Volume 1, Issue 1 - Boston Reefers Society Online Community

History of the BRS Part I
by Moe Kirby (BRS President)
the art and science of propagation from the
master himself. Okay, Greg didn’t refer to
himself as guru, entrepreneur, nor master.
But he did think he might be able show
people some tricks on propagating their
own coral. We put out the word on our new
email list, and limited participation to the
first 10 people that replied. I think there
Many of you have heard the story before, were about 20 people on the list back
but for those who haven’t, I’ll rehash the then; maybe 30. But only the first ten got
history. Sometime in early 2001 I posted to go.
on www.reefs.org (Reefs Dot Org – or RDO
for short) enquiring about a local reef club The day arrived – May 4, 2001 – and the
first general meeting
in Boston. I had seen a
commenced. Greg’s
bunch of other local
wife prepared a ton
clubs, and some of them
of delicious food,
were in towns far smaller
and Greg’s tanks
than good ol’ Beantown.
astounded me. He
The replies to my post
had more coral than
quickly pointed out that
I saw at the New
there was no club in
England Aquarium Boston, and the suggesor maybe it was a
tion was raised that we
trick of density. The
form a group.
lesson went well.
A local guy named Brian
Most folks learned
First Official BRS Meeting @ Greg’s
Gilmore took the lead.
something new, and
He asked how many
we all got to meet
folks would be interested in running the fellow reefers. Check out the pictures on
club. Five people volunteered, and we met the BRS webpage. I met Jake Maki, Jim
at Rainforest Café in the Burlington Mall. Nguyen, and Joe Scavo there for the first
We each had no idea what the four other time.
guys looked like. I remember standing
around out in front of the restaurant with I took home a frag of a pink tipped Acromy notebook and pen prominently dis- pora species. It looked like a dead white
played, hoping I’d see somebody else do- pinky finger when I got it. Almost two
ing the same. The idea worked. Soon we years later, the coral is a nice branching
found each other and began the first ever colony in my tank. Other folks took home
Boston Reef Club meeting. I only see one Montipora digitata frags, or maybe a chunk
of those guys around these days – Wenyao of green tree coral. All were nice frags. The
meeting was a big success. It looks like it
Tsai (Yao – for short).
will be an annual event – so watch for it, as
All the organization we could muster back participation is limited.
in those days was to compile an email list,
and to post like hell to advertise our fledg- After Greg’s house, a couple of meetings
ling club. We had ideas of forming a big were held at Kelly’s Roast Beef restaurant
membership, of getting speakers, and of in Saugus, MA. I was advised that it was
holding bimonthly frag swaps. Grand imperative to have the meetings at a locaschemes were easy to come by: logistics tion that featured a fish tank for the folks
to gawk at. The first meeting worked out
were left for later.
well. I think that was in August of 2001. A
The fledgling club started out with a bang, handful of people showed up, and we
as our own local coral guru and web entre- traded frags. It was still odd going to
preneur – Greg Hiller – volunteered his meetings, just a few people knew each
house for 10 members and the 5 leaders of other. Basically I looked around in Kelly’s
the new club. Greg promised that for ten for people with Tupperware and sporting a
bucks each the group would be fed, and look that told me they weren’t there for the
take home a frag of coral, all while learning food.
(continued on pg. 2)
Hi everyone,
I want to use this section of the newsletter
to let you know the things we’re working
on for the future. In this first issue, however, I was advised to provide just a touch
of background information on the Boston
Reefers Society.
March
2003
Volume 1
Issue 1
Calendar of Events
March 29th
BRS March Meeting
Wakefield Library
Randy HolmesFarley :
REEF CHEMISTRY
April 31st
BRS April Meeting
May 2-4
International Marine
Aquarium Conference
(IMAC) Chicago, IL
September
5-7
MACNA XV
Louisville, KY
(see pg. 4)
Support Our Sponsors
• Aquadreams
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Agawam, MA
413-786-1000
Boston Tropical Fish & Reptile
Cambridge, MA
617-623-4244
Coral Reef Aquarium
Seekonk, MA
508-336-0904
Fintastic Fish
Plainville, MA
508-699-0722
Florida Pets
Cocoa, FL
www.floridapets.com
Lovely Pets
Quincy, MA
617-786-1898
Pet Club
West Roxbury, MA
617-327-0444
The Reef Keeper
New Bedford, MA
508-998-0093
Skipton’s Discount Pet
Boston, MA
617-541-0520
Tropic Isle Aquarium
Framingham, MA
508-875-5303
Uncle Ned’s Fish Factory
Millis, MA
508-533-5969
Page 1
Message from Moe (continued)
The Dec 2001 meeting at Kelly’s was far
more popular than any previous meeting.
