Mdwannabe
New member
I had to go to Chicago for a death in the family 
(not a close relation, but had to go to keep peace in the family).
Funeral was Tuesday, but I managed to talk the wife into staying for the rest of the week so we could attend IMAC.
We were both extremely happy with the decision!!!
Wednesday we did the "Downtown Tourist" thing, (Miracle Mile, Hancock Building, Sears Tower, and Geordinos Pizza...Now That's Pizza!). Then we went to the Theater District and saw "Monty Pythons" Spamalot! (we have been Python fans for years). We laughed for 2.5 straight hours, well.....we did have a 15 minute intermission.
Thursday Morning we did an IMAC, behind the scenes tour of the "Shedd Aquarium". WOW, now there are some tanks, filters and sumps. Over 15,000 gallons of RO water used daily, and over 5000 water tests done weekly (some tanks are done 3 times a day, some once a week). Saw over 100,000 gallons of quarantine tanks, where all new arrivals live for no less than 30 days, and up to one year (so they can grow to a size that allows introduction into display tanks). Saw sharks being trained to respond to a geometric shape so they can feed. They must respond only to this shape before the are put in the big reef tank. Oldest fish in aquarium has been there since day 1 of the Shedd, I will have to go back through notes to find type (though I think it came in at 2 pounds and now is over 300). As impossible as it seems, they say that every fish in their system is given a complete physical every year, some (like the sharks) are done twice a year (they now use implanted identifiers to keep track of who is who). "Fishdoc", after telling then my occupation, they took me (alone I might add) to the "Necropsy" lab and let me see an autopsy! I could go on, but I think you get the idea, it was great for me, but I do think Lisa got bored. At the very least, you owe it to yourself to see the front side of this place!
Friday morning, I said goodbye to Lisa, and went downstairs to IMAC, I still don't know what she did for the next 2 day's, but I'm sure the credit card receipt's will tell the story, I do know the bags going home were heavier than the bags that got us there!
Lecturers I attended on Friday:
Bob Fenner......Organism Selection for saltwater aquarists.
Allen LaPointe...Water Quality Monitoring
Sanjay Joshi...Designing Reef Aquarium systems (though he said he wanted to title it.....NOT LIGHTS!)
Then I went on to the vendor area, it was more than I expected, but less then I wanted.
Saturday:
Julian Sprung....Invasive Species
John Kelly...Goniopora-A new beginning
Mike Paletta...Setting up a LARGE Aquarium (a walk through of him setting up his in-home 1,200 gallon tank). He built it himself, and spend $35,000 less lights and pumps! (He swore his wife, to this day doe's not know what he spent) It was from ground up, he set up a frame, and then brought in plates of glass and went from there. OK, he did have a Structural Engineer help him, but past that it was DIY!
Dinner Banquet was supplied by Walt Smith, where he gave away a 12 night "Fiji" vacation...all expenses paid! I was 5 tickets too late
Sunday:
Eric Borneman...Reefkeeping Methods: tried and true. For what it's worth his home tank was destroyed by an outside influence, and he has nothing more than a live sand bed left! Was on a shuttle bus back to the airport with him and got addition input, but I doubt't he would want it posted.
To close, while I understand this is not a "Mega Show", it's close (geographically), it's affordable, and it gave me more than I expected, just look at the names!. Let's try to get a club attendance next year, as several clubs were in attendance, and it helps the "Hi, how are you factor".
Thanks for putting up with my novel:
Rick
(not a close relation, but had to go to keep peace in the family).Funeral was Tuesday, but I managed to talk the wife into staying for the rest of the week so we could attend IMAC.
We were both extremely happy with the decision!!!
Wednesday we did the "Downtown Tourist" thing, (Miracle Mile, Hancock Building, Sears Tower, and Geordinos Pizza...Now That's Pizza!). Then we went to the Theater District and saw "Monty Pythons" Spamalot! (we have been Python fans for years). We laughed for 2.5 straight hours, well.....we did have a 15 minute intermission.
Thursday Morning we did an IMAC, behind the scenes tour of the "Shedd Aquarium". WOW, now there are some tanks, filters and sumps. Over 15,000 gallons of RO water used daily, and over 5000 water tests done weekly (some tanks are done 3 times a day, some once a week). Saw over 100,000 gallons of quarantine tanks, where all new arrivals live for no less than 30 days, and up to one year (so they can grow to a size that allows introduction into display tanks). Saw sharks being trained to respond to a geometric shape so they can feed. They must respond only to this shape before the are put in the big reef tank. Oldest fish in aquarium has been there since day 1 of the Shedd, I will have to go back through notes to find type (though I think it came in at 2 pounds and now is over 300). As impossible as it seems, they say that every fish in their system is given a complete physical every year, some (like the sharks) are done twice a year (they now use implanted identifiers to keep track of who is who). "Fishdoc", after telling then my occupation, they took me (alone I might add) to the "Necropsy" lab and let me see an autopsy! I could go on, but I think you get the idea, it was great for me, but I do think Lisa got bored. At the very least, you owe it to yourself to see the front side of this place!
Friday morning, I said goodbye to Lisa, and went downstairs to IMAC, I still don't know what she did for the next 2 day's, but I'm sure the credit card receipt's will tell the story, I do know the bags going home were heavier than the bags that got us there!
Lecturers I attended on Friday:
Bob Fenner......Organism Selection for saltwater aquarists.
Allen LaPointe...Water Quality Monitoring
Sanjay Joshi...Designing Reef Aquarium systems (though he said he wanted to title it.....NOT LIGHTS!)
Then I went on to the vendor area, it was more than I expected, but less then I wanted.
Saturday:
Julian Sprung....Invasive Species
John Kelly...Goniopora-A new beginning
Mike Paletta...Setting up a LARGE Aquarium (a walk through of him setting up his in-home 1,200 gallon tank). He built it himself, and spend $35,000 less lights and pumps! (He swore his wife, to this day doe's not know what he spent) It was from ground up, he set up a frame, and then brought in plates of glass and went from there. OK, he did have a Structural Engineer help him, but past that it was DIY!
Dinner Banquet was supplied by Walt Smith, where he gave away a 12 night "Fiji" vacation...all expenses paid! I was 5 tickets too late
Sunday:
Eric Borneman...Reefkeeping Methods: tried and true. For what it's worth his home tank was destroyed by an outside influence, and he has nothing more than a live sand bed left! Was on a shuttle bus back to the airport with him and got addition input, but I doubt't he would want it posted.
To close, while I understand this is not a "Mega Show", it's close (geographically), it's affordable, and it gave me more than I expected, just look at the names!. Let's try to get a club attendance next year, as several clubs were in attendance, and it helps the "Hi, how are you factor".
Thanks for putting up with my novel:
Rick
