There are two things I enjoy in this hobby of ours the most- first, I get to meet interesting people who share the same passion for the ocean as I do and second, I can document, through my photographs, both the human interactions associated with belonging to the reefing community and the beauty of the underwater world we so cherish in our aquariums.

Last weekend, I had the opportunity to experience both of these perks while attending Aquarium Care Center BASH 2018, an event organized by a local fish store in central New Jersey. In times when local reef communities’ events are being over competed by reef aquarium mega shows, it is so much more important to see small vendors organizing this kind of get-together and succeeding in executing them. And what a success ACC BASH 2018 was! The place was packed full of reefing aficionados trying to snatch the best deals and hear speakers’ interesting talks. I am glad I could be part of it, and that I had the opportunity to be the person behind the lens. Enjoy this photographic journey through the Aquarium Care Center Annual Bash event.

PEOPLE

Reefing aficionados chatting about the hobby and browsing for some good deals are always the essence of this type of show, and Aquarium Care Center had an impressive amount of followers that enjoy shopping at the store. The place was crowded throughout the day and I met many of my friends at the event.

A rare occurrence, the author with ACC owner, John

SPEAKERS

The speaker lineup was amazing!

Scott Kohler from Red Sea talked about reef chemistry and the importance of maintaining chemical balance in a saltwater tank.

Larry DuPont from LRS Foods spoke about frozen food nutritional value and explained the process that goes into making a good quality frozen feed for a reef’s needs.

Justin Credabel from Credable Coral Labs spent the majority of his talk expounding on the very interesting and largely unknown topic of coral grafting.

Mok-Yi Chow from YouTube and guys from the Reef News Network podcast were also there to document the show.

OTHER VENDORS

Aquarium Care Center collaborated with some few amazing local artists and invited them to promote their art in the store.

Damien from Reefined Arts  displayed his amazing collection of coral inspired jewelry with his cold-blooded helper.

Rachel from ReefWeeds showed a gallery of her recent paintings and created a new piece in the store!

Kris from Koral Kreations and his mind-blowing sculptures made out of repurposed coral skeletons…

EYE CANDIES

My favorite part of any aquarium show is taking pictures of reef animals! Aquarium Care Center had some amazing corals and fish, and I took pictures of at least a hundred different species and morphs.

You can see the entire gallery of pictures by visiting my online portfolio of the event at https://marcinsmokphotography.pixieset.com/aquariumcarecenterbash2018/

Thanks again for inviting me to the show, it was a great experience and I’m glad I could be part of it! See you next time for another episode of reefs.com on the road.