Over the years I have been fortunate enough to attend or speak at just about every large show, frag swap and meeting that occurred throughout North America. From MACNA to Reefaplaooza, IMAC, The Southwest Marine Conference and ReefStock – I have gotten to be at all of them.
实际上，当我今年早些时候在Reefstock讲话时，我以为我已经用完了新场地。因此，当水生经验要求我讲话时，我抓住了机会填写舞蹈卡。自几年前成立以来，我就听说过这次会议，但没有机会参加。
I was interested, because unlike all of the other national shows this one is similar to a couple of the European shows I have attended in that it included not just manufacturers and shops, but it also catered to beginners and most importantly our freshwater brethren. I have always found it curious that all of the other shows for the most part only focus on the saltwater side of the hobby, despite the fact that the majority of us started in freshwater.
同样，在过去的几年中，我看到许多我的reefkeeping弟兄回到黑暗的一面，并建立了高端淡水植物坦克与他们的礁石坦克一起。Sanjay Joshi，Jason Fox，Jake Adams，Joe Caparatto和Julian Sprung列举了一些所有的都有淡水植物坦克，所以我认为如果我们的家中都有两个坦克，那就不会牺牲。
正如我在过去的文章中所指出的那样，我认为从保留礁石坦克所拥有的东西极大地帮助了我使用淡水植物坦克。因此，我想参加这个节目，看看这种表演是否有效，或者至少对我有用，这很有趣。而且由于这仍然是我的主要爱好，所以我确实想玩得开心。
因此，上周末，我前往芝加哥郊区Schaumburg和Schaumburg会议中心。明显的第一件事是，这家酒店是我去过的最优秀的酒店之一。酒店和参展商的大厅都很大，但是与我过去去过的一些展览不同，大厅的间隔是如此，因此参展商似乎并没有被大厅的大小所淹没。
There were a lot of exhibitors in a large space, but it was not overwhelming. Upon walking around the hall for thirty minutes before it opened, allowed me to visit and closely inspect many of the exhibitors before the crowds overwhelmed them. As a result, I got to see how everything was laid out and how it compared with similar shows I have seen in Germany and Italy.
显而易见的第一件事是，淡水没有以任何方式将倒退到盐水。与盐水相比，淡水参展商要多得多，在周末的过程中，我也意识到，淡水业余爱好者参加会议的比盐水要多得多。
It was also interesting that many of the saltwater hobbyists I met and talked to were beginner to intermediate hobbyists rather than the “hard core” or old time hobbyists that attend the many saltwater shows that occur throughout the year.
Also significant by their absence, was the lack of saltwater equipment manufacturers, which were replaced in my eyes by freshwater competition in different areas as well as displays by freshwater suppliers. I should also note that this show tried to cater to the kids that were there by having a sea lion show and other things just for kids.
While not something I enjoy, the kids who attended seemed to enjoy this a great deal and the seal lions themselves appeared well-treated and happy in their surroundings. As has been my focus the last couple of years, I think bringing more of our kids into the hobby is something that needs to be done in order to insure the long-term survival of the hobby. So their having things like this as well as having other fun things specifically for kids to do is a start.
因此，我看到的是让这个节目变得有趣且值得一游的。首先，令我惊讶的是克鲁兹（Cruz）和里科（Rico）与我一起闲逛的珊瑚礁，是多少空间和参展商专注于淡水虾。虽然过去我把虾放在淡水罐中，但我不知道淡水虾已经变成了什么现象。
整个节目中最大的部分之一是专门用于淡水虾比赛的坦克部分。这些小美女必须至少有70个小型坦克住房组，只有一英寸的尺寸。尽管我不得不承认其中一些很有吸引力，但我对礁石保持狂热者的印象深刻，并没有以疯狂的价格陷入市场。
我说，因为其中一些虾给了碎片，因为他们每只虾超过500美元。而且，由于我假设大多数购买他们的人都在寻求繁殖它们，因此两人的投资至少为1000美元，希望能变成一对繁殖对，这使我们为碎片所支付的东西看起来很合理。好吧，如果他们质疑珊瑚的价格，我会告诉我的重要其他人。
虽然淡水虾为我偷走了表演，但还有许多其他令人印象深刻的展示。其中首先是淡水种植坦克比赛。可悲的是，与礁石坦克（Reef Tanks）不同，礁石坦克（Reef Tanks）实际上不允许进行快速设置，以便可以进行竞争性判断，即使仅设置了几个小时，这些坦克也看起来很棒。
对我来说，参加片段后参加演出的主要原因之一就是学习，并看到这些植物展示的令人印象深刻，看着它们被设置为绝对是一种学习经历。给我留下深刻印象的是，其中有多少人使用的是更多的概念。
也就是说，与我的许多坦克不同，这些坦克的建筑商使用了空的空间，并在植物和岩石之间的颜色和质地对比，从而产生了极大的影响。因此，在观看了这些坦克之后，我正在重新评估我在坦克中所做的一些含水，并感激我有了很多新的想法。
In the same vein, I also learned some new things at the various talks that were given. Considering how the hobby is changing, it was appropriate that the first and most well-attended talk was on the State of the Aquatic Industry with a focus on legislative action. It was good to see that it is not just the saltwater side of the hobby that is worried about the recent legislation that was enacted in Hawaii to effectively ban the collection of all fish for the ornamental side of the hobby, while taking fish for food is not affected.