Tons of folks showed up on a sunny 60
degree day. Everyone seemed to bring
Tupperware. Then Jim Godfrey walked in.
He had bubble-tip anemones for several
people. He had Xenia, he had Anthelia,
he had green zoanthids. The other customers stopped eating and watched the
bucket brigade unload Jim’s truck. People
crowded around our section of the restaurant to catch a glimpse of what was
going on. Some water got spilled. Then
the acting manager stopped Jim and demanded, “What are you doing?!?”
To which Jim responded “We’re trading
corals.”
The manager was understandably upset
that nobody cleared this with him, and
there was water on the floor – which was
a safety hazard. He told us we couldn’t
carry on in the restaurant anymore. Our
only recourse was to form
an impromptu tailgate party in the parking lot. Good thing it was a gorgeous day!
A good time was had by all.
In January of 2002, we started to get
more organized. The mailing list was
getting too long for one guy to manage. I
asked for some help, and Joe Scavo,
Charlotte Hanks, Jim Foster, and Jim
Ngyuen volunteered to help. Charlotte
Fragging 101
via email and a post on the boards and
approximately 30 people said they’d attend. The day of the meeting, more than
50 people showed up. In the discussion
forum we had been talking about raising
money to set up a website for the group
and for maybe getting a speaker. At the
NEAQ meeting we sold the first memberships to the Boston Reefers Club (later
by Steve Shannon
This month we asked six Local Fish
Stores (LFS) :
How long have you been in the LFS
business and why do you own/work at
the store?
Coral Reef Aquarium
508-336-0904
1464 Fall River Ave. Rte 6
Seekonk MA 02771
[email protected]
Jeremy
Since Nov 1998. What better thing than to
turn my hobby into a full time business.
Lovely Pets
617-786-1898
69 Parkingway
Quincy MA 02169
[email protected]
Steve Richmond, Owner
Auction at the New England Aquarium
we changed the name to Boston Reefers
Society) for ten dollars each. Jim Nguyen
brought small receipts he printed at
home. We held a spontaneous auction
with livestock donated by the members.
With dedicated volunteers in place, and
limited funds, we set off to create a formal reef club for the Boston area. Jim
Nguyen researched other clubs’ by-laws,
and investigated the requirements for
filing for non-profit status. In short order,
Jim assembled a set of by-laws, and discovered when filing the non-profit paperwork that hobby “clubs” are prohibited
from non-profit status. There was a
whole host of requirements we’d have to
abide by, and one of them was that we
make the group focus on education of the
public. A name change was in order. We
decided on The Boston Reefers Society.
Joe Scavo and Jim Foster contracted a
webhost and published the first webpage
for the group. It was a hit. For once we
had one central clearing house for information. In accordance with our new bylaws, we decided on Officer and Board of
Director positions for the group. Candidates volunteered to run for the various
Officer positions, and we held the first
annual BRS elections. The Boston Reefers
Society was off and running.
asked the moderators of Reef Central to
set up a discussion forum for the Boston
Reefers Club. What a boon that was for
the group.
Meanwhile, my contact at the New England Aquarium – Brian Nelson – was able
to schedule the group in February in one
of the NEAQ’s meeting rooms. When
asked by the NEAQ staff on the number Part II—The BRS moves on to
of potential attendees, I said 20. That bigger and better things
had been our experience at the last
Kelly’s meeting. I advertised the meeting . . . coming in April 2003
Volume 1, Issue 1
LFS Q&A
I worked here at Lovely Pets from 19891996. Then I started a maintenance company and bought the store in June of 2002.
