Reef A Palooza 2011

I stopped by the 8th Annual Reef A Palooza show/event this past weekend in Costa Mesa, California. Reef A Palooza is an aquarium trade show promoted by the Southern California Marine Aquarium Society (SCMAS). RAP isn't so much a trade show as it is an indoor marketplace where sellers, exhibitors, and hobbyists of all meet to sell, trade, or show off their products. This was my first year visiting RAP, and I was not disappointed.

Red Sea MAX 250 - Silver

I got to see some nice coral, fish, and displays. There was a wide variety of vendors, big and small, online and brick and mortar. Marine Depot, an online retailer, had a large booth shared with Innovative Marine. A spin of the wheel at the Marine Depot booth offered the opportunity to pick up a prize. While you were at the booth, you could check out some of the hottest products in the market such as Innovative Marine Aquariums, Ecotech Marine Radion LED light fixtures and Vortech Pumps, the Kessil 150W led fixture, Mr. Aqua frameless tanks, AquaticLife T-5 lighting, and Orphek Power Reef LED fixtures to name the biggest attractions. Another popular hit was the Innovative Viewing Systems Portal on a Red Sea Max aquarium. This was a show stopper for sure.

Creative Idea: IKEA light fixture w/ a PAR38 LED bulb

Other vendors featured their products. AquaticLife had a large booth featuring their lighting systems, and Ecoxotic introduced their new Panorama PRO fixture. The new Panorma PRO fixtures are said to offer stronger lighting for deeper aquariums than the first generation fixtures, and the price point is said to be competitive with other fixtures. This fixture is definitely something to keep an eye out for, and I'm anxiously waiting for the fixtures to roll out completely.

4" Innovative Viewing Systems Portal

On the additives side, industry giant Seachem was present to showcase their large line of supplements including their premium Aquavitro line. Additive and supplement company, Aqua Vision Aquatics, had a booth featuring their wide range of products. Aqua Vision Aquatics offer a nice bang for your buck, and feature supplements with updated formulas to meet the needs of the modern reef aquarium.

Ecoxotic Panorama Pro LED Fixture

Industry blog leaders such as ReefBuilders and Reef Addicts were also among the booths. The show also had many great speakers in the speaking room providing information on a wide range of topics.

Reef A Palooza was a small, but fun show. Their were over 70 exhibits and an estimated 3000 visitors over two days! This local show has potential for growth, and I imagine an even greater show next year at Reef-A-Palooza 2012!!

Be sure to check out Marine Depot's Facebook page for some pictures of their booth and other great pictures from Reef-A-Palooza 2011!

iPhone Video

Yellow Tang and ORA Yellowline Goby munching down on some of Julian Sprung's Sea Veggies Purple Seaweed... Delicious.

Feeding the Sun Corals

I've had my Sun Coral for over a week, and I they haven't come out much, even during feedings. I've tried a few things, but it seems that feeding them is a nice way of enticing (bribing) them to come out.

After some research, I found a useful trick: cover the coral to allow them to feed undisturbed. The instructions recommended a 2-liter bottle top, but since my frag is still pretty small, I used the top off a small water bottle. I cut the bottle about 1.5" below the neck, peeled off the label, and gave it a good rinse with warm water. I made a small hole in the lid, but decided it was unnecessary after the first try...

I put this top over the Sun Coral and added some frozen Mysis Shrimp. Within a few minutes, I saw some polyp extension, but most heads stayed half way in or more. I left the bottle cover in the tank for about 30 minutes, and then I removed it.

On try number two, I removed the cap. This time I tried some cyclopeze. I left the bottle top in the tank for several hours. Success! The heads all popped out!!

I'll keep my fingers crossed, and I'm definitely going to keep my feeding using the coral dome!

Tall Skimmer Cup, Small Tank Stand? No sweat!

My protein skimmer's collection cup is impossible to remove from my stand without tilting. This presents a problem when the skimmer is filled with skimmate; tilting the cup will dump the skimmate back into the sump.

Luckily, my skimmer's collection cup has a drain hole with a nipple fitting to connect to 1/2" vinyl tubing. I found some spare parts, and rigged up a piece of tubing and a ball valve. This should allow me to drain most of the skimmate from the collection cup, allowing me to remove the collection  cup for cleaning without spilling any of the dissolved organic stuff my skimmer has worked so hard to remove.