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.

We got out at Reef Systems Coral Farm, Inc. - which is a greenhouse aqua-cultured facility. www.reefsystems.com There are a lot of pictures on this page. Enjoy.

With it cold outside, condensation was clearly visible.

This is Todd, the owner. Two nanos adorn the countertops.

They've made the paper several times.

This is a new tank that is in the process of being set up.

And here's a full blown reef tank. Click here for the larger image.

Here is its skimmer.

Back to the greenhouse area since that is where all the corals are growing. Mangroves were growing in this tank.

Fish in quarantine here to make sure they are healthy before they are sold to their clients. With the numbers on the tank, it seemed like a lottery for what price you'd like to pay for the fish. If it swims behind a lower number, SCORE! hehe

So how do you shop in a place like this? Look for thsoe colored beads.

Match them up to the sign. Easy as pie.

This is a huge Galaxia that Todd has been growing for a very long time. It started off as a very small piece years ago, I believe he said.

I had a Top Down Photobox with me. Here's the parent colony.

And the frags.

This is what appeared to me as Red Sea Xenia, but Todd said it was a type from Fiji. When he flipped it over, it looked like a giant spider.

This is a huge parent colony of Organ Pipe coral.

What is it with "Not For Sale" and reef keepers? We're drawn to it like a bug to a light zapper. The Lumenarcs provide 20,000K lighting for the corals to color up nicely, once the sun has done its job. We are a demanding bunch. ;)

It is always nice to know how these systems are kept looking so nice. I got a little behind the scenes tour. Each trough has a surge tank that creates flow every few minutes (ten, perhaps), allowing buyers to view the livestock easily. If one tank is surging, you can view another one instead.

Two surge tanks are mounted on the wall. More will be added soon. Kevin is leaning over a live rock vat.

Here calcium reactor effluent is being measured by a pH probe in a simple container placed within the vat.

Reactors and pH controllers.

This particular color of Pocillopora is my favorite. The polyps are green but the core is pink.

I mentioned using a Top Down Photo Box above, but that is very difficult in these troughs. The camera needs to be a fixed number of inches away from the subject, and the water is maybe one or two inches above the corals (as least, the SPS corals). Taking pictures under these conditions is difficult because there is a risk of damaging the corals with the box. Here are some I was able to take that day. Perhaps with more time and some practice, it would be easier. It may take a different (taller) box, to get the camera further away from the viewing panel.

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