Why? I'm lucky enough to make a living at
my hobby.
Pet Club
617-327-0444
1600 V.F.W. Parkway
West Roxbury MA 02132
Lenny Karwowski, Manager of Fish Dept.
Fish Dept Mgr 2 years. I like having the
ability to help other people be successful
with their specimens and tank setups.
Skipton's Discount Pet
617-541-0520
70 Southampton Street
Boston MA 02118
Leo Labonte, Manager of Fish Dept
25 years - this store 14.
Tropic Isle Aquarium
4 Pierce Street
Framingham, MA 01701
Ellis London, Owner
508-875-5303
Over 30 years. Had goldfish since 4. managed first shop at 13/14. Studied marine
ichthyology (fish) at BU and some Chemistry at Harvard. Currently do check up work
at MIT using zebra fish for genetic experiments for cancer research.
Aqua Dreams
413-786-1000
8 Southwick St.
Feeding Hills (Agawam) MA 01030
Chris Lucia, Owner
13 years. Independence, doing something I
like (most of the time), flexibility, the occasional rewards.
Page 2
Avoiding Tank Disasters &
Plagues Part I – Electrical
Wheelers & Dealers
by Greg Hiller
vices. Do not plug the heater into the
UPS. Provided the ambient environment
is not that cold, the temperature of the
tank will fall very slowly anyhow. As the
temperatures fall the metabolism of all
organisms in the tank will slow and this
will also slow the uptake of oxygen, and
Power Outages:
will slow the rate of decomposition of
One of the most serious problems for a
anything that might die.
reef or fish-only tank is the loss of power.
Our little glass boxes quickly become lit- Years ago I built my own UPS’ that used
tle glass coffins when circulation and deep cycle marine batteries for the power
therefore aeration is interrupted. Many source. Unlike car batteries, deep cycle
people’s first reaction to this potential marine batteries are designed to deliver a
problem is to get a hold of an uninterrup- small amount of power for a very long
tible power supply or UPS. Although the time. They are often used to power elecprice of UPS’ has been falling, they are tric propellers on small boats. The design
of such a system is fairly simple, and instill quite expensive.
formation as to how to build one was on
If you are inclined to use a standard offthe old Compuserve Fishnet discussion
the-shelf UPS on your tank my recomforum years ago. With this type of UPS,
mendation is do not plug your heater into
if the power goes out, a relay switches,
the UPS. My experience has been that
and draws DC power from the battery or
the first problem when a reef or fish-only
batteries. The DC power is converted to
tank looses power is lack of oxygen. The
AC power using a power inverter, and
worst scenario for this is a hot summer
then powers the tank’s pumps or aeration
day, when the AC is blasting, the halides
devices. When the power comes back
are blazing, the chiller is blowing, and the
on, the relay switches again, and power
tank is already near the upper limit of
is draw from the house AC again. When
healthy temperature. The power goes
the power is on, additional AC current is
out, and the oxygen levels fall very fast.
used by a ‘trickle’ charger which slowly
Remember that the solubility of gasses in
recharges the marine battery. You could
water, including oxygen, is inversely proeven string multiple batteries together to
portional to the temperature, so high
get the system to run that much longer.
temps mean low oxygen levels. In the
Sounds great doesn’t it?!? Unfortunately,
short term falling temperatures in a reef
I found that the power inverters were
tank are not a large problem, rising temrather expensive, particularly when you
peratures are.
wanted to generate much over 100 watts.
The inexpensive UPS’ are actually de- Another problem I had was that the resigned for computers.
