MACNA 2007 : Day 2

Sorry for the delayed post.

Overall, I didn't like the second day of MACNA as much as I did the first. Maybe it was because I had already been through the exhibit hall too many times already? Maybe it was because all the lectures seemed to be not too hobbyist friendly or totally not what I expected them to be. Maybe it was the free beer on Friday making Saturday a blur? Well anyway...

The first lecture was given by Anthony Calfo about reef toxicology. Now I know not to eat most of the things in my tank. Not that I've ever had an overwhelming desire to do so in the first place, but I guess a warning is always good. Anthony is a good speaker and made the lecture fun.

Next, Ron Hessing gave a lecture entitled "European Perspectives on Reefkeeping". I expected the lecture to be about current trends in Europe, instead it was just pictures of building two tanks. I could have just logged onto Reef Central if I wanted that.

Roy Torres, a Special Agent with the NOAA, then gave a lecture called "Illegal Harvest for the Aquarium Trade". He covered the applicable laws ( dry ), but then went into a case study which was good, I'm glad the perps were brought to justice, but I think their sentences were kinda lenient.

After lunch I attended a photography workshop, hopefully someday I'll be able to use some of the knowledge to get a decent shot of my tank, but I doubt it :)

Ok, so one of the lectures I was really looking forward too was Dana Riddle's talk called "Coral Coloration". This particular talk wasn't hobbyist friendly at all ( other than his one slide at the end that said LEDs Rock ). He went on and on about pigments and which colors have what number pigment and who can flouresce and blah blah blah... snore.

The exceptional talk of the afternoon was by Dr Sanjay Joshi. While it was very technical, it was the technical stuff that hobbyists want, how do lights compare to each other not only when new, but as they age. He had some really interesting data, and is a great speaker.

The final lecture of the day was by Daniel Knop. He isn't a native english speaker so it was a bit rough, but his pictures made up for it ten fold. He took a tank, removed the fish, corals, and filtration and just watched and photographed as the invertibrates grew. The tunicate and sea squirt growth he had in there was amazing. He had some truely gorgeous pictures. He was using a 5:1 macro lens though, so that helps.

Like I mentioned, not much, if anything changed in the exhibit hall between Friday and Saturday, so it was really just a place to mingle and wait for the next event. At least for me.