News and Travel

Diving off Mala Pier, Lahaina, Maui

melev — Fri, 03 Dec 2021 00:48:57 +0000

Diving off Mala Pier, Lahaina, Maui

A world famous shore dive for corals and fish

melev Fri, 12/03/2021 - 03:48

My friend runs Maui Diving and Snorkel Center in Lahaina, and we went for a dive yesterday. The weather was perfect, and this was the first time I’ve gotten to SCUBA dive in two and a half years. Here’s a video of some of what we saw during that 77 minute dive.

Reef Blog

2021 - Time for a big update

melev — Mon, 12 Apr 2021 03:00:36 +0000

2021 - Time for a big update

After four years, we get a fresh look

melev Mon, 04/12/2021 - 06:00

Change is a constant -- Over time everything changes.

When I first set up my website in the early 2000s, I created a few pages in HTML using Notepad. Later using Dreamweaver, the website took shape. I was blogging about my reef tanks constantly, and adding identifications regularly. From time to time I wrote an article hoping to help others solve problems they'd encountered that I'd already battled.

And I began to sell products, a small handful of things I made.

In 2008, the website had some fancy new buttons (I designed them myself in Photoshop) to take readers to the various sections of the site more cleanly. Navigation within the site had a ton of links down the left side of the screen, next to the blogs and articles I'd written. I was always adding new content, if a topic needed to be addressed.

In 2009, I decided to expand my website to sell more products, and I was a bit of a wizard in Dreamweaver, crafting new pages in HTML easily.

Due to the amount of information stored in the site, frequently I was told I needed a database driven website. That somehow that would make everything easier, but I was happy (or stubborn?) with HTML pages.

People were using starting to use more tablets, ipads, smartphones and of course desktop computers.

Google was starting to warn me that my pages weren't mobile friendly. That made me a little nervous because if you didn't comply, my content wouldn't show up in search results like it had been. For me, education has always been the most important part of why I ran melevsreef.com because I knew so many people were benefiting from the stories I'd shared.

In 2015, I finally decided to start publishing videos on Youtube. That year 10 videos were released. I used the videos to point people to the website, using links to related articles. I was also using Facebook and Instagram to reach more people with tiny daily updates.

In 2018, a mobile-friendly website was released. That's me waving at everyone from their smartphone screens. lol

In early 2020, I told the web developer to start on a new version of the site, figuring it was best to tackle it while things were going well rather than when we had a time crunch. Covid-19 interfered, and for a duration they were shut down to keep people home and safe. The version of the site you see now has been in production for 15 months, and during that time we ran into additional unexpected issues, such as a deprecated shopping experience that had to be completely replaced with a brand new one. All that coding had to be done all over again, and they ran into a few other surprises. I'd originally hoped we could migrate the data from the old software to the newer software, but that was not the case. 1000s of hours of labor has been poured into making this website, the same one I started 18 years ago, to what you see now.

Here we are, the second quarter of 2021, more than 50% of visitors to Melev's Reef are doing so on iOS or Android devices. Desktop computers are being replaced with tablets and televisions.

It's funny that I'm writing this blog post today, exactly seven years from the day I announced the website was getting updated then to a new look. About four years ago, it updated again. And as of today, this is our new look and feel, and I hope you discover the improved features: We now have a robust SEARCH in the shop section, you can shop by brand name for all related products, Critter ID has become Creature ID with additional information added, and more. The front page helps take you to more areas of the website, and the site navigation has been vastly improved.

Please understand the initial couple of days may result in a few oddities, but we will do our best to find and fix anything that isn't functioning as expected. Feel free to send me a message if you encounter a problem.

Reef Blog

Let's Adopt a Coral Thicket!

melev — Thu, 07 Mar 2019 13:43:53 +0000

Let's Adopt a Coral Thicket! melev Thu, 03/07/2019 - 16:43

I’m going on vacation!! My destination happens to be near the Coral Restoration Foundation facility in Bonaire. If you haven’t heard of the good work CRF does, click on this link to learn more. http://crfbonaire.org

While there, I'm seizing the opportunity to contribute by replanting coral frags back into the ocean with them. Here’s where you come in... If we raise $1000, we can adopt a coral thicket in the name of Club Melevsreef. I’ve created a donate link (and QR code) for you to easily contribute money toward our adopted coral thicket.

