line as close as possible to your sump. Have the drain intake below the level you want to maintain your overflow at.
Throttle the main drain down so the drain pipe is always fully engorged with water.

Set the middle drain so it acts as a trickle drain, about 1" below the level of your teeth in the overflow.

Set the emergency drain so it is about 1/2" above your trickle drain, but obviously below the level of the overflow teeth.

Dead silent.


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## Crayon

*More coral porn......*


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## Crayon

*Lots of new pumps.*

Check out the flow ratings.....










We found a tiny little DC pump with a sine wave for 27.00 USD.

Sicce is also now making a small dc pump as well as wireless controllers for power heads that are also programmable so they act as wavemakers.


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## Coral Reef Shop

*Challenge Accepted.....*



Crayon said:


> We need a cool fish car in Toronto that does deliveries, or just shows up at events, or maybe rents out for special occasions?


.....Challenge Accepted. Teaser Pics of our "Un"_Official_ Pace Car. Lotus Evora S in "_Coral Reef Shop_" Blue.....more to follow at another place and time (we don't want to 'hi-jack' the thread)......


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## Crayon

Coral Reef Shop said:


> .....Challenge Accepted. Teaser Pics of our "Un"_Official_ Pace Car. Lotus Evora S in "_Coral Reef Shop_" Blue.....more to follow at another place and time (we don't want to 'hi-jack' the thread)......


Alright! Love it Red!!!!!!!!


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## Wiser

Crayon said:


> That was actually raised. Here is what he said.
> 
> Put a gate valve on your main drain line as close as possible to your sump. Have the drain intake below the level you want to maintain your overflow at.
> 
> Throttle the main drain down so the drain pipe is always fully engorged with water.
> 
> Set the middle drain so it acts as a trickle drain, about 1" below the level of your teeth in the overflow.
> 
> Set the emergency drain so it is about 1/2" above your trickle drain, but obviously below the level of the overflow teeth.
> 
> Dead silent.


Thanks for the additional explanation. That is really interesting. I can't help but tinker with my setup. I'm 100% going to take apart the overflow plumbing and try this on Sunday.

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## Crayon

Wiser said:


> Thanks for the additional explanation. That is really interesting. I can't help but tinker with my setup. I'm 100% going to take apart the overflow plumbing and try this


What I forgot to ask is how big the pipes should be.


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## Crayon

*And of course a river boat.*










Hurricane Harvey is hitting Texas this weekend and it may swing back around to Louisiana, which would not be fun.

Off for Dixie blues and dinner tonight on Frenchman Street. The closest equivalent I can think of is Kensington Market.

This was the scene last night on Frenchman St. We walked around there last night and decided to go tonight for dinner. Behind all those people is a jazz band. Just jamming away. The instruments were so beat up, but the music was awesome.


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## Crayon

*More from today*

How's this for a sweet tank? Cantilevered. Nice.


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## Crayon

*GHL Alkalinty monitor and dosing system*

New from GHL, to be available by end of year.
A constant KH regulating system which measures and doses to keep your tank at a constant KH level.
It uses 3 dosing pumps. Once for pulling about 3 ml of tank water for cleaning the system prior to measuring and then pulling more tank water for testing, one for the reagent solution and a third pump to get rid of all the waste water.
You can measure several times a day and then automatically add KH as needed to keep your tank at the right level.
Very cool.
Someone else was showing a KH set up like this, too but I don't remember who.


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## Crayon

*Smarter Reefs*

This is a completely non electric, no batteries required auto feeder for your tank.
Step 1.
Make a popsicle of preferred fish food. Could be frozen (thawed and refrozen), liquid or powder mixed in water. A popsicle mold is included in the kit which requires a special "stick" that gets inserted in the mold.
Step 2.
Mount the special insulated sleeve holder to the top of the tank with the special mounting bracket.
Step 3.
Insert popsicle in holder, inside of the sleeve, which is mounted above the tank.
Step 4.
Go to work, or to bed at night knowing that over the next eight hours, the popsicle will thaw and release food for your fish and corals.

I think this would work great for fish that need lots of food, or a gorg or nps tank that wants food on a regular basis.


