Macna 2015
 

Just out of curiosity, is anyone planning on attending Macna 2015 in Washington, DC?

Any tips for a Macna newbie?

Not going this year. Waiting for it to go back to Florida! Party Time Haha.

As for tips, Bring lots of money you will see lots of things you will want to buy! :)

How does that work can you buy frags from the and bring them home? Or just equipment

we will be there double booth prime location right as you walk in! see you there on our GHL North America booth.

MACNA 2016 is in New Orleans. I'm not keen on MACNA with no ocean nearby either. New Orleans sounds like a good plan.

Wow Mindy, you have the inside track? Usually those aren't announced until the dinner at the 2015. I mentioned to my better half the thought on going and she frowned at me. Haven't run it past her again. I hate to miss more than one year though.

I would for sure be into New Orleans though.

Haha, I don't know if it's "official" or set in stone yet. Rumor mill maybe. I was really hoping to go this year, but Washington DC? Meh. Miami was AWESOME! Let's plan for New Orleans! I think I'm going to go to the MBI Conference in July in Michigan this year instead. As least it's on a lake. ;)

I'm not too picky where they hold it. Im just glad to be able to attend my first one at all. Really looking forward to seeing all the new equipment we keep reading about in person. Bringing $$$ is a given :lol: plus we've never been to DC so that should make for a good family trip with wife and two young boys.
Can the Macna vets better explain the raffle system they use there? Am I right in thinking one buys tickets for set amount of money and places tickets into the box for prize we want to win? Thanks!

Lots of great museums in DC!

they have draws everyday. One in the early afternoon and another around4. Yes the best deal is buying the blocks of tickets ahead of time. The boxes for all the draws are set in one area. you just walk around the area and put tickets in the boxes that interest you.

2016 has rumours for new Orleans , Florida, California.

Don't forget the big draw on Sunday. It's like 3 hours of drawing raffle tickets. I bought a few tickets the first year and then kicked myself in the butt for sitting there all Sunday waiting for my tickets to never get called. I don't bother with the raffle anymore - there are a lot of people there that blow a thousand bucks on raffle tickets so it's tough to win anything.

I'd rather run around on Sunday and get super sweet deals while the vendors are packing up - in Florida my most memorable purchase was 25 polyps Rastas for $20.

This is good advice, we typically sell off all our demo stock thats been on the stand at cost price as its better than lugging it back!

By "Sunday", I meant "Monday". :lol:

And then said deals would go into one's checked luggage? Hmmmmm....I need to bring more $$$ it seems

Yeah, bring an extra bag. :D

(can't bring CITES protected corals/fish though)

I'd suggest you go by yourself. It's not really a family trip if you actually want to spend time on the floor. The wife and kids will get bored HOURS before you do. There is SO much for a reefer to see.

I'm kinda considering going this year...hmm...

So are u able to bring fish and coral frags back? or how does that work? where can u look for what u can and can't bring back from the States

You can bring soft corals as they require no paperwork. Hard corals are CITES protected so that's a no-no though some customs officials say it's ok at a hobbyist level. Same with fish - they need a Fish and Wildlife permit, but some customs officials say you can. I've just played it safe and only brought Zoas and Palys which have not presented any trouble for me.

Yes, Macna is fast approaching. I tried to tell the wife how bored she would be, considering she's not even interested in the tank at home, but she insists on coming with the kids... At least we are staying at the same hotel as the convention so she's got the option to go back to the room and relax or take the boys out as it's close by to everything. She says she understands that I'll be occupied for the duration of Macna and won't pry me away...she says lol!

As far as bringing back corals, I'm filling the tank up fast enough with Canadian vendors. March, Greg...you guys are killing me!
I WILL,one day, try to order from a U.S. vendor and bring it across. Play the ignorant card if I get questioned...and show them Bblinks picture swearing up and down he told me it was ok...

Oh no! Switch her tickets to Florida... :D

Its on my bucket list.

:laugh:

anyone interested in touring fedex field on the Thursday before macna? It's 20 each and we need 20 people for a tour.

One night to go!!
 