***Quick point I need to be clear about: I'm paying for my trip and none of your money will be used for my vacation.***

All funds received will go to the Coral Restoration Foundation’s adoption program. I will be sure to update you with our progress over the days leading up to my trip in Club Melevsreef on facebook. I'm planning to film what they do there, including a capture of our tag being attached to the coral thicket, and a few weeks later they will send a picture of our hand-painted sign attached to their Pole of Fame. I hope you are excited to participate in this project as much am I am!

Click to Donate: https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=FF5TAUK8NBLYQ&source=url
Click to learn more about the program: http://crfbonaire.org/product/adopt-a-coral-thicket/

We have nine days to do this, I think it's possible.

Reef Blog

I'm at the gate now...

melev — Fri, 01 Dec 2017 19:39:13 +0000

I'm at the gate now... melev Fri, 12/01/2017 - 22:39

I got through the international security here at LAX three hours before my flight, and was able to do a short livestream from the Fiji Airways gate. I posed the question: What's the furthest you've traveled to see a natural reef. As you can see above, this one was significant. My furthest, in fact. And in Kilometers, it's 10600.75 km. That sounds even more impressive.

It's my hope that by 8:30 am Sunday morning, I'll be on Suvasuva, heading to join my group of friends to go diving immediately. It's been too long since I 'blew some bubbles' as the divers like to say. :)

I've got a bunch of goodies in my carry-on to keep myself busy during the flight, but I plan to sleep through most of it. The time difference between home and my destination is 19 hours, so I shouldn't really see any jet lag.

Here's the stream if you missed it.

Reef Blog

I'm supposed to be flying toward Fiji...

melev — Fri, 01 Dec 2017 02:28:22 +0000

I'm supposed to be flying toward Fiji... melev Fri, 12/01/2017 - 05:28

Last February, I booked my trip from Dallas to Suvasuva, Fiji... and the entire time all was well. Until this morning, that is. I got an email mere hours before I'm about to depart, learning that the first leg of my trip has been pushed three hours later than my itinerary listed. That delay meant I would miss the second flight, which is the big one over the Pacific Ocean. Immediately I called the airlines to figure out what was going on, and was referred to the original company that provided this offer. The conversation was naturally frustrating, and took over an hour. They told me to get to the airport as quickly as I could and talk to the agent at the ticket counter. I wrote down all the new flight numbers as well as the necessary city change, grabbed my bags and drove to Dallas.

As soon as I got to the counter, the agent reported that my original bookings had not been altered and that she couldn't do anything for me. "It's a third party transaction, and we can't do anything. You must call them." Technically, that should have worked, except for the fact that you have to work with people following a script, going line by line through the same procedure, eventually escalating you to the next department all the while your flight deadlne approaches. "Please hold for 3-5 minutes while we research this further" doesn't bode well. I was already told my trip was updated, but the airlines weren't informed. Why? because this company (Justfly.com) says it takes up to 24 hours for the ticket to be reissued. How on earth is that even possible considering we are all using computers to get things done, and what I'm needing is a new flight, new ticket and confirmation code... all of that is done in a few keystrokes. Especially when things go wrong, there's no way you can wait 24 hours for an updated correction!!

Being put on hold multiple times, you know what happened next. Dropped call. But even worse, the person doesn't call back, so I have to go back through the exact same routine again, working my way to the department that was supposed to help me. At this point, the new flight I was going to take to San Francisco was no longer an option, and the connecting flight from SFO to Fiji wasn't updated either. In the meantime, Roy is the guy that I'm talking to and I'm adamant that he not put me on hold again, because my Fiji trip hangs in the balance. Mentally, I'm already debating whether I should even go on this trip, or just stay home. Fiji Airways is brought into the 3-way call, and the helpful woman's voice tells Roy that Justfly needs to pay their fees to fix this problem. Roy sounds shocked, and tells me that *I* have to pay these fees. What?! No way, I didn't cause any of this mess, I paid for the entire trip last February and had a plan in stone until today's unpleasant news.

I should mention that I'm glad I wasn't booked on American Airlines because the news today reports 15,000 flights (bookings, I'm assuming) were canceled due to a computer error. Back to my situation...