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## advanced reef aquatics

Awesome updates,
Too busy, it's been busy summer, will be at Reefapalooza California in October.


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## Crayon

*Reef Nutrition lecture*

Sometimes it's overwhelming when looking at choices of food or copepods or rotifers that are available on the market and wondering why so many choices and what's the best one to use.
So I sat in on Reef Nutrition. It's a little clearer, but basically the bottom line is all their food is great. RN food has always been one of my preferred foods. It is manufactured with strict bio safety protocol, so using it will not introduce anything unwanted in your systems.
It is a great food source for clams, fry, pods, rotifers or any other filter feeder.
Feeding the pods and rotifers then allows the dragonets and other small fish that eat pods to feed.
Did you know a dragonet can eat over 2000 pods in one day?
Need to feed the pods more so they can reproduce.

Oh, and you can buy Reef Nutrition products right off their website and they will ship anywhere in the world. Or go to Coral Reef Shop and pick it up. (Or Canada Corals I think carries it, too)


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## Crayon

*Teaser photo*

Yah, I didn't get any shots of their frag tanks, just an overall.
World Wide Corals has some nice pieces.....


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## Crayon

*Tip for the day*

New Orleans has the most high pressure sales tactics I have ever seen. It's common to be approached by someone wanting to demo a perfume, try out a hand cream, sell you a foot massage, the trick is to politely decline, and then don't engage on the second question.
That's the trick. The second question is the hook. It's generally something like "nice watch" or "is that an I phone?" The trick is to avoid responding to the second question.

Tonight John got approached by a guy who said he would bet John he could tell him where he got his sandals (the sandals we picked up yesterday that are made by Keens and are constructed of what looks like thin gauge climbing rope).

Well, John got sucked in. Within seconds the guy was polishing his sandals (note, these are rope sandals). The guy was down on a knee, polishing Johns brand new sandals, with who knows what compound that was leaking through onto his toes.......

When John told the guy he didn't have change, the shoe shine guy said "no problem, you don't need to pay me for the shine, you look like a good guy". Then the shoe shine guy said he could break a 20 if needed, so John pulled out a 20.00.

And without a second of hesitation, the shoe shine guy gave him 10 1 dollar bills in change and walked away. No discussion, no breaking the 20 and letting John decide. By the time John had counted all the crumpled bills and figured out it was only 10.00, the shoe shine guy was gone.

So for 10.00 John got his rope sandals polished.

And this is why you don't engage on the second question.


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## Wiser

Hahaha. Feel bad for John but that story is worth $10. 


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## Crayon

On today's schedule: (Saturday)

1. Try not to buy any coral
2. Sit in on Richard Ross presentation.
3. Find out what the workshops are for today
4. Try not to buy any coral
5. Find a two pump robust dosing unit to handle AWC cause we got told you can't do 30 litres a day on the GHL pumps, it's too much for the unit. Which means we need a two head station for AWC
6. Check out the new equipment from Maxspec
7. See what else is new from other vendors
8. Resist the corals.

So here's the really interesting thing about some of the coral vendors. They find out you're from Canada and they get jealous. They think we have the most amazing corals here in Canada. Partially because import laws are different for Canada than the US, and they see some of the corals here that we can get, which are hard to come by in the US. For example: fat head dendros. In Canada, when I've seen them (there haven't been a lot recently) they have been 40 or 50 for a colony. At the show a single polyp goes for between 40 and 80 USD. One booth at the show had about 25 fat head dendro frags, all single head, and he said that some guy swiped them all. First day, first thing sold, all gone.

Mostly it's the acro guys that are jealous of our corals in Canada, but I have heard it from a bunch of places.


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## Taipan

*Shoe Shinin' in N'Awlins.....*



Crayon said:


> .....Tonight John got approached by a guy who said he would bet John he could tell him where he got his sandals (the sandals we picked up yesterday that are made by Keens and are constructed of what looks like thin gauge climbing rope).
> 
> So for 10.00 John got his rope sandals polished......


We've all been taken for a ride at some point. Did you run into these characters by chance? I bet one of them can spell _your last name_.


