Melevsreef.com - CSEA | Cleveland, Ohio

My trip to Cleveland to speak to C-SEA

November 20 - 22, 2008: The Board of Directors from the Cleveland Saltwater Enthusiasts Association contacted me to come out and speak to their club... This trip included visiting a couple of stores in Columbus, a bunch of snow, and a visit to Savko.

From there, we grabbed some fast food and arrived at Phishy Business. www.phishybusiness.com - it was definitely a nice store to visit. Again, tons of pictures; apologies in advance.

One thing I really appreciate about shopping in fish stores is when things are clearly priced. Below, all these frags are $15 each, and are great prices!

Alveopora frag.

Lovely Blueface Angel.

Chalices!

Priced by section. Nice.

The filtration for the tanks was interesting. On the left, a skimmer. On the right, a bioball drip system, and a RO/DI system as well as other meters to measure water quality.

Live rock vat, with a large skimmer above.

This is a Elos 20g nano lit with LEDs.

One section was medicated, and only the collection cup on the skimmer revealed that fact.

Elos display tank and stand, with a Bubble King skimmer on display.

Here's a HOB filter. I don't recall the maker, but the bubble plate inside makes me think of only a few possibilities.

Look at the acrylic impellar housing for this Octopus skimmer. That should allow all kinds of air to be infused in the water.

Here's a huge Geo Skimmer in its own corral to keep it safe from damage. I never took any pictures of the drygoods side, but they had lots of stuff that we need on a regular basis. This store has its customers covered.

You gotta love it when a store labels the glass with the coral name. What a great way to remember it - grab your camera or cell phone and take a picture before you buy it, so you have something to refer to when you get it home. Of course, if the store labeled it wrongly, this process won't work as well. ;)

If you look up high on the racks, you'll see refugiums up there.

Here was a small sump with an Elos skimmer.

I saved the best for last. Phishy Business has a stunning reef tank on display. It is a very nice mixed reef.

From the end as you go into the employee's only area. Note the rock wall on the back - it is real live rock that was glued and cememted together to create that look. All the rocks looked like they were fist-sized or smaller, and it really worked nicely for this tank.

Lighting from above.

Hard to see, but in front of the yellow Gorgonian is a Black tang.

I joke that this gorgonian is fake. It really does look too perfect to be real, like a Walt Smith fake coral that he offers. They swear it is real. My parents always told me swearing was bad. ;)