They therefore lays would sometimes burn out and these
have a very ‘clean’ electrical output, and weren’t exactly inexpensive either.
are designed to put out a decent amount
Since the time of my experiments with
of power, say 200 watts or so, for as long
the homemade UPS’ there is a new deas it might take for you to save all your
vice available that has, in my opinion,
files and shutdown your computer in the
made the construction of the UPS’ someevent of a power outage. This typically
what pointless. The manufacturer Penn
means that they will only deliver that 200
Plax has a battery powered air pump that
watts or so for 30 minutes or so. If you
can sense the loss of power, and immediare drawing less power the battery will
ately activate itself. While I don’t think
last somewhat longer. Of course there
highly of many of the Penn Plax line of
are bigger and more expensive units that
products, I’ve found this particular device
will deliver power for longer periods of
to be extremely valuable. For the cost of
time, but again, these are designed for
about $12 this device is the cheapest incomputers, and therefore are somewhat
surance policy for your tank you will ever
more expensive than need be.
have. I recommend one of these devices
So, if you are using a standard UPS with for every 50 gallons or so of tank volume.
your tank system, save the extra battery Keep in mind, the beauty of this device is
power for running the re-circulation that it is normally off, so that there is no
pump, or other oxygenation/aeration de- (continued on page 4)
I recently had a tank disaster that could
have easily been avoided with more careful planning and consideration of ‘what
ifs’. The first part of this series will deal
with one of the most serious problems for
a reef tank owner, electrical interruption.
Volume 1, Issue 1
As many of you know, our members have
been quite resourceful in finding ways to
keep down the costs of this hobby/
obsession. Here are a few of the deals from
last month:
• What originally started as a pooled
order with an online auction merchant
turned into a “direct from the manufacturer” deal of the month. Jeff
(Stang8s) and Marvin (tstone) took
some initiative in contacting the
manufacturer of a refractometer that
many BRS members showed interest
in. Through their efforts we are purchasing these at significant savings
over the Ebay dealer and astronomical
savings over retail price.
• Howman organized a pooled order of
live-rock and livestock from Gulf View
Marine Life Inc. By picking the order
up at the airport, Howard saved everyone quite a bit on shipping. All told,
BRS members ordered 180 lbs. of live
rock, 15 lbs of live sand and 35 lbs of
assorted snails, sponges, stars, etc.
Thanks Howard.
• A few of our north shore members
jumped in on a LiveAquaria order with
Greg Hiller
• Dave (gumhead) organized a super
deal on calcium reactors with Andy at
www.myreefcreations.com.
• BRS sponsor Coral Reef Aquarium has
offered a generous discount for us on
a pooled order Aqualine 250W Metal
Halide bulbs including both mogul
base and double ended bulbs.
• Reeflady, is organizing a bulk order of
all important cyanoacrylate. That’s
super glue to you and me.
But wait, there’s more . . . Our ever resourceful BRS members are working on
pooled orders for calcium oxide and kaelini
live rock. A pooled order for the March BRS
Meeting is currently in progress from Coral
Reef Aquarium of Seekonk, MA. And I’m
sure that this is just the beginning.
DID YOU KNOW that the Boston
Reefers Society has a discussion forum
at Reef Central?
Just go to www.reefcentral.com
and sign-up.
Page 3
Electrical Interruption (continued)
salt spray or annoying bubbles flying
around in your tank. When a power
outage occurs, the pump turns on.
I’ve built small acrylic mounting brackets for my emergency air pumps that
allow the pumps to hang on the back
of my tanks, eliminating the potential
to slowly siphon your entire tank onto
the carpet. The air pump is attached
to a long piece of rigid airline tubing
that runs all the way to near the bottom of my tank. I’ve found it easy to
jam this tubing through the rock work,
and it usually stays put.
Once, it
stayed put a little too well in that some
Acropora grew across it and it is now a
permanent part of the rock work in
one tank!
The rigid airline tubing
should be open at the end, no air
stone. This way, the large air bubbles
create a decent current and can oxygenate a large tank fairly efficiently
(saving the corals as well as the fish).
In my experience, the rigid air tubing
does not become plugged over time.
Because there is no water flow to the
inside of the tubing, nothing is inclined
to grow on the inner surface, or on the
tip. The outer surface of the tube will
quickly become covered in coralline
algae, and will ‘disappear’ in your
tank. With a pair of fresh D batteries,
the battery powered air pump will continue pumping for several days until
the power comes back on at which
time it will shut itself off.
are heading towards the 60’s and below. In these cases it is ideal to have
an emergency gasoline powered electrical generator on hand. These are
available in the 5000 watt range at
Home Depot and the like. If you only
have one tank then you just drag the
generator out the back door (never
run a generator indoors) and run some
extension cords to your tank. Plug in
essential devices only, re-circulation,
cooling, heating, don’t turn on your
halides unless you need to read Coral
of the World because you’re so bored.
