Proudly we introduce to you a paper Robert (15 years old) Fall 2005

Robert Fota’s Research Paper

NCPARS is a Pennsylvania-based society of members who are reef keeping hobbyists. The society holds several frag swaps every year that are open to the public along with other private events and projects for their members, including picnics and private swaps at a member’s house. A frag swap is when reef-keeping hobbyists from different areas get together to buy, sell, and trade frags and other reef related items. Members are spread out all through Pennsylvania and neighboring states. The group accepts anyone as a member, from the new hobbyist to the most experienced of tank keepers. “NCPARS is a very diverse club,” says Brad Kindig, one of the board members for NCPARS. If someone wants to be a member of the NCPARS, all that person has to do is register online at www.ncpars.org and/or www.reefcentral.com. Registration comes with a fee of $24 a year for one adult or $12 a year for a student (12-17 years old) or it is also possible to register an entire family for just $36 a year. The different events every year are a fall frag swap, a spring frag swap, and smaller events like picnics each summer. The advantages of being a member include attending all NCPARS events for free.

NCPARS is an organization working toward official recognition as a non-profit educational society. The goal of the club id to teach people about the global reef and saltwater aquariums. The club is making progress in the way that just about anybody can find information on the site. They can find just about anything related to salt water aquariums. Most of the people who find information end up becoming a member eventually and they in turn help other people with their aquariums. The club was initially formed in May, 2003, and is dedicated to conserving global reefs through education, captive coral propagation and trading, assisting local schools with their systems, and the sharing of knowledge and resources between members and the community. A reef club is a group of people who get together to discuss their fish tanks on a regular basis. NCPARS is not a typical reef club. They do not hold monthly meetings or have any attendance requirements. NCPARS holds swaps and other events to get together in person, but its main source of communication is the internet. The main website they use is www.reefcentral.com but they also use www.ncpars.org (the club site) to give information and share advice and knowledge with each other about their tanks, methods, and swaps. Many of the members are in other local reef clubs and this is highly encouraged.

A frag swap is when reef-keeping hobbyists get together to buy, sell, and trade frags and other reef-related items. Frag is short for “fragment”. It represents a small piece of coral that is broken off, cut, or removed from a thriving colony from another reef-keeping hobbyist’s aquarium. Frags vary in size and price depending on the type of coral, its rarity, and the individual selling item. The swaps are held every year. NCPARS also sometimes have demonstrations, speakers, raffles, DIY (do it yourself) seminar, and have local vendors on hand to discuss and sell their products. The first swap ever, had only 35 people but now the club gets about 100 hobbyists at each swap from Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Ohio, and New York. (Marzouqi, Al) Frag swaps are the main meetings, and at them there is a speaker, vendor displays, food, door prizes, and a raffle to raise money. The club members use www.fragswapper.com to organize coral trades.

At the last frag swap, the speaker was Joe Yaiullio. He received his bachelor’s degree in Marine Science from Southampton College, and has worked at the New York aquarium for eight years where he was a senior aquarist. He started reefkeeping in 1987 and has been cited in books and publications through the years. Joe discussed his aquarium which has come to be, over the last 20 years, a 20,000 gallon reef tank at the Atlantis public aquarium on Long Island, New York.

Reefcentral is an online community of reefers from all around the world. The website is www.reefcentral.com and there are thousands of people registered to it. Reefcentral has forums and threads, places for members to give feedback to other members, dedicated to hundreds of different topics. Some of which include different types of corals, many kinds of fish, equipment, and some dedicated just to events and sales. 

Reef Central also has a forum dedicated to a club called Reefnest. Reefnest is dedicated to educate students in local schools about marine life and global reefs. To them it is very important that people learn to conserve and protect the natural environment. Reefnest relies on clubs like NCPARS and individuals for donations and support. Many have contributed with equipment, coral frags, money, and time. They are currently maintaining aquariums in some local schools and their goal is to expand their education program to other schools and to have students involved with a hands on experience. (www.reefcentral.com) Al Marzouqi is a member of Reefnest and he has moved all of his tanks into the schools. He now has only one small tank at home because all of his equipment, corals, and fish are spread out through the schools. “Reefnest is always looking for more support, members, donations, anything to help us educate the children,” says, Al Marzouqi, founder of NCPARS. 

Every marine aquarist, a person who owns an aquarium, must learn how to test aquarium water and to interpret the results. When corals are present in a tank certain tests may be needed. Tests for pH, alkalinity, ammonia, nitrate, nitrite, phosphate, and calcium are common tests for a tank containing corals. Ammonia and nitrate tests are needed when establishing the biological filter system. These tests are also helpful in diagnosing problems with an established aquarium. When something interferes with the biological filtration process ammonia or nitrate can accumulate. That is the only time tests for those are needed. Phosphates accumulate with algae. The temperature in a tank should never change dramatically and is important for the growth of corals. “The stabilizing effect of the water’s high specific heat- the heat required to change its temperature- means that sea water temperature in a given area fluctuates over a narrow range than the surrounding air temperature.” (Tullock 18) “Water can dissolve anything, at least in small amounts. It is not for nothing that water has been referred to as the universal solvent. A portion of any material in contact with water is dissolved in it.  Because we don’t have access to the effectively infinite volume of the world’s ocean to flush out our tanks of nasty chemicals, we must have methods of filtering them out, detoxifying them, or diluting them. To some extent, we will use all three methods in our reef arrangement.” (Shimek 13)

REEFNEST

Phone:  (570) 337-9069
Email:  reefnest@reefnest.com  URL:  www.reefnest.com