Reef Shows are Back Baby! Video Tour of Reefapalooza Orlando

ReefStock 2020 was the last big reef aquarium event before our social world was turned upside down so it was incredibly fitting that social guidelines for vaccinated Americans were revised right before Reefapalooza Orlando this year. It was a refreshing break to double down on our own reef keeping and revisit everything we’ve ever wanted to do with our personal reef tanks for a time, but we also really missed being a part of large professional reef aquarium events.

At Reefapalooza it was very nice to spend some time with our reefing community, share ideas, and especially check out all the new gear and livestock on display, some of which we’ve been actively sharing with you last week but all of it is neatly packaged into our video walkthrough of the entire event. If you couldn’t make it to the event, or even if you did, this video will give viewers a great idea of what it was all like with great new products from Two Little Fishies, VCA, Seachem, Marineland, and many others we’re still drafting up.

One thing we missed the most about seeing nearly a hundred coral vendors with nearly all kinds of frags and colonies on display, is seeing how different companies have their own specialties of specific coral groups with Reefing USA making an impression on us with their huge range of encrusting species such as Psammocora, Stylocoeniella, Cyphastrea, Leptoseris, and more. There were countless jumbo Cynarina and Acanthophyllia with crazier colors than we’ve ever seen, including a striking solid orange doughnut from MOD Corals – all of these came with eye watering price tags to match but it was still very impressive to see them in person.

Even if you don’t buy anything at a large reef show like Reefapalooza, or win anything in the raffle, there’s so much to learn and be inspired by from simply attending the event and finding inspiration from the corals and displays that we really encourage everyone to make it out. With lockdown restrictions easing around the country there are a lot of reefing events lining up quickly on the calendar and we look forward to many more throughout the year.

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Jake Adams

Jake Adams has been an avid marine aquarist since the mid 90s and has worked in the retail side of the marine aquarium trade for more than ten years. He has a bachelor’s degree in Marine Science and has been the managing editor of ReefBuilders.com since 2008. Jake is interested in every facet of the marine aquarium hobby from the concepts to the technology, rare fish to exotic corals, and his interests are well documented through a very prolific career of speaking to reef clubs and marine aquarium events, and writing articles for aquarium publications across the globe. His primary interest is in corals which Jake pursues in the aquarium hobby as well as diving the coral reefs of the world.