If you have multiple tanks, then you
may have a problem. You could purchase ten zillion extension cords and
have them running all over the house,
or you could do what I did. I had an
electrician come in and install a small
power switching box. In the event of a
power outage I fire up my generator
and then attach it to a special plug on
the outside of my house. This routes
the current to the special switching
box. I then merely flip the switches
for the circuits in the house I want
powered. I have circuits for all my
tanks and for the frig and the electrical
switches in the fuel oil burner. This
way the house can stay warm as well.
Of course it would be a good idea to
test such a system, something I’ll admit I haven’t done!
The ultimate system, if money is no
object, would be an automatic alternate electrical generator and switching
system. Such a system would have a
permanent gasoline powered generator with a large fuel tank installed
somewhere on the property, and
would have all the necessary circuits
and relays to immediately switch to
the generator in case of a power outage. I suppose if your reef tank is
large enough and valuable enough
such a system might be warranted.
If the power outage is expected to last
more than several hours then depending upon the environment in your
house (very hot or cold) you may need
to restore power to your system via
other means. The worst case scenario
of the hot summer day comes to mind.
If the temp in the house is in the upper eighties and getting hotter then
your tank will overheat even if all the
lights and pumps are off, and the
emergency air pumps are running.
You must keep your tank temp below One can always dream!!!
85 F. The other scenario is a very cold See Greg’s spectacular tanks at
day (can you say “nor’easter ice
www.angelfire.com/ma3/ghcorals/
storm?”) and the house and your tank
MASNA
NEWS
MACNA XV will be held in Louisville and will be
hosted by the Louisville Marine Aquarium Society. Over the next few months, you will surely
see emails and other literature on this upcoming
event. LMAS has secured a hotel rate of $69 a
night and the entire conference is going to be
$100 if you register early and $125 if you register at the conference. For more info on LMAS or
MACNA XV visit: www.lmas.org
Marvin Leads Bid
for MACNA 2004
BRS member Marvin Parramore (tstone) is currently leading a team to prepare our bid for the
Marine Aquarium Conference of North America
(MACNA) in 2004. We are already well on our
way with a number of BRS members including
Marvin and the BRS Officers & Board of Directors
committed to submitting a winning bid and organizing a memorable event.
According to Marvin, this is a convention that will
bring 600 or more people to Boston. We are in a
unique position geographically to draw a larger
number of participants from Europe than ever
before. Based on this fact, combined with all of
the participants from North America we could
have the largest attendance of any MACNA ever
before.
“We have a hot bed of reefers here like no
other place in America. I am always
impressed by the collective knowledge of the
members of this club. I am also equally
impressed by the dedication such a large
number of you show towards this
organization. Our leadership is without
compare. In short, I see a group of people that
can get it done and get it done right!”
- Marvin (tstone)
There are innumerable ways in which you, the
BRS members, can help. There will be committees for setting up and managing every aspect of
the conference. The conference involves everything from audio/visual services to speakers,
vendors, hotels, and a website. And that is just
the tip of the iceberg.
If you feel you may not be able to invest the necessary time for the committee itself, there will be
subcommittees that will need members. Subcommittee members will be able to get involved in a
more limited way. So come on and sign up.
Contact Marvin at : [email protected]
Volume 1, Issue 1
Page 4
MIKE & JOE’S CT/NY ROADTRIP
After weeks of tedious planning by Mike As were about to leave, Greg Schiemer
Accardi and Joe Venuti March 8, 2003 fi- arrived with cooler in hand ready to annally arrived . . . the day the BRS invaded swer any questions we had. It was a real
Connecticut and New York. With people honor that he took the time out of his
spread out all across Mass it took a great weekend to bring us some free frags and
deal of coordination and some last minute let us speak to him one on one. We findriving changes to get it all nailed down. ished up with Greg and headed on our way
to The Living Reef in Westport CT.