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## Crayon

*Edit on the Reef Nutrition post*

All their food comes with a best effort date. I asked how strict this date should be observed.
As with a lot of stuff, it's a very very very conservative date and was told that you could use the food until it starts to smell off. Meaning it starts to smell like rotten eggs or sulphur.
Smelling like algae is ok.
So basically, you can go months past the best before date. Which is good, cause I've got some that is way past the expiry and didn't want to throw it out.

Also, don't use RG complete on fish tanks. It's supposed to be for rotifers and pod hatching as it has an ammonia blocker in it to prevent waste build up. That ammonia blocker is unknown how it would affect fish and corals.


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## Crayon

*This is coming home with us*

Can't resist a little alien.


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## Crayon

*Some cool fish*

Not for my tanks, but very nice!


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## Crayon

*More live phyto*

There are a few new vendors for live phytoplankton feeds. This is a brand new start up, I think they said they were two months old making Aquarium foods
Prior to this they were Big into animal feeds for the agriculture industry.
Interesting food. Hopefully coming soon to a store near us.


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## Crayon

*Pax Bellum chaeto reactors*

Now come in smaller less expensive sizes.









LED light tube on the inside, sealed unit prevents the growth of sugars and excess algaes from over exposure to CO2 that an algae turf scrubber causes, which means the tank doesn't go yellow, external to the tank.


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## Crayon

*More coral porn*


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## Crayon

*Remember that 10k coral?*

So remember this coral?









Well, it's not real.










Jokes on me. However, I was not the only one fooled. Turns out they actually had someone interested in buying it yesterday. Until they 'fessed up.

Just to be clear, I was not EVER considering doing anything other than taking a photo.


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## Crayon

*These are not fake.*









Jason Fox









Below in the photo:
Home wrecker acro 2500.00 (left hand side in photo)
Vino montipora 450.00
Bloody sunrise. 600.00

All are amazing
None are coming home with me








But there was this awesome stylocenellia that was only 40.00


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## Crayon

So true......


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## Crayon

*Tanks and tanks of corals*

And none of them calling my name


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## Crayon

Not sure if this is a monomyces or a rhizotrochus
But the one on the left is 750.00 and the one on the right with the massive tissue recession is a grand.
And these are not fake.
Can I say now, just to put it out there, we have it pretty good in Canada.


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## Crayon

*More live food*

Plus an awesome food for Copperbands and Moorish Idols.

Coming soon to a store near you. I don't know which one, but it better make it to Canada soon.


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## Crayon

*Everybody has a sexy sump this year*


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## Crayon

*New from Neptune*




























This is Trident. An automatic tester for Alk, Calcium and Magnesium


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## Crayon

*Get rid of your socks!*

Here is the new best thing.










It's a roll of what looks like fiberlene. Instead of socks. Several places showing it. I'll get a better explanation of how it works tomorrow.


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## Crayon

*Zen Reefs*

My new bff's
I like their frag racks. Picked up another one and talked to them about their mushroom acclimation box which they made for all those crazy mushroom collectors who spend a couple hundred dollars or more on a single shroom and then it blows around the tank.

Some store in the GTA was carrying their frag racks, but I can't remember who.


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## Crayon

*ReefBot*

So we saw this set up last year and thought it was pretty sweet. Except over the last twelve months they've completely redesigned the entire thing and now it's a black box that can auto test anything in your system, using anyone's reagents.
It will not dose to correct, but you can have daily, or weekly, or even hourly read outs on alk, calcium, phosphates, nitrates, magnesium, but maybe not iodine (not sure as the iodine test is temperature sensitive). If there is a reagent test to do it, their bot can do it.
We would need a video to show you how it works, but it uses a syringe which loads the reagent into a vial, does the test and then cleans both the vial and the syringe between tests.
Looks complicated, but given the purpose is to not have to do the tests manually, and the readout is factored digitally so it's more accurately assessed, I am happy to leave it to a machine to do the work.


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## tom g

*copperband food*

awesome updates ... I want to know more of the food for copperbands any samples hehehehheh


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## Crayon

*Ice cap underwater reef camera*

Teeny tiny underwater camera.