Then Fiji Airways puts us on hold to see what she can do. Roy said nothing. The agent at the counter tried to be supportive despite not being able to help move things along. Had I booked directly with the airlines, they would have definitely resolved this on the spot. Eventually Fiji Airways decides not to charge any fees, and tells me to fly to LAX and wait 24 hours for the next flight to Fiji. Before she can hang up, I hammer her with questions one last time because I just know the moment I hang up, everything that was said evaporates and I'm not willing to start at square one again. Then I ask Roy "are you still on the line?" and he replies he is. The woman from Fiji Airways chuckles in surprise since he's been dead silent for at least 25 minutes. I'm told everything will work out, although I'm literally losing an entire day of my trip, and I have to pay for a night in a hotel in LAX - which I still think is unacceptable. I hung up, approached the ticket counter and got my bag full of SCUBA gear checked. At this point, I've been in the airport for over two hours already and all I've done is get my ticket so far; time to head to TSA. I'm Pre-Check, so I breezed through and was at the gate with a cup of coffee and waited 2.5 hours for my flight to LAX to board.

The flight was uneventful, I slept through most of it. I've always guesstimated we fly at 500mph, and turns out I was close, but I never thought about how cold it was out there at altitude though. Brrrr.

We landed. After retrieving my suitcase, I googled a nearby hotel and am in my room now. It's good enough for a night, but it's a shame that I'm wasting one of my days sitting in L.A. while my group is already there in Fiji diving without me. The header picture came from my buddy Wes who's already enjoying the sights.

Despite being on the west coast, the flight to Fiji is still a long one. I'm departing at 9:00pm Friday and will arrive 8:10am on SUNDAY. That's travel time as well as time zone changes, but seriously that's crazy skipping a Saturday entirely. My friends are shifting things around so I can dive with them as soon as I land on Sunday, which I'm grateful for.

I'll update the blog when I have more to share.

Reef Blog

The Reef Trace App is here!

melev — Sat, 18 Nov 2017 20:12:50 +0000

The Reef Trace App is here! melev Sat, 11/18/2017 - 23:12

The iOS version of Reef Trace has been out for a few weeks. The Android version comes out next, work starts on it next month. Reef Trace has partnered with Melev's Reef, and provides you with some really cool features. It's $8.99 in the App store.

Track your water test results, and share them easily via social media right from the app. Water testing videos are being included within the app, which falls to me to complete. I've already done the ELOS test kit videos. The instructions and color cards are in the app, safely always accessible. Your data is stored in the cloud, and the app works on all iOS devices. You can track multiple tanks with the single app, which is great for those maintenance accounts. I need to add my water parms from tonight, so I can start to get some really nice graphing going.

Water testing videos and written instructions are included within the app. I'm filming these as I get more kit brands. I've already done the ELOS test kit videos.

The LFS locator finds stores within 45 miles of your location, and you can move the target to other areas to see what stores are near that spot.

Below, I moved it toward San Antonio to see what stores it would find. You can also let Reef Trace know what stores are out there, especially if you notice one is missing.

Critter ID is built into the app, so you can visually explore the things we find at the LFS or in our aquariums.

Plaza is still evolving, showing livestock and drygoods available in your area.

TDS measurements allow us to aggregate what our water measures across the nation, seeing how our source water is doing. I'd like to see us add our measurements quarterly, if not monthly. Let's watch the trends and see things develop.

Next for the app will be the ability to track PAR measurements. We want to learn what PAR numbers you are getting under the light fixtures you've purchased, and again we can see how things average across the nation. Let's get some baselines figured out -- measure right under the light at 0" (surface of water), 6", 12", 18" and 24" , and what fixture you have. Then we can begin to share what corals are thriving at what PAR measurement. As 1000s add their data, we'll be able to learn what coral does best at, and place our livestock in the prime locations for ideal results. I'm super excited about this, an idea I suggested four years ago during my MACNA talk. It's finally something we can do, pooling our collective and sharing our results. I love this!

Grab your app, and get involved. Click the image below to go to the app store.

Reef Blog

Give Sea World a break already

melev — Sun, 08 Jan 2017 22:05:57 +0000

Give Sea World a break already melev Mon, 01/09/2017 - 01:05

Sea World has been on the defense due to social media pressure in recent years, and I don't feel it is warranted whatsoever.

Each time I see anyone berating Sea World or 'hating' them due to Blackfish's mockumentary, I just shake my head. It's sad, how does anyone get caught up in that stuff and think it's legitimate? Yes, these mammals are in large aquariums. They are cared for, studied, fed all the time. Projecting human emotions about how they'd be happier in their pods in the ocean is easy to do... anyone will embrace that cuddly feeling.

But how many pods are actually out there? Anyone done any type of research or head count? If you want to know more about Orcas, you can bet Sea World has a wealth of knowledge to share on this one topic... and they know about lots of marine life. It's what they do for a living, around the clock every single day.

Any pet in any enclosure can be targeted by these activist groups. And they can even target regular homeowners that want a certain breed of (insert type of animal here). Only then will people suddenly say "wait, that's not fair."