After
a
whiteknuckled ride for
Again, a few of us took the scenic
some (but not all)
route around Westport on our way
we arrived our first
to the store. When we got there
stop—Turnpike Pet
the store owner closed the store
in Fairfield CT. Unjust for us and brought in extra
fortunately, we did
help to deal with the crowd we had
not all arrive as one
brought. The Living Reef was a
big group.
One
great little store with very clean
group following the
tanks. Their main attraction was a
directions went the
beautiful round tank with a center
longer
way,
and
overflow and some large corals
then split up even
including an elephant ear rhodactis
more when the lead
that was the size of a dinner plate.
car was trying to
They also had another tank with a
decide last minute
pair of baby barracudas that were
weather to go north
fun to watch. Craig and Lisa got a
or south.
Eventusuper deal on a very nice carpet
The
Goods
@
Turnpike
Pet
ally, however, we all
anemone. Steve S. left with a cool
got there.
red acro with blue tips. We all
by Dave Chandler (heavydc2)
Randalls Shrimp Goby.
After spending
quite some time in the shop, Dave (the
store’s owner) took us down to show us
the propagation tank. This was an amazing tank with many different types of corals and clams growing in it. We also got
to see the stores filtration system which
was amazing to say the least.
Living Reef’s Round Tank
Most of us had had enough but one car
load of people, myself included, decided
they really wanted to see House of Fins,
thanks to Abbey and her convincing. We
arrived at House of Fins and as most who
came with us know my first impression
was the 500 gallon tank they had setup
with 7 of the most amazing sharks swimming around. After the shock wore off I
realized that we may have stumbled upon
Chris Pirhalla, of Turnpike Pet, met us with gathered back into the cars, hopped into
open arms, lots of free stuff and good heavy traffic and tried to make up some
deals. After a close inspection of the tanks lost time on our way to Reef and Fin in
at we found some rare and even a few un- Stamford CT.
named fish that Chris loved pointing out to After a quick stop at a rest area for gas
us. They had an amazing display of hard and food, we arrived at Reef and Fin to
and soft corals and a large number of see a stunning display tank along with a
beautiful clams. When the food arrived healthy looking collection of livestock for
the vultures attacked and scarfed down sale. Jon S. bought “a super nice aqua (continued on page 6)
some excellent grinders supplied by Turn- green acro”, Joe S. bought a brick colored
pike Pet. The raffle went great with some encrusting Montipora, and Abbey bought a
big ticket items such as a 35 Gallon per couple of nice acro frags.
day Kent Marine R/O Unit, a skimmer,
• 2002sod (Joe V)
With time growing
Visitherm heaters, a
short
we
skipped
• Mike Accardi (Mike)
bucket of Instant
House of Fins and
• Fishingcp (Craig & Lisa)
Ocean Salt, a Corheaded
directly
alife 2 x 96 watt PC
• Moe_K (Moe)
over to New York
light fixture, and a
• Pyrojon (Jon S.)
Aquaria
in
$100 gift certificate
Mamaroneck, NY
• ReefRancher (Steve S.)
towards any Tenecor
before it closed.
product,
which
• Stevescg (Steve)
This turned out to
amazingly Moe (who
•
ScavDog (Joe S)
be a great move.
wishes for a bigger
They
had
great
• Batman (Mike W)
tank) turned down.
tanks with an imWith
some
very
• Heavydc2 (Dave C)
pressive selection
happy and well-fed
• TexasTurkey (Brandon)
of
livestock
inraffle winners, the
cluding
2
of
the
• Perfect Pet (Brendan)
shopping
began.
The Goodies @ Turnpike Pet
biggest Squamosa
Heavydc2
(that’s
• Sea Serpent (Paula)
Clams I have ever
me) got a rock
• RoyRoy Massiah (Rodney)
seen.