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## Crayon

*More from Ice Cap*


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## Crayon

*Fluval underwater spotlight*

Don't look at the corals, look at the light










It's an in the tank, underwater spotlight


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## Crayon

*New from Two Little Fishies*

Stak rock. Great for making amazing rock work in smaller tanks, with no possibility of any unwanted hitch hikers (but at the same time nothing good either)


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## Crayon

So I am not a big fan of canister filters for salt water, but maybe this has a purpose for a quarantine tank? It has a built in UV


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## Crayon

Flávio from Advanced Reef Aquatics used to carry this ceramic reef rock. Now that he's not retailing anymore, it seems there is no one carrying anything like this.

I like it because it's modular, but more importantly nothing is coming into my tank that I don't want. It's just a base. But having spent 4 years trying to get rid of mantis shrimp that were killing my fish, I am happier to give up on all the amazing feather dusters, copepods, worms or anything else that is on live rock in favour of knowing what I have.

Plus I can build cool structures that can hold corals.


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## Crayon

*All for today*

Battery is dying, one too many cocktails, and we are trying to figure out if the woman that keeps walking through the lounge is........(never mind, probably inappropriate).


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## Crayon

tom g said:


> awesome updates ... I want to know more of the food for copperbands any samples hehehehheh


I got you covered Tom.!!!!


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## Wiser

Awesome updates. Thanks for taking the time to snap pics and post your commentary. Really appreciate it. 


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## tom g

*rocks*

ure da best ....

those rocks are amazing I purchased a few from flavio but sold them with a tank I had its what sold the tank so I had to let it go ..

the rocks would look amazing

well was she ......


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## [KRAFTIG]

Good stuff, thank you for sharing!


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## tom g

*macna*

i agree this is all great stuff , this is what passion is all about ...


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## Crayon

*Forgot to post this*

From Maxspec, check out this new pump. Two inputs, two outputs. One motor. Not sure yet what its purpose is, but what the heck! If you can make it, someone will buy it.


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## Crayon

This isn't the clearest photo, but.
From Fluval, these LED lights are completely submerged under water.


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## Crayon

Anything in particular anyone want to see?


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## Wiser

I would love to know if Apex has any plans to sell the 2016 Apex as a stand alone brain. 

Or perhaps have a package with Trident plus a 2016 brain. 

Ie some sort of upgrade path for Apex classic users other than buying a brand new Apex package that includes a ton of stuff classic users already own. 


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## twobytwo

Crayon said:


> Anything in particular anyone want to see?


Did they say what the expected price is, on the Neptune Triton device? And the IceCap underwater cam and the ato?

Oh and I was reading about that Maxspect dual port pump. One Use is, one side for return and the other with a manifold to run reactors, chiller, UV, etc from a single pump

Awesome reviews, awesome pics. Thanks for sharing, its like I'm there


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## Crayon

*Captive bred Conspicuous Angels by POMA*

About the size of an old TTC subway token. Smaller than a dime.










5800.00 each


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## Crayon

Wiser said:


> I would love to know if Apex has any plans to sell the 2016 Apex as a stand alone brain.
> 
> Or perhaps have a package with Trident plus a 2016 brain.
> 
> Ie some sort of upgrade path for Apex classic users other than buying a brand new Apex package that includes a ton of stuff classic users already own.
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


The Trident package needs the new brain because it needs the new EB8 power bar. The Trident alone is 600.00 USD available next year. Brain not available on it's own, and yes, you need the new brain package. Brain package which includes power bar plus probes is 800.00 USD . So it's going to be expensive. The fittings are not compatible with the classic. It has to do with the interface to the power supply.


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## Crayon

Individual dosing pumps with a back flow preventer.










If you buy three, they come with a stand that hangs on the edge of the tank. But they could go anywhere. Very small tubing. Would be good for a nano tank feeder, or a stand alone system that needs to be dosed small amounts of additives.


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## twobytwo

Did you talk to anyone about the auto refrigerator feeder you were making? Just curious if anyone else is working on something like that, it was neat to follow your work on that.


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## Crayon

Here is Royal Exclusiv version of the new fiberlene roll filter system.










