FarmerTy

Omg, Tim and I agree on something! Call in the parade and fireworks! [emoji4] I haven't used mechanical filtration in 6 years, unless you count skimming but that's not what everyone is talking about here.

I see an aiptasia! [emoji12]

I say swap them back. You'd want the stronger initial flow hitting the GFO to tumble it and the weaker flow for the carbon to maximize contact time.

Bacterial bloom? Or does it look like GFO dust? I'd guess the bacterial bloom because I wouldn't think GFO dust would affect your parameters.

It all fell apart when you left us Jestep! Next time give us warning before you leave. [emoji12]

Thanks Aaron and the team at Just Reef for bringing some awesome colonies and frags to the conference and for your support!

Thank you for your support of C4 Jake and crew! The frags and clownfish were an extra bonus for sure!

Thanks Gary and your team for supporting the conference and giving such awesome deals on equipment at C4! You guys rock!

Yeah, I see no reason for setting up or worrying about a frag coat check type of setup. Trust me folks, they'll be fine in your cooler for 6 hrs. They get shipped overnight in much less favorable conditions and are still fine. The extra work and liability involved with a coral check is just not worth it in my opinion. I'd rather the volunteers be focused on other matters to keep the conference running smoothly.

First off, great conference! Thank you to Mike, Dan, Meg, Brian, Jim, Isaac, Christy, Dave, Robin, John, all the vendors, and Aquadome and River City Aquatics for their hard work/support in making the conference what it was, a great event! I apologize if I left anybody off as I'm sure there were plenty of behind-the-scenes work that went into this as well. Food: I thought the same as most, tasty, but wish some would have came a bit more prepared for the number of attendees that came. I could always use more variety as well so the more the merrier. The italian ice truck was sent straight from heaven... nothing like super cold italian ice cream on a hot summer day. Bounce House and Photo Booth: Seems to be the consensus to keep both. I don't have kids so I can't add too much input but it seemed to help run out some energy for the little ones while the parents ran off to shop corals and listen to speakers. Speakers: I thought the selection of speakers was great! Good job in securing them! I think the same format should be kept except that maybe the volunteers go around while the speakers are talking and hush the frag section. Either that or give vendors signs that they can hang in front of their tanks to indicate that there will be a momentary break while speakers are talking. As a "vendor" selling corals myself, I wanted to listen to the speakers when possible and honestly, it was a good break from selling and was appreciated. I did take the opportunity to eat during one talk and sat at my table and people kept coming up to look at frags and try to buy stuff. It put me in an awkward situation to not sell them frags. A simple sign in front of my frag tank would have made it clear that we are taking a break from frag sales in respect for the speakers. Location: I liked the venue that was used. It had plenty of space and the space seemed to work well for our purpose. On that note, my only complaint was the location itself. It wasn't just South but a little beyond south and not close to a major highway. I understand we'll get more for the money out there but I'm perfectly happy with another hotel lobby conference located someone more central. Plus, to me, it made it feel much more professional of a setup at a hotel... like maybe attending a mini-Macna or mini-Reef-a-palooza. Name Tags: I would have much appreciated name tags as I am terrible with names. Its always fun to match up the person with their online persona as well so that you can be like... oh you're that crazy guy Bobcatreefer who throws up all the GIFs to welcome people! I'm kidding Jeff! Auctions: I thought it a great idea to incorporate the auction into the swap. I know it was more of an impromptu addition to the event so I can understand the format could use some revising. While it would be hard to place all the auction frags in one tank, I do like the idea of maybe setting it aside in the vendor's frag tank and maybe having a generic label beside it to denote that it is the auction frag. That way everyone can get a look at the frags being auctioned. Then do all the auctions at once so those who want to participate can get an opportunity to bid without having to wait all day for the deals for a good cause. This also allows vendors to attend and bid as well as many of us are just hobbyists and would like to snag a pretty coral in the name of charity. All in all, great conference. I'd take it exactly as it was this past weekend if nothing changed at all. Those are just areas I thought we could build on in my opinion. Oh yeah, and free lunch for all the vendors works for me too. Nothing crazy, just some steak and shrimp skewers would suffice... maybe a nice glass of wine. I'm easy! Maybe even a masseuse on hand...

My favorite moment of the event was when someone walked up to my frag tank and turned on his little orphek flashlight on my frag tank and then quickly turned it off. I about rolled over in laughter and the guy had a smile on his face too as he realized I was not just running my actinics on the tank and actually ran some white light as well so the flashlight was not needed.

Tank is looking good sir!

Messing around with the new phone.

Thank you sir. You guys may be rant free for a bit, lucky dogs! Life has been a tad busy the last couple of months. I'm doing my best to stay active though!

The Colorado Sunburst was looking extra nice tonight so I snapped some quick photos of it.

I pretty much have frags all the time so I try to sell as many at the swaps as I can because I don't have time to meet people individually any more sadly.

Which vendor were you? I was hoping to meet you there. I was the dude in the bright green wheelchair. Lol! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk I was that one oddball who ran white lights on his frag tank. [emoji12]

Your welcome fellas. Hope you enjoy the corals. For sure a deep feeling of gratitude for Mike and the volunteers organizing such a great event.

Glad they settled right in!

That sounds like pure torture to me!

I'll be wearing the face below in my signature... With slightly less hair. [emoji4] Hey...I was planning on wearing that face today. Would be really awkward if we both show up in it. Careful, we don't want to scare away all the C4 attendees with two of those ugly mugs walking around the conference!

Shhhhh... don't tell everyone that! I might get a lot of volunteers wanting to help me carry buckets after the conference.

Just to let you guys know how much work goes into having pretty little corals for you guys to pick up at the conference, most vendors will setup their tanks the night before and then they get to wake up at the crack of dawn to make it to the venue to make sure all the frags are happy and healthy and ready to find their new homes. At least there is a free workout associated with carrying all those buckets of saltwater. [emoji12] Looking forward to rehoming some corals today! Help us help you! [emoji4]

I'll be wearing the face below in my signature... With slightly less hair. [emoji4]

That's sad to hear but at least you we're there to troubleshoot. I've never really gotten calcium buildup on any of my return pumps over the years. Usually when I do annual pump impeller cleanings, it's just bacterial growth that can be easily wiped off. Did you ever overdose alk or calcium with new tank?