Zwickm Posted September 6, 2015 Share Posted September 6, 2015 Do you have feedback/updates on the Mind Stream monitor? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gil&Fin Posted September 6, 2015 Author Share Posted September 6, 2015 Do you have feedback/updates on the Mind Stream monitor?Yes! I spent some time at the booth talking to the developer, chemist, and marketing guy. They also did a presentation at the show, but to be honest it was very technical and over my head. I also had separate conversations with Terence Fugazzi with Neptune (APEX) and with the guys at Mindstream about whether they would be integrating APEX and Mindstream. Interesting responses from both companies, but that's another story. But back to Mindstream. They have the prototype hooked up to an office tank. I talked them into letting me take a picture of the dashboard. It shows all of the different parameters they will be measuring. Notably, they do not have any plans right now to measure nitrates or phosphates. Here is a picture I took of the dashboard. The Mindstream itself can go in the tank or sump at or below the waterline. They expect initial cost to be less than $1000 and the disks to cost about $35 a month. They spent a lot of time talking about the actual technology. I think part of that is because I was talking to technical folks. But the other part I am sure is that people are skeptical about whether these parameters will be accurate. Anyway, they said the technology is actually based on what is already in use in the medical field. Here is one of the slides from the presentation explaining the technology. See what I mean? Way technical. I could have sworn I took a picture of the actual unit, but I can't find it. You can see what it looks like from this picture of a slide. The show closes tomorrow morning so if there is something specific that you want me to ask, I can try to catch them first thing and report back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gil&Fin Posted September 6, 2015 Author Share Posted September 6, 2015 Other random things: Kevin Kohen, the Director of liveaquaria, did a presentation on unusual fishes for a small aquarium. So Kim, I was thinking about you and took pictures of a couple I thought were cool. You still have room for one more, don't you? Also, a number of the display tanks have used the bonsai idea, but are actually using a manufactured rock. Here is a picture of one of the vendors, followed by a picture of one of the tanks in the Sustainable Aquatics booth. See what I mean? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gil&Fin Posted September 6, 2015 Author Share Posted September 6, 2015 I took this picture of a t-shirt for a buddy. You know who you are. And before the rest of you start thinking dirty thoughts, squamipinnis are anthias. Get your mind out of the gutter. Geesh. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gil&Fin Posted September 6, 2015 Author Share Posted September 6, 2015 More fish and coral shots: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gil&Fin Posted September 6, 2015 Author Share Posted September 6, 2015 And the pictures keep coming. Here are a couple pictures of one of the exhibitor halls: Proaquatix (which is a competitor of ORA) brought in this tank of some unusual species they are breeding. The silver ones towards the top are Lookdowns, the yellow ones are called Golden Trevallies, and the ones that look like batfish on the bottom are called Jackknives. They are all considered game fish, but they are cool to look at. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishoutawater Posted September 6, 2015 Share Posted September 6, 2015 I am jealous right now. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kknight Posted September 6, 2015 Share Posted September 6, 2015 Thanks for sharing ! Must of been so awesome to get to see all that. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emerald525 Posted September 7, 2015 Share Posted September 7, 2015 Thanks for sharing Holly! It's funny. I was quickly scrolling through your pictures cause I can't fit much more in my tank and then came to a screeching halt when I saw the spikefin goby! Cool fish! Jeff I want one ! I saw a tank on nanoreef with the bonsai structure. I thought it was pretty cool! Looks line you are having a blast! Would be fun to go again. I went when it was on Dallas a few years ago. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashy Fins Posted September 7, 2015 Share Posted September 7, 2015 Looks like you're having a blast. Thanks for sharing these pictures with us! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mandinga Posted September 7, 2015 Share Posted September 7, 2015 (edited) . Thanks Holly, that looks like a grand time! Great read:)[emoji322] Our President's wish is to bring MACNA to Portland. Well, why not? Cmon people lets rally this effort and get behind him on it. I'm definitely willing to help. Edited September 7, 2015 by Mandinga 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gil&Fin Posted September 7, 2015 Author Share Posted September 7, 2015 I have just a few more MACNA-related posts to make. Thank gosh, right?I am going to continue shamelessly name-dropping (or picture posting) some of the "famous" people I met. In addition to Than Tidal Gardens, Jason Fox, and Mark Levinson, see if you can guess who these guys are. I won a Neptune APEX automatic feeder from this guy~ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gil&Fin Posted September 7, 2015 Author Share Posted September 7, 2015 Here are some take-home-points that I learned (or were reinforced) by some of the speakers: 1. "Don't force your tank" ~ Dr. Sanjay Joshi. The point he made here is that if your tank, with its unique particularities (such as lighting, parameters, ideal temperature) doesn't successfully grow acropora, don't grow acropora. By the time you try changing aspects of your tank to accommodate those corals, you're probably going to screw things up for other corals (not to mention spend a lot of money). 2. "Don't change more than one thing at a time." This piece of advice is pretty self-explanatory. Don't try adding a new fish at the same time you try a new food. If something goes wrong with one of your existing fish, you won't know what is to blame. Same thing goes with other things such as changing lighting settings and adding a new skimmer, etc. 3. "LEDs might not be saving you the electricity you think they are" ~ Dr. Sanjay Joshi. Dr. Joshi is an engineer and professor at Penn State who is a recognized expert on lighting, aquarium system design, and general reef husbandry. I mention his credentials because this one is a little hard to believe for me. Dr. Joshi tracked his electrical use (using all sorts of equipment like electronic usage monitors, not just the dollar amount on his electrical bill) and found that LEDs did not use much less electricity than metal halides. Where the savings comes in is replacement bulbs, and not using a chiller. Because metal halides produce so much heat, most people use chillers which are a huge energy suck. 4. There is more than one way to correctly pronounce fish and coral names. Throughout the conference I noted on many occasions experts talking about a particular fish or coral and use completely difference pronunciations. Some of you might have noticed Bob Fenner doing this at the March (or April?) PNWMAS meeting. So if any of you ever hear me mispronounce something, just assume I'm correct in Australia. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spectra Posted September 7, 2015 Share Posted September 7, 2015 (edited) I know the kid in the middle just cant remember his name A lot of you tube reviews...... Would love for it to come to Portland but not sure it would happen. I could see Seattle happening though. Worth a shot though! Once again Holly looks like it was a great time to be had and congrats on the feeder! and thanks for all the pics! there were a lot of nice ones..... Edited September 7, 2015 by spectra 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackice Posted September 7, 2015 Share Posted September 7, 2015 (edited) #1 is mr saltwater tank #2 George something? #3 is the guy from Neptune systems. Edited September 7, 2015 by Blackice Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gil&Fin Posted September 7, 2015 Author Share Posted September 7, 2015 A note on conservation legislation that are/could affect the hobby, for those who are interested. Let me first say that most of the people there that were not hobbiests fell into two categories (though many were in both). These are vendors and experts. The experts presented a somewhat disturbing presentation about the state of growing restrictions here and in other countries that could put a squeeze on the availability of many of the ornamentals we enjoy. I think our local fish stores have more first-hand knowledge on this, but I thought I'd share what I learned. A couple of things that stick in my mind ~ Much of the proposals include restrictions on, for example, "clownfish" or "banggai cardinals" without differentiating between captive-bred and wild. Those from the industry don't seem to be able to get through to the those proposing restrictions the difference. Discouraging. Also discouraging is what is happening with lionfish. For those of you that don't know, lionfish are considered an invasive species in Florida, the Caribbean, and other areas. The growing lionfish population is a huge problem. It is believed that it all started with aquarists releasing their lionfish into the ocean. In response, there is a proposal to prohibit the import of lionfish into Florida. This seems reasonable, except that the restriction would apply to ANY species of lionfish, not just the invasive ones. That means that an aquarist in Florida that wants a fu manchu lionfish (for example) is out of luck, even though there are none there. Even more concerning is that other states are getting on board and are considering banning the import of lionfish--even states that are landlocked. Lastly, there is a continuing battle with the export of Hawaiian yellow tangs. Although the statistics and research shows that the harvesting of yellow tangs has been done responsibly and has not reduced the overall populations, there are many who still oppose exportation, arguing, among other things, that exporters are profiting from taking away pieces of what makes Hawaii, Hawaii. I'm sure we'll hear more about this in the future. I think I'm just about done sharing information from MACNA this year. Obviously, I had a fantastic time. I'm already signed up for MACNA 2016 in San Diego! I hope more of us can go next year, especially because it is so much closer. We could all geek out together. Thanks to all of you for following along in this thread! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gil&Fin Posted September 7, 2015 Author Share Posted September 7, 2015 #1 is mr saltwater tank #2 George something? #3 is the guy from Neptune systems. And this time Chris gets the prize! #1 is Mark Callahan, Mr. Saltwater Tank. In addition to lots of instructional youtube videos, he has covered the MACNA event for a couple of years now. #2 is George Mavrakis from coralfish12, who also produces lots of youtube videos. I never thought someone would guess this since George made a lot of his videos when he was younger and he has grown huge! He's got to be like 6'3" now. #3 is Terance Fugazzi who is basically the face of Neptune right now. He has a number of videos on APEX. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheClark Posted September 7, 2015 Share Posted September 7, 2015 Awesome thread, really enjoyed it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackice Posted September 7, 2015 Share Posted September 7, 2015 And this time Chris gets the prize! #1 is Mark Callahan, Mr. Saltwater Tank. In addition to lots of instructional youtube videos, he has covered the MACNA event for a couple of years now. #2 is George Mavrakis from coralfish12, who also produces lots of youtube videos. I never thought someone would guess this since George made a lot of his videos when he was younger and he has grown huge! He's got to be like 6'3" now. #3 is Terance Fugazzi who is basically the face of Neptune right now. He has a number of videos on APEX. To be far I only know mark lol I zoomed in on the name tag of George I could read the last name and the others one has a Neptune shirt one in front of the Neptune both (aka Neptune guy lol ) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashy Fins Posted September 7, 2015 Share Posted September 7, 2015 George Mavrakis must have been asked a thousand times where to buy that shirt. I'm not even a t-shirt wearer, but I could make an exception for that one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CuttleFishandCoral Posted September 7, 2015 Share Posted September 7, 2015 Thanks for all the info. Great chatting with you today! Where's my shirt? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoringDave Posted September 8, 2015 Share Posted September 8, 2015 Thank you for sharing your adventure it looked fun. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mitrillion Posted September 8, 2015 Share Posted September 8, 2015 (edited) I have just a few more MACNA-related posts to make. Thank gosh, right? I am going to continue shamelessly name-dropping (or picture posting) some of the "famous" people I met. In addition to Than Tidal Gardens, Jason Fox, and Mark Levinson, see if you can guess who these guys are. I won a Neptune APEX automatic feeder from this guy~ the famous mark calihan! Love his vids and his tanks! And everyone of the reefing celebrities! Lol Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Edited September 8, 2015 by Mitrillion Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catfish2 Posted September 9, 2015 Share Posted September 9, 2015 Awesome to see the pics! Thanks for posting! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JManrow Posted September 9, 2015 Share Posted September 9, 2015 Thanks Holly, for sharing MACNA with us all! Hey... did you get a chance to speak with Kevin Erickson about 2018? How did you do on the raffle? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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