MACNA XXI - Atlantic City - Pictures/comments from the convention

[Sikryd]

I added this to another forum and thought I would post it here since I haven't done much posting here in a while

Good time there today. I got some pictures of a lot of stuff. I'll post them up tomorrow or Sunday sometime. Got a lot of pics of all of Jason's stuff including the My Miami for those interested. I'll let the guy who picked it up post if he wants it to be known.

Some nice stuff from Unique - Dr. Mac's Pacific East - Cherry Corals - Randy O. (forgot his business name) - I picked up a SIK looking one from him.
Great deals to be had which was nice to see. ORA had a nice setup too.
I got a lot of underwater pics of a ton of different stuff. To be honest there wasn't anything new. More or less a lot of Acans, rainbows, ect. , a couple chalices I hadn't seen, and a few other new things, other than that there was a lot of ORA and the bread and butter stuff.

It was GREAT meeting a lot of people in person too, and seeing old friends again. I didn't get much time, and was kind of rushed since I was only there for the day, but it was well worth it to hang out and bs.
It'll be nice to have a face to go with a name now. Although you might wish that wasn't the case with me - especially since I was pretty worked and looked wrecked due to the ride. (For those that dont' know - I'm a biker - hence the "Sik Ride" name - sikryd.com)
When I got home the wife said "I'm sure people were wondering if you were at the wrong convention!"
No fashion show when I'm on the bike! lol

[Sikryd]

[Sikryd]

[Sikryd]

[Sikryd]

The pictures of the corals aren't the best since the tanks were still "milky" since they were just setup.

[Sikryd]

[Johnny C]

Thanks for the pics!

...FWIW, RandyO's store is called "A Reef Creation"

[Zestay]

some crazy corals!

[HomeSlizzice]

NIce pics, I wish I could have been there.

[mojo~]

nice pics

[inktomi]

Do they let you bring coral / fish on planes these days? Or do you have to put them in your checked luggage in a cooler..?

[andrewk529]

so bummed out i couldn't make it..damn broken leg!

[Sikryd]

Originally Posted by CaliDreaminjC

Thanks for the pics!

...FWIW, RandyO's store is called "A Reef Creation"

Thanks for the reminder - I forgot to add that when I copied and pasted this stuff. Too bad RC doesn't let you copy pictures over! I had to insert them all again.

Originally Posted by inktomi

Do they let you bring coral / fish on planes these days? Or do you have to put them in your checked luggage in a cooler..?

I'm not sure since I rode the scoot down. They all did fine in the "checked" luggage on the back of the scoot though
It was only ~3.5 hour ride.

[InsaneClownFish]

Awesome! I love it. I see pics and I say to myself, Oh hey there's Sanjay like he's my next door neighbor.

I'm really happy you put those pics up because that's the Marineland cube tank I'm considering for my office. Is that the 70 in that first pic?

[Snakebyt]

great pics..

[johnr2604]

Great pics, I couldn't make it this year but am making plans for next year already.

[Electrobes]

Awesome pics, thank you for sharing! I'm already excited for the next MACNA (The one I am actually attending for the first time)!

[Sikryd]

Originally Posted by InsaneClownFish

Awesome! I love it. I see pics and I say to myself, Oh hey there's Sanjay like he's my next door neighbor.

I'm really happy you put those pics up because that's the Marineland cube tank I'm considering for my office. Is that the 70 in that first pic?

Yeah - its the cube to show the new flowlr led lighting systems they have out.

I'm looking to order a custom deep dimension myself, if I don't end up getting one from coasttocoast. They're definitely both nice tanks, just different ends of the cost spectrums. I like the coast to coast tanks wayyyy better though.
We'll see if the wife likes the $ difference though

[marinelife]

Looks like a great time, wish I could have went this year. Thanks for posting!

[Hucklebery]

Great pics. Thanks for posting them. Some of those Acans are insane!

[Skipper]

Thanks for the pictures. Wish I could have been there this year.

[lordofthereef]

Nice (and plentiful) pics. Wish I could have gone. Saw lots of frags I would love to have!

[RyanEG]

Great pics look like it was a nice time. OBTW Randy O's business is A Reef Creation out of Buffalo NY.