Well, the time is near and I feel like a kid in a candy store. Got my raffle tickets and Macna goodies bag. Saw a lot of vendors already but wasn't allowed onto the exhibit floor yet. Hotel definitely has picked up in last couple days due to convention. Weather in DC has been 34F during the daytime so it'll be nice to be inside next three days. No, I don't plan to leave the hotel during this time lol

Well, who all went? Did you bring back any goodies? Please post some pics!!!

I bought my ticket for next year! :D

Wheres next year Mindy

I was reading San Diego?

Trying to post pics but every time I go to the photo icon here my phone goes back to home screen? Anyone else have this problem with iPhone 5?

Hung I have the exact same problem when I hit the photo icon on my iphone the browser crashes. I no longer post pics on this site.

Unfortunately the forum software is not too mobile friendly. :sad:

I'll post my Macna pics tonight after I get app for my MacBook.

It worked perfect 3 months ago kinda odd, thought I was the only one.

MACNA pics
 

http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/...C562493292.jpg
Lineup for opening of Macna on Friday.
http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/...E312C7CAD4.jpg
http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/...169FC06EF0.jpg
http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/...4DB1FCE32F.jpg
http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/...60997C76E7.jpg
http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/...30E00C6533.jpg
http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/...442E871D77.jpg
My boys having fun
http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/...186486A4A9.jpg
http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/...836CC5745D.jpg
Mindstream unit was a lot bigger than I expected
http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/...98499AE432.jpg
http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/...38037C677B.jpg
http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/...11F1466F26.jpg
http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/...894BDC341E.jpg
http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/...2E66EA1C31.jpg
http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/...9EA83A18EE.jpg
http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/...984028B152.jpg
http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/...09081999F9.jpg
http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/...6BAC7A6BB1.jpg
http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/...45D0A4C889.jpg
http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/...EC2CDC55A5.jpg
Jason Fox
http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/...DBBFA269B1.jpg
Mr. Todd Freaking Cherry (my idol behind only behind Mike Lo lol)
http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/...9C634CC4A9.jpg
http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/...84D05CB4A9.jpg
Jake Adams
http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/...7DDE949293.jpg
Mr. Saltwater Tank
http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/...9FC77309B5.jpg

Nice pics!! that scoly tank is unreal, holy.

What were the coral prices like?

Great pics Hung , thanks for sharing.

Very nice pics. Thanks for sharing with us.

Thanks for posting pics! Looks like you have a great time, and met some "reef celebrities". :D

Pricing at MACNA is hit and miss...most of the awesomest stuff is crazy high pricing because the US reefers will pay it. Here's a pic I found with some pricing in it. I can tell you my LFS has most of those colors of Donuts in recently and they were around half the price. :eek:
http://www.reef2reef.com/attachments...44-jpg.261099/
http://www.reef2reef.com/attachments/dsc_5144-jpg

Yeah, San Diego. Apparently the New Orleans rumor was just that. Either way, I'm glad it's somewhere more tropical than the last two years (Denver and DC).

Works fine on Android.

That chalice is amazing , and now Im really jealous of that scolly tower

Seems like expected pricing to me. MACNA is expensive as hell and livestock dealers are probably tacking on an extra 10-20% to account for the enormous fees they get dinged for. They (MACNA) charge you for EVERYTHING. I mean it, nothing goes unaccounted for. Every watt of electricity, every drop of water, if organizer staff have to get out of your way while you're setting up your booth ("help fee"), if you get extra foot traffic to your booth and it's clogging up the aisle, everything is charged at a show premium (i.e. your utilities are +xxx% more than the State utility fees). The entire show is a death of a thousand papercuts. A small fraction of dealers may make off like bandits, but most just barely break even. And this is not even accounting for any losses suffered to, at, and from the show.

I'm not saying the event is a run by crooks or anything; speakers and banquet hall rentals are expensive and that revenue has to be tolled from somewhere. That is not intended as a sarcastic statement either, in case I'm being misinterpreted.

Anyway, if you want to see what a big show with all the fat trimmed looks like, look no further than Reefapalooza:

www.reefapaloozashow.org

Their annual attendance is comparable if not larger than MACNA's, entry is cheap and vendors need not concern themselves with the bottom line by a wide margin as they organizers charge a flat fee. Attendance is dirt cheap too ($15, hell it was $10 last year).