I've never seen an ill malnourished animal on display at Sea World or any other public aquarium. I have been able to see some rescued animals being helped, and those people are doing the brunt of the work while the general population judges them from afar.

Here's an article worth reading: http://awesomeocean.com/2014/12/04/four-reasons-condemning-seaworld-really-bad-idea/

Reef Blog

2017 brings a huge update

melev — Sat, 31 Dec 2016 23:01:27 +0000

2017 brings a huge update melev Sun, 01/01/2017 - 02:01

It's 2017, central time. So let me tell you about what's to come (although I know you can't read this for a few more... months) but it's here for historical reasons because I know you like to go back and see what you missed):

As many of you know, I've been working daily on my website to make a brand new version of what you've turned to repeatedly when you wanted help with your aquarium. The information has been proven over and over, and I'm very happy to provide that education. It's so ingrained in me to provide the written word to help others avoid mistakes and run successful reefs with thriving livestock year after year.

Being an educator at heart, it's super hard for me to accept the business side and the required advertising of my products. I'd rather get you on my site reading and learning, and if you buy something, great. My closest friends and family constantly remind me that I need to make it clear that this is what I do for a living, and every sale matters. The newer version of my website will provide some of my best images, all the content you've relied upon, but will definitely promote the wares I offer on virtually every page so everyone will know I'm a business.

It's mobile friendly, fits tablets, desktops, and tvs. No matter your device, I think you'll be impressed. For years, people ask me "What do you do for a living?" as if I had some other job. In fact, 2009 was when I made Melev's Reef my primary and only source of income, while blogging about my reef and my travels. Despite the economy, I've seen my company grow year after year since then. This newer version of the site is a big jump in the right direction, and it rolls out ~~Jan 16th, at last~~. I'm still adding content at the moment, but I can't wait to show it to all of you. (Edit: November 18, 2017 was the big day.)

In addition, the workshop is getting a major upgrade that will open up options I never had before. I'm getting a full table CNC in a few weeks, and while I know there's going to be a learning curve initially, my mind is racing at the things it will cut out for me that I've not been able to tackle with the tools I use now. The products I make now will look even better and come closer to the standards I already set with every single thing I build currently. I foresee new things I can add to my online shop, giving you a better selection to pick from in the coming months.

Youtube has been a really good experience and the audience continues to grow & interact, and this year I plan to step up my game in that area. I had to take a tiny break right now (which I hated to do) as I had to fill customer orders and work on the site at the same time, and there are never enough hours in the day. I've already made a list of ideas for upcoming videos, and you'll be seeing those as they roll out on the channel as well as the website. It'll be nice when the website duties are completed, and free up a lot of time I've immersed into making sure everything is just right.

I can't wait to see how 2017 goes. My expectations are high, and with good reason. It's been a working plan for a while now, and this next logical step is happening exactly when it should be. (Edit: Those expectations are what required everything to be right with the website before I released it.)

Thanks for reading this longer message. Thanks for being part of my support group, because what you do spurs me on. Thanks for being my customer, allowing me to keep doing what I love most. Thanks for being my friend, listening when I need to bounce ideas off of you. Thanks for being part of my world, and following along closely and keeping me humble. :)

Let's rock 2017. It's gonna be a great year. (Edit: New CNC machine, new website, new app release, new looking reef... Let's see what 2018 brings!)

Reef Blog

It's happening, yet again. Website Upgrade WIP.

melev — Sun, 09 Oct 2016 00:02:29 +0000

It's happening, yet again. Website Upgrade WIP. melev Sun, 10/09/2016 - 03:02

Melev's Reef has been my pride and joy since I started building the very first webpage back in 2003. Nearly 14 years later, it's time for the next incarnation. Plans are in motion with careful attention to the overall design for a 2017 look that is easy to navigate no matter what device you use. The shop area is getting a huge upgrade, among other things. In the coming weeks, a team will be working quietly to bring this newer version to life, and I'm super excited. That being said, I'm not revealing anything specific quite yet since it has to become reality first. But I have high hopes it will be pretty darn awesome. Look where it all started originally in May 2003:

That's so long ago, I don't even recognize that early format.

Two years later, it grew a little bigger with more pages, and the front page widened out (May 2005):

And then in May 2007, it changed significantly. This is the landing or home page, but I clearly remember spending many nights coding the first group of pages: About 30 pages were MACNA-based articles about how great those conferences were coupled with tons of pictures. Once those were done, then I went on to match that format with all the rest of my site's collection of articles.

