Aquarama '05 Report~

Just back from spending 3 hours at Aquarama, it's on till tomorrow at the Expo. First thing that irked me - long queues for vehicles trying to get in, and most of them are silly family people who go there simply because Singapore is such a boring place and they flock to anywhere with activity. What should have been done : a day set aside for pre-registered members of registered aquarium clubs in Singapore. That's where the real money is anyway, hah.

It was pretty fun .. not much livestock this year (they really should have a tank with members selling their coral frags etc to promote captive propagation ...) but I had a first-hand view of several very good calcium reactors and protein skimmers. Seems like Beckett skimmers are really flooding the market, while H&S - while a reputably-good needle-wheel skimer - seems so overpriced in comparison. Yep. I wanted to buy an H&S actually, until I asked about the price. I puked. Macro's new range of 2005 needle wheel skimmers are really nice. They come with an air silencer, an easy-to-remove skimmer cup, and an outlet for a waste collector. The Taiwanese are really copying European designs! The only downside was, the silly women at the Macro booth had NO IDEA what the hell they were selling. Nonsense. They should put hobbyists at booths, not people they employ to write numbers in books and punch calculators.

Now, the marine tank competition - the winner ... I STRONGLY feel it was undeserved. I'm guessing they won on the basis of good colours, but the irksome thing was that the fricking corals were so obviously DYED. Down with dyeing of corals, I say. They do very poorly in captivity, losing their colours at best and getting a slow demise at worst. Demand fuels supply, and the public should never have been allowed to see these. Shame on them.

There were plenty of other lovely tanks around, and why they didn't win was beyond me. Henry entered the competition too, but his work was extremely disappointing - I did expect better. Mostly invertebrates, while the general public usually ooh and aah's over colours that jump out at them. Put in an empty tank with a hundred clownfish in there, I'll bet little girls and boys will vote for it.

Got some very interesting concepts on aquascaping of my rock from there though. There was this tank with a piece of rock suspended mid-water (I have no idea how that was done) and the corals handing downwards. Really cool actually, and it *is* found in nature - those reef slopes.

OOOOH. And I really got myself a deal today, bought a huge SLAB of Cyclop-eeze at a mere $32!!! (FYI, I usually buy a 4x4 inch piece at $8 every 2-3 months). That slab's the size of my laptop, should last forever, yay!!! Really happy about the Cyclop-eeze. My corals will love me too. Food food and more food. Also bought 2 posters on tortoises, one for Mr. Ken. I will insist he replaces his big wedding photo in the bedroom with the tortoise poster.

Ooooooh... and the new technology was simply YUMMY. I CAN'T WAIT.

1) Magnetic glass cleaner with incorporated digital thermometer - ok, more fancy than anything else, I've already got a thermostat on my chiller, but heck! It's a sweet piece of thing.

2) Top-up float switch - one of the most compact units I've ever seen, I approached the sales representative and apparently it's only a beta-version, a prototype, and not out on the market yet. Shall wait. It's lovely.

3) Surge module. The very quietest I've ever seen, without the bubbles!! And from what the man told me, it's only going to retail for $130 or so, which is great for a surge device. Basically the module is a microprocessor that controls the pumping of water into a small water tank (surge tank) that's placed above the main display tank . Once water levels in the surge tank reaches the max, the entire tankful of water empties into the main display, creating a wave surge action. I've seen the old-school surge devices that function on a "tipping bucket" principle, but those give a nasty WHOOSH-ing sound, creates loads of bubbles, and you end up with a chunk of salt spray. Waiting most eagerly for this Hong Kong-made unit.

Met a couple of SG Reefclub members at the booth. I'm actually very very surprised that Conan (aka Achilles Tang on the boards) recognised me. He's the one who started the club eons ago, and I once did him a good turn. He still remembers, impressive. It involved giving him a couple of snails to battle his algae problem some years ago. =D No idea who the rest were though - but I'm glad I don't. I hate being too close-knit to any such community. Best to remain anonymous. The young men at the Club's booth asked if I was a member and asked for my nickname - they looked utterly surprised that such a member existed, while I was sniggering inside and thinking, "Damn you foals, I'm probably almost half a thousand members more senior than you." =D OK, being silly, but funny, haha.

Well, nothing VERY memorable about Aquarama this year, but at least, I got to see some cool equipment to lust over. The guys at Jireh Aquarium recognised me, which is cool. Never really liked them (probably bandwagon-jumpers and luohan-shop converts), but after today ... they're up a notch on my list.

Photos will be up tonight.

Oh - and yet another surprise move by my dad. He actually showed interest in helping me get a new hood (canopy) for the new lights. He asked if the consumption was scary (the looks on their faces when I fired the Radium bulb up last night .. priceless. A single light bulb lit up my entire house as if the sun shone right in.) and I conveniently told him it's the same wattage as my old ones (Yeah right ... 250W vs 150W old ones). And he started asking why I needed to make my tank so bright (He thinks I can't see clearly in the tank I guess ...) Well, shall see. If he comes up with any WEIRD ideas about making WEIRD hoods, I shall politely decline and approach a furniture shop myself. Not going to be easy. Maybe I should clue him in on the design first, lest he over-estimates his own woodworking skills.