Yes, it is clunky, but people have been telling us that filter socks, unless you change them every 4 hours are nitrate sess pools. And that, in fact, the socks force the detritus to break down and become dissolved organic. Which is worse. So they say. So the thought is from some people to not use any pre filter, just a good skimmer.
Or, this new device, which allows you to move to a new section of clean fiberlene whenever you want.

We saw it on three different sumps this weekend. Not sure I'm rushing out to do the fiberlene, but what the heck. Someone is thinking about how to improve detritus removal.


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## Crayon

twobytwo said:


> Did you talk to anyone about the auto refrigerator feeder you were making? Just curious if anyone else is working on something like that, it was neat to follow your work on that.


Nope. We showed it to one place, but everyone is so keen on selling their stuff they get overwhelmed.

My fridge is working great. Very happy with it. I can now make food popsicles for my fish in it, too!


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## Crayon

John on the phone with Visa. We had a small shopping accident.










He wasn't a very happy boy. Visa sees transactions coming from vendors whose home base is California, Mississippi, Florida. So they flagged his card and called him, and then put him on hold for half an hour.

Anyway, show is done, we had a blast!
Going to the aquarium for the balance of the afternoon.


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## Crayon

twobytwo said:


> Did theysay what the price is on the IceCap underwater cam and the ato?


Ice cap underwater camera is 199.00 USD
Ato is 120.00 USD


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## Wiser

Wow. Thanks for the coverage. 

I just finished trying the overflow setup. It is freakin dead silent. I have 1.5 in drain pipes. 


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## Crayon

*Why go to MACNA?*

Here is my top 10 list of reasons to go to MACNA

1. See new product

2. Talk directly with manufacturers about their new product that is being released.

3. Talk to manufacturers face to face about product we have researched and are interested in learning more about or discussing issues we have with our product. (Got to chat with Matthias from GHL about dosing head issues as well as back flow on some of the pumps.). Sometimes it's good, sometimes you get BS.

4. The lectures. They aren't long, only 45 minutes to an hour, and sometimes they are pretty basic. But some of them are by researchers or scientists or people we read and hear about on line. Plus, you can go up to them and chat directly with them, which leads to a chance to continue emailing in the future.

Today we sat in on the back end of a lecture about keeping cuttlefish and pyjama squids, and the entire lecture about keeping benthic feeders with corals.

Benthic feeders are fish that prefer to pick, than capture food out of the water column. Like angels and butterflies. A lot of good information in that lecture. Tom, we will have a chat about feeding butterflies.

5. Seeing the corals available in the US suppliers tanks.

6. Checking out the prices of corals and feeling smug about what we pay back home.

7. Getting show deals on purchases. Everyone has show specials. 20% off Maxspec gyres. Sometimes, especially on Sundays, you can get half price on things they don't want to ship home.

8. Free samples. Last year I got frag plugs for a year. This year, not so much.

9. Finding new suppliers.

10. Meeting up with people we got to know from years past. Here is Julian and company from Cairns Marine Australia. Sat and had a beer with him, talked about life and what's new in the industry. We met Julian a few years back, but he remembers us and it's fun to catch up.


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## Crayon

Wiser said:


> Wow. Thanks for the coverage.
> 
> I just finished trying the overflow setup. It is freakin dead silent. I have 1.5 in drain pipes.


Awesome! Glad to hear it works. Now I have to get mine done.


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## Crayon

*A noticeable trend in the industry*

This year, more so than past years, it was noticeable how much focus is being put on captive bred, captive raised, mariculture, aquaculture.

There were booths by reef conservation groups, Rising Tide, ORA, the new POMA with on site captive bred Conspic Angels, as well as several other groups I can't remember right now.

There were a lot of articles written about the need and use of coral farming and captive breeding. It will become a significant trend in the hobby.

However, as with all farming and breeding operation start ups, controls are not in place to ensure the farming and breeding proceeds without creating its own issues.

This post is not intended to start a war, or to create the appearance that one side is better than the other. But imagine if there were no regulations for puppy mills, or chicken farms, or how to ensure that the tree you bought is actually a tree of the species you expect it to be.

