Cat officially out of the bag, just before 11:00 AM this morning, as I sat here in my boxers on a chilly MLK Day holiday, a big thump on our front porch got the dog in attack mode.  FedEx was here, dropping off boxes.  Big Boxes.  Boxes that said “FRAGILE” and had “ECOXOTIC” on the shipping label.  I threw on a pair of pajama pants and flip flops to drag and carry this stuff in off the snow-covered porch.  I’m pretty sure the Fed Ex guy thought I was bonkers.  As I stood over the 3 big boxes now spread out in our entryway / living room, I get excited.  It is official, the Lightning Maroon’s new home has arrived, courtesy of ECOXOTIC.
Of course, I’ll be doing some pretty extensive gear coverage on the Ecoxotic equipment for ReefBuilders as well as here at The Lightning Project.  Now, the big question is this – can I get the tank set up and running before my wife shows up after work?  I’m guessing not, simply because this is my first chance to check everything out up close and personal.  I should take my time and enjoy the process, and my wife will never understand why I’ll be doing an entire “unboxing” photoshoot anyway 😉
It’s going to be a very interesting month for The Lightning Project – thank you to everyone at Ecoxotic, and especially Ike,  who bent over backwards, with extreme generosity, to make this happen.  I already have well cultured live rock to get this tank up and running quickly, so we should be in business in no time!  Of course, I’m not sure I’ll be able to top John Ciotti’s Upside-Down Reefscape, but I vowed to at least try since this tank will be one of only two main floor display tanks (everything else in this house is bent towards breeding exclusively).   Time to show the world that I can at least TRY to set up a “pretty” tank!
As I mentioned in my last post on this matter, I will be doing my best to remain neutral and unbiased in any gear reviews.  Still, I don’t think that’s truly possible given that I was already a “fan” from a distance (up until MACNA I’d never seen Ecoxotic products firsthand, but the concept of modularity and overall design of their LED’s had me already thinking they’d done a better job than other manufacturers).  Anyway, as a “fan”, I have to point out that Ecoxotic does a good job of “Endangering The Status Quo” (their trademarked tagline) when it comes to how aquarium manufacturer’s engage the aquarium hobbyist.  They bring their “A-game” when posting content to places like the Ecoxotic Youtube Channel, Ecoxotic’s Twitter Feed, Ecoxotic’s Facebook Page, Ecoxotic’s Blog and a whole host of goodies all encapsulated under Ecoxotic’s Aquarium & LED Lighting Community Page.  Don’t even get me started on their 12 days of Ecoxotic just last month!  In my opinion, the crew at Ecoxotic has indeed raised the bar for the quality and caliber of content they put out in relation to their products.  Now it’s time to see how the quality of the products themselves stack up to their brand promise!