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Three Men and No Guitar

by | May 12, 2014 | Corals, Equipment, Fish, Science

Checking in for a 14-hour flight is always a good time. Checking in for a 14-hour flight with 11 items (three suitcases, five Action Packers, two bags, and Steinhart Director Bart Shepherd’s guitar) between three people is an amazingly good time. We started planning for this expedition in earnest five weeks ago, and considerable effort went into making sure our bags were under size and weight limits—a not insignificant task when equipment needed for the expedition includes Bobbit-worm catching devices, a series of newly designed hyperbaric chambers (for decompressing fish hand-collected below 300 feet), a ton of SCUBA and rebreather gear, and myriad other critical items needed to collect and ship live fish and corals from the Philippines back to Golden Gate Park. As it turned out, our packing efforts were worth the time we put into them, as all of our luggage was deemed to be within weight limits. Sadly, though, there was one piece of luggage that stayed in San Francisco because it couldn’t be hand-carried onto the plane, and we were scared it wouldn’t make it through the checked baggage experience. Oh guitar, we will miss you. The first aquarium team arrived safely at the Anilao Beach Club and enjoyed a delicious breakfast overlooking the Verde Island Passage. As soon as our luggage (which arrived in Manila in great shape, but is currently stuck in traffic) arrives on-site we’ll begin setting up scuba gear and animal holding. Then, the real work begins. —Rich Ross, Aquatic Biologist

Innovative Marine’s New SkimMate Ghost Protein Skimmer is Sure to Be a Crowd Pleaser

by | May 7, 2014 | Equipment, Industry, Tanks, Technology

Innovative Marine is back with another ground breaking product for the world of all-in-one marine aquaria. Announced just yesterday, and in a far too subtle fashion in our opinions, the SkimMate Ghost is a new protein skimmer that looks to bring serious performance to IM’s AUQA GADGET lineup. The SkimMate Ghost is a drop-in skimmer that will be available in three distinct sizes, each of which will fit nicely into the rear chambers of the NUVO aquariums whose name they bare. For example, the SkimMate Ghost DeskTop skimmer is designed to function seamlessly with the DeskTop model of the NUVO aquariums, and so on. In terms of features, the Ghost will sport a compact design that recirculates bubbles passively to increase dwell time. Additionally, the skimmer has an enlarged inline air silencer box, a bubble diffusing plate, an adjustable air valve, and a needle wheel impeller. The design keeps the air line tubing neat and kink free, and the collection cup design isn’t all too different from other popular drop-in skimmers that have been around for a while.

The TCK Pikachu Acro is Electrifyingly Awesome

by | Apr 30, 2014 | Corals, Eye Candy, Industry, Photography

You may not be a fan of Japanese anime or even remotely understand the reference, but if you’re a reef keeping hobbyist, none of that will matter when you set your eyes on this amazing Acroporid. Named after the popular Pokemon character, Pikachu, this vibrant coral sports a yellow coloration that is unmatched by any other colored stick in the hobby. Throw in its rich red polyps and the slightly neon green tint at some growth tips and corallites, and you’ve got yourself a top shelf piece that is very likely to become a future centerpiece. The coral comes to us from The Coral Kings, who posted the news of their TCK Pikachu Acro over on Reef2Reef. Only two frags will be released for the time being, with R2R members getting a special price of $200 shipped per frag. After an undisclosed amount of time, the frags will be loaded up to the TCK website for $250 each.

“6″ is a New Movie Exposing Illegal Wildlife Trafficking and Mass Extinction

by | Apr 29, 2014 | Conservation, Fish, Industry

The production team that filmed “The Cove”, a popular documentary that brought to light the extreme dolphin slaughtering in Japan, is back with a brand new movie that will focus on the larger issues of illegal wildlife trafficking and the possibility of mass extinction that are both taking place in oceans and seas across the globe as we speak. Simply called “6″, this movie utilizes state-of-the-art equipment and undercover tactics to expose the black market trading of endangered species, such as products made from whale sharks, giant clams, and hundreds of others. The trailer for the movie, posted above, shows some of the guerrilla reporting tactics used by the team, as they scour the streets of various Asian communities exposing black market dealers, who obviously aren’t always thrilled to find out they’re being investigated by the production team. Also displayed in the brief promo is a more positive side effect of the team’s efforts…a public awareness campaign involving a mobile projector, a fast car, and one very talented NASCAR driver. The trailer shows Leilani Munter driving a Jaguar fitted with a video projector around various parts of what we presume to be cities in the United States. The projector blasts imagery of marine life onto surrounding buildings, no doubt captivating pedestrians and drivers alike. Since increasing public awareness about travesties such as those currently taking place on the black market is so paramount to sparking a change.