It’s hard to believe the roller coaster ride of 2009 is coming to an end. Sure the economy nearly melted, and at times the reefing industry screeched to a near halt, but overall it wasn’t that bad. Whether you see the glass half empty or half full, there is no question that the hobby has [...]
It’s hard to believe the roller coaster ride of 2009 is coming to an end. Sure the economy nearly melted, and at times the reefing industry screeched to a near halt, but overall it wasn’t that bad. Whether you see the glass half empty or half full, there is no question that the hobby has grown leaps and bounds since 2008. Thanks to new websites and the growing presence of social media, aquarium related information is traveling around the world at a quicker pace and fostering the growth of a global hobby… and an industry.
Looking back there are many great GBD articles and stories that we’d love to highlight–but there are a few that stick out in our minds. Check them out–what a wild year it has been.
LEDs: Orbitec v PFO
Twenty-o-nine kicked off with a bang. PFO, an aquarium lighting titan was brought to it’s knees with a quick strike from Orbitec, an aquarium aerospace company based out of Wisconsin. See all the information you could want on this legal case here: Update from the LED Legal Battle, PFO Still Fighting?
As most of you are now aware, the patent fight ended after PFO claimed bankruptcy. While we don’t believe the lawsuit to be the only reason for the dissolution of PFO… it certainly was the last straw. PFO’s bankruptcy precluded the cases summary judgement, and the case was dismissed. At the end of the day there was no real winner, but if there is one take away from this debacle it’s the value of a patent search. Orbitec and PFO spent hundreds of thousands of dollars slugging it out in a court room and now there is nothing to show for it. In March 2009, Marty Gustafson of Orbitec said:
Fortunately our product line will be released later this year under a partnership with another aquarium lighting company, and we look forward to continuing to integrate and work together in the industry.
PFO is out of business and Orbitec has yet to deliver their LED product they stated would be made available later in 2009. It’s now very late in 2009 and we have not seen or heard any progress on their end. Maybe Orbitec can prove the industry wrong and put together a winning product. As for now the score unfortunately remains: Lawyers 1 point. The hobby, PFO and Orbitec zero.
Thankfully the patent issue has not prevented all LED products from coming to market; such as the new unit Aqua Illumination, TMC Aquabeam and Nano Tuners’ LED Spotlight. On the opposite end of the LED spectrum, it’s unfortunate that this realm of lighting has become so ripe with misinformation.
Rare Fish: The $30K Genicanthus personatus pair
If there is one story that best highlights the growing market for rare fish–it’s this one. The $30,000 USD pair of Masked Angelfish popped up at B-Box Japan. Months later GBD was able to track down these beautiful fish with plenty of photos and video to satisfy your eye candy cravings. [To top it off, we spoke with Dr. Chung earlier this month and the pair is now spawning!]
But the Masked Angels weren’t the only big news in the rare fish world; Amphiprion mccullochi, Tinkeri Hybrids, Lotilia graciliosa, Prognathodes guyanensis, Clarion Angels, Prognathodes basabei, Roa excelsa, and confiscated Clipperton Angelfish also entered “the trade”. For the first time other countries are fighting off Asia on these rare, high priced and beautiful animals. In the past, fish have largely been ignored in favor of corals–now it seems hobbyists are balancing their interest in both.
The Year of Cone Skimmers
2009 was the year of the cone. From ATB to KZ and then Vertex, everyone has followed since. Now it seems every aquarium equipment manufacturer in China is producing cone skimmers all with seamless molds. If you’re feeling handy why don’t you make the traffic cone into something useful?
Cone skimmers do work, but will they stay at the forefront in 2010, or, will they end up like thousands of counter current venturi skimmers–sitting in a reefer’s basement?
Chalice Crazy Reefers
The hobby surely broke a record with October’s sale of a single eye fragment of the “My Miami Chalice“. Regularly fetching prices in the $1,000K + range, one ebay auction elevated the price to $2,000 USD! Here’s a photo by Chris Thomas of this coral which originated from Jason Fox.
The chalice craze has since died down… somewhat. These brightly colored chalices will be popular for a long time, but with an increasing supply of these corals the prices cannot be maintained. The four digit price tags on some chalice corals seemed to create a price inflation that spread to other in-demand scleratins including Scolymia, Favia, Aussie SPS and the very recent arrival of Bali Deepwater Acros.
The ironic thing is few, if any, of these hyped corals are truly rare or that expensive to initially purchase. At a consumer level, the hobby has always been obtuse in these matters! But hey, if people are willing to pay…
Azoox Corals : Dendros, Balanos, Rhizos and More!
Duncans were so 2008, or at least that’s how it seems after 2009′s wave of Azoox mania. Legal issues aside, Dendrophyllia, Balanophyllia, and Rhizotrochus were all in demand this year. In addition to this, we’re seeing more azoox keepers venture into the other Dendro–Dendronephthya along with azoox gorgonians such as Menella sp. and Swiftia sp.
The care of these corals is heavily dependent on the development of specialized foods and nutrient reduction. We hope to see this continue–in addition, the hobby is for the first time seeing some of the merits to organic carbon dosing. It is these Azoox corals who will eventually benefit the most these new filtration strategies.
A New Level of Reef Aquariums
The most encouraging and promising trend of 2009 was without a doubt the number of beautiful aquariums popping up around the world. 2009 saw reefers look outside of tradition aquarium aesthetics to create some of the best looking aquariums in the world. Rimless tanks, open aquascaping and clean lines are, dare I say, becoming the mainstream among advanced reef keepers. Take a look at some of the best here.
The list could go on… and on and on… These are just some of our picks that we found to be the most interesting and popular over the past year on GBD. What are yours?
As an aquarist or industry insider, what do you believe made 2009 the year that it was?