There
was
also
a
unique
percula
covered in green striped mushrooms and
clown, with a white tear drop shaped
• AbbeyRoad (Abbey)
Joe V. got a very nice clam.
marking under its eye. Stevescg bought a
Roadtrip Attendees
Volume 1, Issue 1
Page 5
Newbie News
by Brad Ray (bdr127)
Many people add a fish or two to start the
nitrogen cycle, but I think it is inhumane to
put the fish through ammonia, nitrite, and
nitrate spikes. Be prepared to wait a while
for the tank to cycle. My tank cycled after
I began my journey into reef keeping last
an excruciating 6 weeks! I knew that I had
May 2002. I had kept a freshwater planted
to be patient or I would regret it later. Patank for quite some time, but after seeing
tience is another key piece of advice.
pictures of so many beautiful reef tanks, I
knew that I had to create a reef for myself. Once the cycling was complete, I was so
excited to be able to add my first bit of
I started researching everything and everylivestock. I ordered a reef cleanup crew
where: the library (both books and magafrom an online vendor that included many
zines), the web, pet stores, etc. Hearkensnails, crabs, and shrimp. It was great to
ing back to my early freshwater days, I
have life in my tank that I could sit and
remember how many mistakes I made and
watch! After a few more weeks, I purrealized that diligent research beforehand
chased a pair of false (ocellaris) percula
would have made things much easier.
clownfish.
Clownfish and damsels are
Weeks and months or research is one of
among the most common first fish. They
the best pieces of advice I can give to anyare particularly hardy and comparatively
one considering entering the reef keeping
inexpensive. After months of watching my
hobby.
lonely clownfish couple in my 90g tank, I
Inland Reef Aquaria in Nashua, NH, was fell in love with a gorgeous large purple
the closest LFS to me that people really tang. I dutifully went home and did my
raved about. I made multiple trips up research and felt that I could easily care
there and learned a lot from the staff. Af- for this fish. Another piece of advice is to
ter setting aside the required time, space, always do your research on any livestock
and money, I went back again to Inland before you buy it. Learn whether you have
Reef with the sole purpose of purchasing the right size tank, lighting requirements,
my very first reef setup. I walked away incompatible tank-mates, etc. Never imwith a 90g tank with stand and canopy, a pulse shop!
15g tank for use as a sump, an AquaC
I later started adding my corals. I began
EV-120 protein skimmer, 180 lbs. of aragowith the typical “newbie” corals: mushnite sand, 2x96W power compact (PC)
rooms. Mushrooms don’t need much light
lights with a daylight and an actinic bulb,
and don’t need much attention. They usuand all of the assorted plumbing pieces. A
ally spread like wildfire for most people!
bit of advice would be to not skimp on anyAnother good starter coral is button polthing. This is an expensive hobby, which
yps/zoos. Remember to always be patient
you should know before getting into it, so
and research your coral purchases ahead of
trying to save a few bucks by buying infetime.
rior equipment is just not worth it. Some
more advice I can give you is to consider Over these first few months, I battled the
Within the first
the type of corals you will be keeping in the normal algae blooms.
future. If you want to keep anything that month, I had diatoms like you wouldn’t beneeds a good deal of light, then go for lieve. A thin brown film seemed to grow
metal halide (MH) lights right away, and everywhere. I have since fought with red
don’t waste your money on PC lights. I slime algae and green hair algae. Algae is
originally bought PC lights because they a common problem among aquarists, but it
were cheaper and just planned on upgrad- can be fought with regular water changes
ing later. It is far too expensive to up- using RO/DI water, cutting down on excesgrade anything. Just buy what you really sive feeding, and by keeping a refugium.
There is a lot written about each of these
need upfront to save in the long run.
topics available on the web.
After spending hours setting up the tank,
laying the sand bed, and adding water, I I hope I was able to help out any newbies
ordered over 100 lbs. of live rock from an or potential newbies by sharing my experionline vendor. Once this was in the tank, ences and advice. If you ever have any
the nitrogen cycle had begun. The nitro- questions, feel free to visit the BRS forum
gen cycle is one of the most important at www.reefcentral.com.
newbie topics to research! It is my recomFeel free to also send a private message to
mendation to cycle your tank with either
me - “bdr127” - on Reef Central.
uncured live rock or pieces of raw shrimp.
