Opinion

Looking at MACNA from a purely hobbyist point of view (where are the kids?)

Here at Reef Builders we tirelessly work our fins to the spine to stay on top of the news and to make sure our readership is the most informed about everything related to the aquarium world. Whether it’s new fish,…

Atlanta Reef Club’s domain problems

The Atlanta Reef Club, which successfully hosted the 2008 Macna in Atlanta has been having domain problems. Apparently the issue has stemmed from a user who was banned. That user then sent in a copyright infringement notice directed to the…

MACNA 2010 Rocked!

Reefbuilderss has asked contributors to recount their MACNA 2010 experience – its my turn, so here goes! My MACNA 2010 really started when I arrived at the hotel at 11:55 pm on Thursday night. I expected to go to the…

MACNA XXII – Matt Pedersen’s Story

I hope to see my fellow Reef Builders contributors jump in and share their take on MACNA 2010 in the coming days.  Seeing the annual pilgrimage to the marine aquarium hobby’s nomadic mecca through multiple points of view may offer…

Coral Vendors issued warnings at MACNA 2010

With MACNA 2010 finally wrapping up there were many side stories. One such side story involved the Florida Fish and Wildlife conservation commission. Apparently in the state of Florida you need the proper permits, licenses, and certifications for anyone selling,…

A view from above, a quick snapshot and thoughts on MACNA 2010

I’m sitting 39,000 ft. above terra firma flying back to the West Coast from MACNA 2010 in Orlando and wanted to weigh in with a “newbie” perspective after three fun-filled days at the show. MACNA — we all hear about…

The Dark Hobby by Robert Wintner

Robert Wintner is an author and founder of Snorkel Bob’s shops throughout Hawaii. This guy has made a big business selling snorkel gear to tourists and locals. He has written several books in which have been poorly received with a…

Rethinking The Local Fish Store

In this postmodern, internet-based hobby world, it seems that the venerable local fish store (“LFS”) is under constant attack. E-tailers, hobbyist’ garage based start-ups, group buys, eBay, Craigslist, and even frag swaps are but a few of the challenges facing…

Anyone interested in doing an Archeological Reefscape?

This past weekend we attended the Fragstock coral farmer’s market at the Denver Downtown Aquarium. Along with many amazing corals and some neat, new products, we spied this interesting arrangement of home made reef rock. The maker Rich had arranged…

Thinking “Negative”- an overlooked aquascaping aspect

If you read my blog posts and articles on aquascaping, you hear me blabber on and on about the virtues of great rockwork, avoiding the uninspired rock wall configurations, the Golden Ratio, etc.  Yet for all my talk about rockwork,…