在业余爱好的新鲜和盐水方面，商店的所有者，制造商和知名人士都表达了他们对将来可能意味着什么的担忧。人们担心的是，如果允许该立法保持不受挑战，并且鱼类的收集永远被禁止，那将是最终消除业余爱好的开始。
几个人表达了他们的观点，即这项立法最终可能会影响盐水以外的许多业余爱好。我必须同意遵循推动这项立法的群体的著作，目的只是不禁止盐水鱼类收集，而是目标是使任何水上生物都违反法律。但是，这只是讨论的一部分，因为还讨论了当地鱼类商店的未来以及如何在互联网时代保持相关性。
还进行了有关鱼类疾病和治疗方法的讨论，减轻了适应期间的压力（不适合所有者的鱼），从而减少了珊瑚与新发现之间的侵略性。实际上，最后一个话题总是让我惊讶，尽管世界似乎已经变得很小，但每年都有新的发现更美丽的鱼类，珊瑚和植物的新发现，这使我感到惊讶，让我和许多其他人对这种爱好感到兴奋。
Despite there not being the buzz about new products or innovations as occurs with MACNA or Reefapalooza I still saw some new things there that I had not seen before. Julian and Two Little Fishes showed a new type of stackable rock that can either be used to hold frags to grow out or that can actually be used to aquascape a small tank and allow for the frags to grow in.
He also is now bringing in a one-piece overflow/return unit that returns the water in a pulsed manner while maintaining a continuous siphon. I have been using this piece of equipment now for over five years when I brought one back from Europe and it does perform both functions flawlessly. Lastly, Julian has also perfected his salt and now has it available for the hobby.
他花了很长时间才能获得符合他的规格的公式，所以我相信这也可以做到他期望的。除这些产品外，还有几家坦克制造商展示的坦克和摊位比松树架上的标准玻璃盒子更加美观。
有珊瑚礁主题服装和珠宝,几乎a full wall of tanks housing schools of great-looking freshwater fish but these paled compared to my two favorite things at the show. The first was a full collection of the Lego saltwater fish collection that came out in England a few years ago. While a bit on the expensive side, it nonetheless gave me something else I may want to collect down the line.
The second was Tetra’s app for keeping track of everything going on in your tanks and keeping it in a format that is easy to follow. While I understand that everything will eventually be on an app, for us technologically less gifted this is often an overwhelming process. When watching and playing with this app, for one of the few times I have done and messed with technology I was not overwhelmed. So to them I say congratulations on making something idiot proof for a technological idiot like me.
So after talking about all of this and sharing my pictures the last question is: so what did you get. Sadly, I must admit that I have been to few shows where I did not bring something back, but this was not the case here. So this was not an exception in that I did bring a few things back. First, I got a pair of powder coated coral cutters from Tamsco Aquarium Tools.
多年来，无论我得到的不锈钢切割机的等级如何，它们都生锈了。可悲的是，许多人迅速生锈。因此，我购买了这些产品，希望这种类型的涂层能够使它们的使用寿命明显比我的最后一对更长。我还得到了一双彩虹ac袜。我不是野生袜子的粉丝，但我认为这些做得很好，而且由于我回到了Acan收集的潮流中，所以我想表现出自己的热情。
Lastly, I got frags, of course. I got a beautiful green chalice with yellow eyes from Fabio Seven Seas Aquatic Life, and I got a host of frags from Julian and Cruz at Elegant Corals. I must admit that I got these at their shop and not at the show, as unfortunately there were not a lot of sps frags to be had at the show.
演出中可用的大多数片段是LPS或Zooas。这是我在越来越多的演出中看到的趋势，在商店或演出中，SPS似乎在网上越来越多地销售。这是不幸的，因为我很高兴看到我购买的碎片而不是在线上，因为即使是蓝色照明，也可以看到它们在照明下，也使我对颜色的实际颜色更加满意。
最后，我讨厌承认这一点，我实际上喜欢几个显示的展示，其中包括花色的淡水鱼和装饰。虽然我自己不会像这样的坦克，但我认为这些坦克很有趣，让我欣赏盐水坦克中拥有的真实颜色。
我还喜欢与之交谈，并认识了这场演出开始进入爱好盐水方面的淡水业余爱好者。但是，我有点担心，当我与所有人交谈的每个人都告诉我，他们还没有跳入的原因是，他们仍然被告知这比淡水要困难得多。因此，显然还有工作要做。
To me Aquatic Experience was a success in that it was well-conceived and organized and everyone who attended regardless of where they are in the hobby, and it was well-attended, seemed to have fun. From my point of view there was something for pretty much everyone at this show.
我也喜欢,与其他大的显示,它is in the Midwest, and since Dennis Gallagher’s IMAC shows ended, there really have not been many shows in the Midwest. So for me it was an opportunity to meet with old friends and make new friends in an area that I do not get to very often. Hopefully, in the future this will prompt more shows to be put on there.
