melev

With MACNA less than two weeks away, I've been really really really busy. Fortunately, my reef is running on auto pilot and doing quite well.

I recently got two samples of food from Reef Nutrition to use in my tank, and my fish love it. I'm feeding it both during the day time and adding a tsp of each each night after lights out for the corals to snack upon. All my fish are actively chasing it down, and the suncorals seem to accept it readily.



For Apex Users:
Apex Users: A friend of mine warned me that he recently had a hiccup with his controller, requiring him to reprogram it from scratch. If you access the Apex from a browser on your computer, go to Configuration and Load/Save to save a backup to your computer (try to remember where you saved it!). This takes 10 seconds and allows you to easily restore your controller.

My little red anemone from New York surprised me last night. Here's a recent picture. Last night, I now have two. I love a self-propagating coral as much as the next guy, and this anemone sure took its time. I've had it since January.



Quick iPhone picture. Contrary to what you see, Valonia is 50% of what it was, and seems to be reducing daily:



MACNA is in 12 days. Our club started discussing hosting MACNA three years ago, and this last 18 months has been quite the undertaking. The MACNA committee, myself included, has been at this daily sinking thousands of hours of our time into making sure it goes smoothly. We are buttoning up the last details. This year, expect to win an aquarium because we have a lot of them. One person will win a year's worth of salt from Instant Ocean. A trip for two to TAHITI is the Grand Prize, and while there you'll get to see the new clam & coral aquaculture facility Dr Mac is opening up. Jean-Michel Cousteau is doing book signings on Saturday, and is the keynote speaker at the gala. The guys from Tanked will be there, as well as The Fish Tank Kings. The Great Button Hunt will allow attendees to win some prizes. The Photo Contest lets you judge which pictures make it in the 2013 MACNA Calendar we'll be printing after the show. Casino night should be fun for those coming to the reception. All the presentations have been carefully selected to address any facet of the hobby you crave knowledge of.

The MACNA Program is sponsored by Reef Addicts. Two months of effort was poured into the program, and it provides everyone will the valuable details to make sure you know where to be and not miss a moment of fun. Reef Addicts Reporters are going to share what they've learned at the show, and if you want to be one too, let me know. The more help, the better the results.

Melev's Reef's booth will be decked out with a modern look and all the wares I sell. I'll have a fully functional reef tank set up to answer questions and show how it all goes together. One person will win it (minus the light and livestock, that's mine) in the raffle. Lots of gear from Melev's Reef will be in the raffle, matter of fact. And Melev's Reef is sponsoring the two Margarita stations in the exhibitors hall, where you can get $1 margaritas all three days. And for the first time ever, I'll be offering a discount to my customers during the show, so be there to get that perk.

What else... I'd like to share some thoughts on regarding my skimmer's skimmate. You get used to seeing something a certain way, but lately it just seems significantly different. The foam is more rigid in the collection cup, the difference in color of it vs the white bubbles in the neck, it's just striking. It's been on my mind for the past month. Could it be related to biopellets and Prodibio dosing? I don't know and I'm not complaining. If that dreck is out of the system, the corals are healthy and the tank is algae free, that's perfectly fine. It's just a little odd to me for some reason.



I spoke to Marineland recently, and it looks like the repaired 400g will ship out at the end of the month. It'll be great to get my tank back and give Spock more space again, and pick up more coral frags.