For all newbies and to those looking to get
into the hobby, I hope I can shed some
light on how to start your tank and get you
headed in the right direction.
Volume 1, Issue 1
CT/NY Roadtrip
(cont’d)
one of the most impressive selection of
fish I have ever seen in a store. Just to
go and see the store was reward enough
for me. The only person to come out of
NY Aquaria
there with anything was Brendan who
bought a green barred goby.
We then met up with the rest of the
Dinner & a Frag
group at a nice pizza place for some
food and a beer before the ride home.
The trip was great, it was a lot of fun to
meet all the new people, and get to
know the people who we were riding
with. Come to find out when you put 4
people with one common hobby together in a car there is no lack of conversation. We had some great laughs
and saw some amazing sites. I am already looking forward to the next one,
whenever it may be. I hope next time
we can get more people to come and
help out these great stores as they were
helping us out.
Thanks to all of the CT/NY LFS who provided us with great deals and free stuff.
Thanks to all the chauffeurs. And a
huge thanks to Mike and Joe for organizing the whole trip
Page 6
Tank of the Month
by Mike Walsh (batman)
My current tank setup is a 96"x30"x30" Starphire glass tank that is approximately 375 gallons and weighs around 1,275 lbs empty.
The combined weight of tank, water, rock & sand is around 6000 lbs! The sump/refugium is an All Glass 75-gal that was my first
tank (boy did that seem large 10 years ago).
My equipment consists of : 4x400W Radium 20K
bulbs driven by Icecap & Blueline electronic ballasts, an MTC Pro Cal calcium reactor, a Euroreef
CS8-2 skimmer, 2-Dolphin Ampmaster 3000
pumps (1 for return and 1 on a closed loop), 31" Sea Swirl rotating returns, a Neptune
Aquacontroller II and a soon to be plumbed in
1/2HP chiller.
Approximately 800 lbs of Southdown sand &450
lbs of live rock make up the world for the critters
inside. There are 17 fish in this tank including a
school of 10 green chromis, a 7" rabbit fish, a
mated pair of anthias, a mated pair of false perculas, a purple tang and a regal tang. I believe in keeping the fish density fairly low.
I would estimate nearly 65% of the tank is SPS and the balance spread out between LPS,
anemones, soft corals & clams.
Mike’s Tank Specs
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375 gallon tank
75 gallon sump
DSB (Southdown)
450 lbs live rock
MTC ProCal Reactor
Euroreef CS8-2 Skimmer
2-Dolphin 3000 pumps
3-1” SeaSwirls
Neptune Aquacontroller II
1/2 HP Chiller
For SPS corals there are too many to try and list
with the correct names so I will generalize for
brevity. There are several nice colonies of pedestal table acropora, a few regular table acropora, a few acropora humulis, anacropora, orange & green montipora capricornis, a few nice
millepora colonies and a huge 16" tall green
slimmer acropora.
My LPS corals include and Elegance coral, open
brain, branching hammer coral, bubble tip coral
and 2 different colored scolymia.
And, rounding out the corals are the softies: a
large colt coral, green tree coral, yellow elegance
leather and a typical toadstool leather.
As for anemone, there are 4 rose bubble tip
anemones in this tank thanks to a 3 way split.
My main brood colony of greenish/brown anemones live in another tank as they tend to get out of control in a reef setup
Things I am proud of: I have many corals that have been with me for many years. Most
notably an open brain coral that has been in my care for nine years. Many of my larger
corals have been giving me frags for 4 years or more. I have documented over 100
clones of the greenish brown morph of the anemone Entacmaea quadricolor. The main
trick to get this to happen is regular feeding several times a week.
Volume 1, Issue 1
Page 7
ADDRESS CORRECTION REQUESTED
South Boston, MA 02127-1339
274 West 3rd Street #3
Boston Reefers Society, Inc.
Boston Reefers is an organization for reef aquarium keepers in the Boston area. We
meet every month at various locations. Come join us, trade frags, fish & inverts and
pick up helpful hints from our expert reef hobbyists.
Visit us online at www.bostonreefers.org for more information