ReefStock 2013 was such an overwhelming success that it’s taken us this long to get around to telling you all about it. In it’s sixth year ReefStock moved to a much larger venue, formerly a video arcade hall, and with two days of aquarium action, we had more speakers, raffles, booths and cora frags than ever before.
The Venue – After doing ReefStock in the quaint Nautilus Ballroom of the Denver Downtown Aquarium four years in a row, it was definitely time for us to find a new location where we could grow and increase the show. With so many local central colorado reefers being veterans of previous ReefStocks, the first comment we heard directly and indirectly from attendees and exhibitors alike was how much they loved the new venue. The open, mall style atmosphere with high ceilings and multiple flat screen TVs really gave ReefStock a power up in presentation, and we look forward to working with the Red & Jerry’s event center for another great show next year.
The Booths – With so much more room than ever before, we nearly doubled our booth count from 30 something to about 55 total booths. Not only did we have more booths, but 2013 afforded our vendors, exhibitors and sponsors a lot more room to spread out and really display their wares. Some of the best marine aquarium companies in the national and global aquarium industry were duly represented at ReefStock, as were some of the countries finest coral vendors, and with that, an amazing coral frag market.
The Frags – Frags, frags, frags. Got frags? Well if you came to ReefStock there’s no way that you got out of there without picking up a whole reef crest of coral genetics. Jason Fox, World Wide Corals, Cherry Corals and Unique Corals while local coral slingers The Coral Shop, Gonzo’s Coral Frags and Reefkoi decimated it. If you have any kind of penchant for coral colonies, frags, clams or designer clownfish, your wallet never stood a chance.
The Raffle – ReefStock is almost synonymous with mountains of high quality high value raffle prizes. Nowhere else in the reefing world can you find so many products availalbe to win before they are even available to dealers in the US and elsewhere. By going to two days of ReefStocking we were able to spread out a plethora of awesome prizes and we want to give a special shoutout to Marineland/UPG and Innovative Marine for generously donating full tank setups allowing us to make a very special day for a lucky grand prize winner on both days.
The Products – ReefStock wouldn’t be a Reef Builders production if we didn’t feature the latest and greatest reef gear from the most progressive aquarium companies around. For those reefers that don’t get to travel from one end of the earth to another looking for ‘what’s next’ in reef aquariums, ReefStock was an awesome opportunity for Reef Builders to bring all these wonderful lights and devices to our very own show.
With over 1100 attendees participating in ReefStock 2013 over two days, we were really overwhelmed by how much support there is for this show. The local community here in Central Colorado got its annual shot in the arm, reefers from neighboring states got to experience a world class aquarium show and of course, a lot of nice fish and frags went out the door over those two days. We couldn’t be any more thrilled with how ReefStock went off this year and you’ll definitely want to stay tuned for how we plan to make ReefStock 2014 a marine aquarium conference that can’t be missed.
