To ring in the new year Oceanpro Aquatics is graciously offering Ocean@Home readers a 10% discount off of everything! I was reading through some comments on the board and found one from Oceanpro President Michael Baker that got stuck in the spam folder (sorry Michael, comment is now live!) with this awesome offer. I guess reading Ocean@Home pays off! Click on the article to get the full scoop and the discount code.

Marine Depot is a quality online store and has some great tools above and beyond incredible deals on all your reef-related goodies, a growing knowledge base of useful information. If you already are subscribed to their email newsletter, then you are getting these great articles from time-to-time and if you haven’t head over to the site and sign up!

Pinch me I must be dreaming. I’ve been a big fan of Reef Builders and have made it a part of my daily-dose of reef knowledge and was stoked to be asked to do some contributing pieces on Blue-Collar Reefing but was honored when they approached me to become more of a permanent fixture on the writing staff.

Boy, have I been lagging lately on posting. Its been a crazy month and at the end of the day I haven’t been able to get those bits of inspiration down in digital form–my apologies! I did have this idea after reading Scott Fellman’s post on tips to save electricity and money, so I thought it would be a good idea to share some of the tips and tricks I’ve found for saving money on fish, coral, equipment and more. Some of these are probably familiar to you and maybe a few are new to you, either way I hope you enjoy.

The much-anticipated release of Seachem’s AquaVitro line of aquarium salt brings some good news to reefers looking to know EXACTLY what their batch of salt contains. Seachem’s Salinity salt has two major factors I am anticipating — it being hand crafted and batch testing and labeling to give you the exact specs from your bucket.

Well IMAC West was a blast and I’m back in the saddle after a long and interesting weekend! This inaugural event had a lot of great speakers, vendors and coral farmers on hand but did lack some of the foot traffic we were all hoping for. Needless to say, I took advantage of the event and tried to get some face time with as many vendors as I could and will be reporting as much as I can the next few weeks.

Hawaii is sending a strong message to everyone that comes in contact with the state’s precious coral reef–do damage, get ready to pay big time. Hawaii is looking to protect this valuable natural resource, one of the biggest draws for the state that relies on tourism as its No. 1 industry, by leveraging fines against parties that come into contact with the reefs and do damage regardless if it’s intentional or not.

Well it’s less than two days into the work week but it feels like much longer! It’s been a knock-down, drag-out yet productive battle so far and the glue holding it all together like a frag on a plug is knowing I’ll be heading down to IMAC West this weekend!

I was excited and depressed at the same time reading that MACNA XXII (Marine Aquarium Conference of North America) will be held in Orlando, FL and hosted by ORCA, the Orlando Reef Caretakers Association (big kudos for the name! I love it!). Excited because this is the crème de la crème of hobby events but depressed realizing once again, MACNA is being held back East making it more economically challenging for us “Left Coasters” to attend.

San Diego, my former home, has had a recent attack of unruly squid — no not sailors again but jumbo Humboldt squid. The cephalopods, which can grow to up to five feet and weigh 100 pounds, seems to have risen from the deeper waters and found their way into the shallow coastal waters.