Kshack Posted July 23, 2007 Share Posted July 23, 2007 Had the pleasure of attending the Aquarium Conference in Tri Cities last weekend and thought I would give a report for everyone. Things got started on Friday with a BBQ at Rick and Barbie Berg’s house. There was a presentation on coral fragging after dinner. Everyone was very gracious and made us feel welcome. Rick has a 240g tank upstairs with all the equipment downstairs (a lot of really cool equipment). Everyone was welcome to mill around and check out his setup at his or her leisure. The guest speakers were there and more than willing to answer questions during the evening. There was a tank setup with corals that were to be auctioned Saturday for viewing (tank was moved to the Hotel for the dinner/ auction the next day). Someone arrived rather late with some frags for sale and for the auction. We left around 1AM and there were still several people there. (late night for the organizers) Saturday started with buffet breakfast and then the tank tour. There were 5 tanks and about 20-25 cars winding through the streets. Tank sizes were…160g 150g, 300g, 155g, 400g. Tour ended around noon and we were on our own for lunch before the speakers gave their presentation. First speaker was Sanjay on how to interpret his lighting test results, and then Mike Palette spoke on how to setup a LARGE reef tank (examples were his 1,200g and a 4,000g he helped create). After the lectures we met back at the Hotel for Dinner, silent auction and raffle. They had an amazing amount of items for raffle and who would not want to come home with a few new frags. All in all the Mid-Columbia Saltwater Aquarium Club did an excellent job of putting the conference together and if they find the energy to do this again I would highly recommend attending. Ken Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dsoz Posted July 23, 2007 Share Posted July 23, 2007 Thanks for the report. I hope that you had a good time. Did you win anything? Did they make any announcements about selling tickets for the coral farmers market? Did they sell any tickets, or put them in the raffle? dsoz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kshack Posted July 23, 2007 Author Share Posted July 23, 2007 We had a great time, but did not win anything. They did talk about the Farmers Market, and had flyers, but did not have any in the raffle. They did have some Steve Tryee frags for auction. I do not know if they sold any tickets, but some were thinking of attending. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
180Bob Posted July 23, 2007 Share Posted July 23, 2007 Brandy and I also attended the conference and thought they did a great job. I would recommend everyone to attend next year. On the other hand, why doesn't our club arrange a conference and invite them next year???? Lets start taking volunteers!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
180Brandy Posted July 23, 2007 Share Posted July 23, 2007 The tank tour was pretty cool. Here are some highlights. The first tank was a 160 gal. It currently is recovering from a move. The tank is 3 years old lighting consists of 3-400w mh bulbs. Owners Phil and Zul use a calcium and lime water drip. Second tank 150 gal. acrylic. Let me first say this tank was awesome!!!!!!!!!! Not a stitch of algae anywhere. This was a birthday/Christmas present From Darrel to his wife Vicki. This 150 gallon tank has a 40 gallon sump that was custom made by IAP. They have the tank in a breakfast nook in the kitchen. The system includes a Euro-Reef CS-8 Skimmer,uv sterilizer,chiller,small refugium,phos-ban reactor, three 250w metal halides housed in a Reefoptix 3 reflectors,two t-5 actinics and Lunar tracker moon light. Pumps include: dolphin ampmaster 4700,ampmaster 3000, Iwaki MD40RXT and various smaller pumps. A two-way soleoid-actuated ball valve regulates the closed-loop system between the upper and lower maifold. Everything is operated by a Neptune Aqua Control 3. This was my personal favorite. Lots of bright colors and amazing rock work!!! Third tank: 300 gallon acrylic tank. This beauty was also super amazing!!! Ed Hahn has a total of 4 Tunzes,two Tunze 6200's on two sides of the cube and two Tunze 6100's hidden from view in Tunze rocks. The return pump is a dolphin aqua sea 2100 gph pump. The main source of filtration in this tank is live rock. The tank currently has 250 pounds of rock. Lighting consists of two 400 watt HQI driven xm 10k bulbs in luminarc reflectors. The tank also has a lite rail that sits for one minute at each end of the tank and maneuvers back and fourth as long as the lights come on. In order to upgrade this Ed would have to build on another room. fourth tank: Like most of us we start with a small tank then realize that we need a larger tank. Nate has his tank set up in a sun room aka Fish room. This was also a amazing setup. He has three 400 watt halides,two VHO actinics separate external sump/refugium and a chiller. Fifth tank: Save the biggest tank for last. Les has a 400 gallon acrylic in the wall!! Yes I said the wall. talk about a wall unit! This 400 gallon is supported by a 90 gallon sump and dual tower air stone driven shimmer and that itself holds 40 gallons of water. For water flow there are 3 closed loop systems. Lighting is 5 400 watt 10k mh. Les had quit a zena garden. Les has built everything himself. Pretty amazing!!! This was a must see tank. The talks were held at the Battelle Auditorium. This was really nice. Sanjay did a great talk on lighting. I felt as if I had a " light bulb moment". LOL Mike shared some pictures of his personal tank which is a 1200 gal. And a 4000 gal tank. He showed the build process of his tank. It was a great conference and lots was learned. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JManrow Posted July 23, 2007 Share Posted July 23, 2007 Brandy and I also attended the conference and thought they did a great job. I would recommend everyone to attend next year. On the other hand' date=' why doesn't our club arrange a conference and invite them next year???? Lets start taking volunteers!!!![/quote'] The idea of an Oregon Conference has kicked around for awhile now. Not something to rush into! Working together with PSAS on this may be be an option, as they have held a couple of similar conferences. Hey Bob, did you take some pics that you can post of the MCMAC? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Hahn Posted July 24, 2007 Share Posted July 24, 2007 I want to say thank you for all that attended. Brandy and Bob, I did not get to talk to you very much. I want to and look forward to it. Ken, it was a pleasure. The first year the conference took place was in 2004. We had members (Presidents, Vice Presidents) of each club working together. Together is the key word. We all have a hobby we enjoy. We all like talking about it as a group. Cheri Thomas has talked about a conference out here in Pacific Northwest. It can happen with their help or with out their help. But remember if we all work as one. We are unstoppable. You guys still have me on cloud nine. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. I want you to know, My friends that came into town on Friday had me up all night aquascaping my tank. My friends and I went to bed at 430 in morning. I got up at 5 to hook up my boat for a ride with Sanjay. Would I do it again? Hell yeah! Thank you for the awesome time. If you come to Tri-Cities again. Please look me up. Sincerely, Ed Hahn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JManrow Posted July 24, 2007 Share Posted July 24, 2007 Don't be so modest. PSAS also had the Northwest Marine Conference at the Embassy Suites in May of 1997, and the Western Marine Conference in April of 1998 at the Doubletree Inn in Seattle. I was fortunate enough to be involved with both conferences. You guys have done a great job for quite a few years now. Thanks again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
180Bob Posted July 24, 2007 Share Posted July 24, 2007 The idea of an Oregon Conference has kicked around for awhile now. Not something to rush into!I agree' date=' but if we don't start planning it will never get done. I thought it was very professional having the talks in a real Auditorium at PNNL. I wonder if Portland State, or OMSI or a local community college would have a facility that we might be able to use. [/size'] Working together with PSAS on this may be be an option, as they have held a couple of similar conferences.I think that is potentially a great idea. Maybe one year in Portland and one year in the Seattle area. Hey Bob, did you take some pics that you can post of the MCMAC? I actually didn't take any pictures. There were a lot of people moving thought the homes and we we on a pretty tight schedule. We did get an agenda with pictures of all the tanks. I guess I could scan it in and post a pdf. I'll see if I can get permission to do so. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JManrow Posted July 24, 2007 Share Posted July 24, 2007 Wow Bob... that red type is harsh on the old eyes...(whistle) I have been corresponding with Ed Hahn up at PSAS about the possibility of a marine conference in this area. Planning these things take at least a year to get vendor booths, donations, speakers. If it is a major conference like the Western Marine Conference, IMAC, MACNA, ads need to go out to magazines. PSAS seems to be willing to work with us on this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
180Bob Posted July 24, 2007 Share Posted July 24, 2007 Sorry, I guess there are advantages to being color blind(clap) . I guess I wasn't thinking of something so elaborate. I really thought something like MCMAC might be something we could pull off. I really liked there format. Get together for breakfast, do a tank tour, a speaker or two, then a dinner. If we start planning something much more elaborate we may never get the planning done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JManrow Posted July 24, 2007 Share Posted July 24, 2007 Something similar to the Mid-Columbia Conference sounds like a good place to start! About how many would you say attended? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
180Bob Posted July 24, 2007 Share Posted July 24, 2007 My quick estimate was something like 75-100. I don't see why we shouldn't be able to draw that many. I think last year we drew about that many to our BBQ. I did a quick Google search and the population of the Tri-Cites area is only about 170K. Greater Portland has almost ten times that many. They did many things to attract people. Included dinner, raffle with great prizes, door prizes, blind auctions. All things that were very entertaining. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rico Posted July 25, 2007 Share Posted July 25, 2007 I think the votes are in, Mid-Columbia Saltwater Aquarium Club really kicked it a couple of notches this year. Here is a thread with a lot of pictures and comments from the event, enjoy http://www.reeffrontiers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=23414&page=3 Also I will have a gallery up on the MCMAC page in a few days. I am still chasing down pictures to put up. Brandy, I was looking forward to meeting you and never did catch up. I hope I will see you at the coral farmers market in 2 weeks. Here is a suggestion to think about. What if we rotated the conference each year between the 3 major clubs in the northwest, Portland, Seattle and the Tri-Ciites. That way everyone is able to work together and make the event even better. :-) Rico Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
180Brandy Posted July 25, 2007 Share Posted July 25, 2007 It was a great conference! Kudos to you all!!!!!!! (clap) (clap) (clap) I plan on going to the coral farmers market. I like your idea.... Sounds good! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael7979 Posted July 25, 2007 Share Posted July 25, 2007 Here is a suggestion to think about. What if we rotated the conference each year between the 3 major clubs in the northwest, Portland, Seattle and the Tri-Ciites. That way everyone is able to work together and make the event even better. :-) Rico Very interesting!!! I think that it has a real good possiblity of turning out great!! I'm up for that. We need to set up a time to talk about it and see how things work out from there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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