So for example, captive breeding on fish. A breeding pair is taken from the ocean. Under what conditions were they caught? How do you verify the providence of the fish? If the diver is known, all good. But if the diver is unknown to the operation, or doesn't have good scruples, how does the breeding operation deal with this?

Most fish breeding programs operate near the ocean, where the breeders can get salt water directly from the source. The waste water they produce is generally returned to the ocean. Complete with possible medication, antibiotics, detritus, food and other waste from their densely populated breeding tanks. This puts a stress on the ocean, cause it's acting as the toilet for the fish farm.

Now, that first gen fish breeds and becomes gen 2 or 3 or 12. How do you ensure that the lineage and traits of the original parents is maintained as these fish are raised in captivity. How do you ensure that the fish, as it stays longer in captivity doesn't get cross bred to become a mutt.

I believe in captive breeding programs. However they can only be successful with good management of the oceans as well as the wild fish who will become the parents of the lineage. This demands proper management of the breeding houses, which, to date, are self regulated.

We are at the beginning of a change in the industry which will progress quickly. Outfits like ORA, POMA, Karen Britten and others are at the forefront of this crusade.

We as consumers need to ask our retailers to only buy from reliable sources. There is no reason for fish to arrive emaciated or with obvious signs of cyanide poisoning.

We need to know the sources for these fish. If captive breeding is available, and well managed, there is no reason these fish should not be our go to choice. A fish that is captive bred will do better in a closed system. It will eat frozen or dried. It will not stress because of lights or noise or poor water conditions like it's wild counter parts.

This is the way the hobby is going.

Ok, off my soap box for now.


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## Wiser

Completely agree. Hopefully pricing is comparable because this hobby is expensive enough already. 

An aside. Do any GTA stores carry captive bread fish (other than clowns). Actually even captive bread clowns I don't see all the time. 



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## Crayon

Wiser said:


> Do any GTA stores carry captive bread fish (other than clowns). Actually even captive bread clowns I don't see all the time.


Canada Corals has gotten ORA in the past. I've asked a few other stores and they said they would, if the demand was there.
So demand, and then we will have them.
You can go on line to see what ORA breeds. If someone does an order, I really want to get the purple macro algae they have. Never seen it around.


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## Coral Reef Shop

*Captive Bred Fish Inquiry.....*



Wiser said:


> .....An aside. Do any GTA stores carry captive bread fish (other than clowns). Actually even captive bread clowns I don't see all the time......


We bring in Captive Bred Fish with some frequency. As demand and interest increases so will our frequency and breadth of variety. The enclosed links are samples of a recent shipments with Captive Bred Fish:

http://www.gtaaquaria.com/forum/showthread.php?t=288362

http://www.gtaaquaria.com/forum/showthread.php?t=289122


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## Wiser

Awesome. Thanks you. I will keep an eye out for the next shipment


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## Wiser

Does anyone know if MACNA posts any of the education talks?

They might be available only to registered conference attendees but I thought I would ask. 


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## someguy

BRS has posted 2 videos so far for this years MACNA

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBaMLrfToJyzABDf65Ti4r5d5Y_A9Wr8z

They also have a playlist for 2016, pretty sure they are slowly uploading this years so be patient  
Thanks for the thread It's always interesting to see what goes on during these events.


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## Crayon

I don't think they publish them. Maybe check you tube? For sure it's not part of the registration, cause they don't have a log in for their website.


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## Crayon

It looks like a lot of the videos of the MACNA 2017 speakers are showing up in the You tube thread for BRS tv. Just got a notice that the Bill Wann presentation was loaded up today. He did the plumbing presentation.


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## Crayon

*Speakers videos finally posted!*

For everyone who asked about speakers at MACNA here is the link to all the videos. This is not the complete list of everyone who did presentations, but is a good selection.

http://masna.org/aboutmacna/macna-2...il&utm_term=0_3716cff95c-6c2222b3b5-229298109


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## littletnklvr

MACNA is supposed to be for all of North America, has it ever been held here in Canada?


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## TBemba

http://macnaconference.org


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## littletnklvr

TBemba said:


> http://macnaconference.org


Thanks, hasn't been here for 25 years as of 2018.


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