As one of the biggest hobby forums out there, Reef Central was certainly showing her age. As other forums sprung up tapping into the latest and greatest forum software, Reef Central was stuck in the past. Serious modifications to the platform over time handcuffed the forum to the past but today Reef Central is getting a facelift shifting to a newer version of the forum software. The site improvements include a sleeker and more “Web 2.0″ user interface and a simple, WYSIWYG text editor.

Another great vendor I was able to spend some time with at IMAC West was Piscine Energetics makers of a great product PE Mysis. Since the show, I’ve also heard a few great chats on the great product on Blue Zoo Radio with host Frank Reece and PE’s Nuri Fisher and the story behind this great food for your reef critters is just a fantastic as the product. I ended up leaving the show with four packs of PE Mysis and so far, they are a hit.

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.

One of the many vendors I was able to spend some time with at the recent IMAC West conference was Teco makers of the SeaChill line of aquarium chillers released to the public this year. What caught my eye was the free lemonade (and margaritas later in the day) they had in a cool media reactor chilled to a refreshing 36° F by one of their chillers! Teco is known for their quality products and if looks are just as important to you as function with your chiller, the SeaChill line is just for you.

One of the best and most comprehensive magazines in the saltwater hobby is CORAL Magazine. Contrary to rumors on forum boards, the magazine is still alive and kicking after moving to a new publisher. I was able to catch up with the current U.S. editor and publisher, James Lawrence, at IMAC West last weekend and get a hands-on look at the current magazine and have to say, the quality of the magazine is phenomenal.

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.

After seeing the SonicScrubber in the most recent Dr.’s Foster & Smith catalog I thought it would be a handy tool to help scrub off algae and gunk from powerheads, rocks and deposits off of glass. We were walking through Walmart a few weeks back and saw them in the automotive section and I mentioned I wanted to grab one of these sometime to my fiance and guess what I got on Father’s Day? No, not a tie or coffee mug! I got one of these puppies and I do have to say it was well worth the price.

For everyone screaming about PAR and doubting the practicality of LUXIM’s LIFI plasma lighting in the aquarium industry, step aside. A pair of video surfaced yesterday at Reef Builders of the LIFI light in action at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. If you notice, it is only ONE lamp over this pretty wide and deep display tank. Note the coralline algae growth on the BOTTOM of the tank.

One of the first things we really get whacked across the noggin with in the hobby is the initial sticker shock of an adequate lighting system. But once you see a good reef lighting system in person, you soon realize the money is usually pretty well spent and you begin to understand the excitement your fellow hobbyists feel when new advances are made in aquarium lighting. Just about a year ago, I posted a video from CNET on a new plasma light coming on the market from LUXIM and do believe I was one of the first to actually champion its development in the hobby. Well in just the last week, I’ve discovered that the plasma light is MUCH closer to reality than I originally thought!

Working together as a community to share and correct information has take off in recent years and is pretty evident with the popularity and success of WikiPedia. The reefing community has its own unique wiki-style collaboration hub with ReefPedia where we, as reefers, have the ability to share and contribute to creating a self-service repository of reefing knowledge.