[melev]

I'll repost what I shared late last night/this morning on DFWMAS:

I think I slept about 3 hours each night, so I'm way too tired right now... oh well:

There were some new goodies this year, like Icecap's new light fixture that is very sleek. They have a 4' T5-looking bulb that was full of LEDs, and their new over the tank fixture was a combo of T5s and LEDs, or T5s, LEDS and 250w DE MH. I'll post pictures of these later. Another new item is the CO2 Scrubber. It looks like the DI section of an RO unit (or an under-the-sink water filter) that let's the air flow through the media before it is sucked into the skimmer. The idea is that it absorbs the CO2 instead of letting the skimmer suck it in, which in turn helps the tank maintain a higher pH. I don't know how well it works, but I'm curious to try it. Premium Aquatics is one of the vendors selling it. Rod's Food now has a new item added, which were a type of fish eggs that livestock really is happy to consume.

The raffle was full of goodies, including a 52" TV, a Dell laptop, tons and tons of aquarium-related goodies, livestock, a full tank set up, and more. They did a raffle at 6pm on Friday and again on Saturday, but still the Sunday one took a long long time to get everything awarded.

As usual, I missed almost all the talks. Old habit, at this point. The only one I attended was Joe Yaiullo who spoke about the Atlantis Aquarium, a 20,000g reef tank that is 14' front to back. I think many of you would have really enjoyed his humor and his presentation. It is very impressive, and you could visit it if you go to Long Island, NY.

The Gala was very nice. Everyone was seated comfortably, Steve Allen (President) was able to do his presentation for MASNA, awards were handed out to many recipients. The Orlando Florida club talked about next year's MACNA, and then an author spoke for about 20 minutes about his book "Shadow Divers" - the story about a sunken German sub discovered in 1991 60 miles off the coast of New Jersey, and no-one knew about its existence; it sank during WW II. It was interesting, and didn't go on and on. The food was tasty, and the servers were on their toes the entire time.

All the speakers received gift baskets when they arrived, which had a bunch of nice things including a copy of the book Shadow Divers; I can't wait to read mine. The room where the speakers gave their presentation was a short walk from the Vendors Hall, on the same floor. You could see and hear the speakers easily, with multiple screens and TVs set up in many spots.

The vendors room was huge, and carpeted. Most of whom you would expect to see where there, and a lot of smaller companies as well. Skimmers were churning away in all shapes and sizes. Deltec has a new line of skimmers using white acrylic/abs instead of the black they are known for. Several booths were set up with laptops so you could participate in coral auctions that went on during the conference. Some contests were performed via Facebook: "If you state...[ fill in the blank ] near our booth, you will win...." that was fun. T-shirts and food samples were given away, and hobbyists everywhere we asking questions about whatever that particular vendor had to offer. Touching the goods on display allows you to get a feel for what you might choose to buy. Some corals were very expensive, others not so much. Each day, three different speakers did demonstrations in the vendors hall, but it didn't distract from the business taking place in the various booth. After about 20 minutes, you could walk to the next demo and see it, then 20 minutes later the next one. This rotational system let everyone pick and choose what they wanted to see without crowding, and it was free. Some demos were: flow, getting fish to eat food that aren't, working with acrylic, how to do a MACNA, & coral propagating. A total of 9 different demos were done, three times in a row so people would have multiple chances to see them.

A couple of real mermaids wandered the showroom floor, encouraging a little 'for fun' gambling, with the opportunity to win cupcakes. Yes, I got their picture. (not of their cupcakes - lol)

Many of us like staying up late to socialize and decrease the amount of liquor A.C. had on hand. I did my best to assist with that. Some of us went to the casinos, others wanted to take in some sights. The weather was nice for the most part, in the upper 60s and 70s. The Sheraton Hotel was right across the street from the Convention Center where MACNA took place, just a few steps away. The Sheraton has a history with the Miss America pageant, and had lots of references to it throughout the hotel. The bar upstairs was near an internet cafe, and then the restaurant & pub downstairs was the other option. Of course you could walk to places like Applebee's, McDonald's or elsewhere, or grab a cab. The first night, I took a cab to The Irish Pub which stays open 24 hours a day. Pretty darn cool, right? Don't worry, I was back to my room by 5am. The Manhattan Reefer's party was bigger than the previous years, and they rented out a room that had Rock Band hooked up for crazy karaoke singing and a cash bar. The nice thing is because it was a legitimate party, there was no reason to worry security would show up to shut it down like they did when we would party in their suite each year.

I'm sure there is lots more to add, but I'm really tired. The event was excellent, and there was no drama. Everyone that went had a great time, and those that chose not to, chose badly in my opinion.

[Outerbank]

I recognized the solo clam picture and it will be in my tank tommorow!! There were some very nice corals. The talks were great!