The new pages were laid out as you see below, and every section of the site had a different big visual header. There were at least a dozen different ones, made up of images I'd taken:

By early 2009, the home page changed a litle more, showcasing a link to Reefcast, the podcast Evan and I did for several years. The little chalkboard is where I'd highlight thel latest additions to the site. I had to keep that chalkboard file saved in Photoshop, and each time a new item was added, I had to edit that graphic, save it and upload it to the site. Good times:

In 2010, the front page was updated with a great image of the 280g's beauty. I loved this reef, and still miss it to this day:

Some of you may remember the Hidden Treasure page of my site, which essentially was a Site Map of all my content organized by category:

And then in late 2011 an entire revamping of the website began. That was a frustrating period because the final product was supposed to be revealed at MACNA 2012 -- but it wasn't ready! Months went by, but it didn't progress. I was able to fix the issues myself and in May, 2013, I unleashed the beast, which is the site you are currently familiar with:

Why change the site when it's functional, familiar, and looks good? Referring both to google and to google analytics, it was clear to me that the world has embraced their smartphones. When my pages are discovered in Google, it states (to me) "your page is not mobile friendly." and when I look at the website traffic going to Melev's Reef, over 50% are doing so from their cellphones, and slightly less from desktop computers. A tiny group are using tablets. I've had customers tell me they couldn't purchase items from their phone or iPad, and would have to do so from their laptop or desktop later. No business owner wants to hear that the customer can't buy something easily, right?

Let me tell you a little bit about how this project's momentum came to be, because it's another one of those stories that surprised me. Not too long ago - I'm going to guess it was about a year ago but maybe a little longer, a nice guy decided he wanted a fish tank, but it had to be saltwater. And he'd never had an aquarium before - zero freshwater experience - and knew his was an ambitious plan. After doing some research, he decided he wanted a big tank because why bother otherwise. He searched the web, and on youtube he queried big beautiful reef tanks and landed on one of my videos showcasing the 400g reef. As he looked more closely, he spotted the penductors and thought that was a great way to provide flow in a big display. He followed a link to my blog on ReefAddicts.com where I explained exactly how the plumbing was assembled, and from there he stumbled onto a link to MelevsReef.com and found the motherload of information that answered many of his questions. He was quickly impressed by all of this, and his setup benefitted greatly. He joined DFWMAS, the club I'm in. I've been to his home during one of our tank tours, last year. I think we met for the first time during that tour, in fact.

I've seen him at a few of our club meetings; he recently became a BOD member of our club... and about a week ago while chatting at the meeting, I explained to him that I was at a standstill with my website upgrade due to some issues I had with the chosen theme. It was then that I discovered that he was intimately familiar with my site's core software and he quickly gave me some pointers and advice. After that initial conversation, we ended up talking via messenger nearly every night about what could be accomplished. We agreed to meet up today for a few hours to really hammer out the details to get a quote for this endeavor, and that turned into a seven hour nerdfest discussing every facet and some forward-thinking ideas. Fully informed with what I'm doing now as well as what I want next for the site, he went away with my list of demands (hahaha) and construction will begin next week. He is super excited to be tackling this project because he has a passion for what my site brings to the hobby, and frankly his attitude is infectious. I'm psyched! Plus, I want his semi-newbie point of view to help me showcase what he would be looking for as a hobbyist... coupled with his years of experience with web and app design. It's like a dream-team scenario, both of us bouncing ideas off each other, thinking about the possibilities to come up with the best user-experience. His company is emasis.com and they are very likely going to blow me away. And you as well.

I don't have an end date specifically in mind, but I'm going to hazard a guess it will be 90 days. Maybe less, but I'm not going to rush this since I want it done right. Things will look differently, but for the better to be sure. I'm already thinking ahead and it's renewing my zeal to add even more new thoughts, blogs and articles. I may even drop some easter eggs in future youtube videos, maybe.

How am I supposed to get any sleep with this going on?! #TheStruggleIsReal

Reef Blog

Video: BTS at the Birch Aquarium

melev — Mon, 03 Oct 2016 09:45:19 +0000

Video: BTS at the Birch Aquarium melev Mon, 10/03/2016 - 12:45

A few days later than it should have been, but I hope it was worth the wait. Last week I was slammed with things to do, and had no time to edit the weekly video, but I'm going to blame the zombies. This video focuses behind the scenes at the Birch Aquarium, showcasing the offlimits sections and some of their breeding efforts.

Reef Blog