As this issue is published online, MACNA XIX is underway in Pittsburg, PA. It promises
to be a great conference with speakers including Dr. Gerald R. Allen, Eric Borneman,
Anthony Calfo, Dr. Bruce Carlson, Dr. Sanjay Joshi, Dr. Catherine McFadden, and many others.
If you are in the Pittsburg area you definitely need to check it out. I know the folks that are
hosting this year’s MACNA have put a lot of time and effort into making it a great
conference so please let them know how much you appreciate all of their hard work.

It’s a three day event so please stop out. We will be there at our booth so stop to say “Hi!”.

This weekend also marks the final days of the Reefs.org Ultimate Raffle. The raffle
concludes on Monday, September 17th, at 3 PM Eastern Standard Time. If this is the
first time you’re hearing about the raffle, here’s a blurb about it from Reefs.org’s
website:

The ZeroEdge Aquarium / PFO Solaris / Euroreef / Marine Depot 2007 Ultimate
Raffle Giveaway

ZeroEdge Aquarium is graciously
contributing their handsome and innovative Model 22ZR Compact Series aquarium
to Reefs.org’s 2007 Ultimate Raffle Giveaway. In addition,
PFO
Lighting is generously providing their revolutionary 24″ G series
Solaris LED lighting system …. the perfect lighting accompaniment to the
ZeroEdge Aquarium. For filtration, Euro-Reef is
donating their RS80 protein skimmer! And to top it all off,
Marine
Depot is offering Prodibio Start-Up and BioKit Reef supplements along
with a choice of a box of Fiji live rock or $100 gift certificate to
Marine
Depot Live. Together, these products represent state-of-the-art aquarium
technology unlike anything else hobbyists have experienced before. This is
one of the most amazing raffles/contests Reefs.org has ever offered.

Click here to view
the raffled items!

Cost per raffle ticket is $2. Each ticket represents an equal chance at
winning. Tickets may be purchased online via Paypal or in person at Reefs.org’s
booths MACNA XIX. To increase your chances of winning,
you may purchase as many raffle tickets as you’d like.

To purchase your raffle tickets online via paypal, click on the paypal button
below. You may purchase as many tickets as you’d like by changing the quantity.

If you are the winner and are located in the continental United States,
we cover all taxes and expenses involved in getting it to your door. That’s
right: you will pay absolutely nothing. Hobbyists outside the United States
are welcome to purchase tickets, but winners outside the continental USA
agree to prepay all freight, duties, and taxes to get it to your destination;
Otherwise, you will forfeit your prize.

If you attend MACNA XIX, you can see the entire setup running at the Reefs.org booth located
in the vendor area. It’s definitely a sweet setup and well worth a $2 ticket for a chance to
win.

We’ve got a number of interesting articles in this month’s issue. First, we have two excellent Feature Articles. The first one,
“Toxins, Venoms and Inhibitory Chemicals in Marine Organisms” by Aaron Sewell
discusses the different animals that are venomous and others that contain toxins that can
inhibit organisms in our tanks. The second,
“Stony Coral Identification Primer for Aquarists, Part One” by Dana Riddle reviews using
taxonomic keys for coral identification. Next, we have
two articles for those interested in building items for
their tanks: “What’s in YOUR Sump?” by Suzy Applegarth and “Construction of a Photo Box” by Adam
Blundell, M.S. Suzy reviews sumps and ways people use them in their
systems. Adam details how to make a dedicated photo box for photographing animals
and objects from your tank. Finally, we round out the issue with
What in Neptune’s World?
and Hot
Tips. Also, make sure to check out our Reefs
in the News column
full of interesting news links. Check back for the latest news on marine
topics or if you use a feed reader like Bloglines
or Google Reader,
subscribe to the RSS
feed for daily updates.

Enjoy the issue!