That's right folks! After a year on hiatus, we're back and it's looking as though this is going to be a great event!
The Connecticut Area Reef Society is hosting its
8th Annual Connecticut Marine Aquarium Conference
on Saturday, October 18, 2014
from 9:00am to 5:00pm
Ticket Prices will be
$20 Per Person
We will be holding this years event at
Groton Inn & Suites
99 Gold Star Highway
Groton, Connecticut 06340
We've got some great speakers lined up and the local reefing community is excited about the event!
You can purchase tickets by going HERE
Our top raffle prize is amazing this year! Red Sea has generously donated their new Red Sea MAX C-130 the compact 34 gallon fully featured REEF-SPEC system for the top raffle prize at CMAC! If you are looking for a complete reef ready aquarium system, this is it. But, that's not it...Red Sea is also including a refractometer, a variety of Red Sea test kits valued at approximately $200.00 and Red Sea Salt. But, we're not even close to done! We want the winner of this to go home with the works! We are also throwing in 40 lbs of Carib Sea Life Rock, two 20lb Bags of Carib Sea Arag-Alive!™ Sand, a $50 Champion Lighting Gift Card and an Aqua FX Barracuda 100 gpd RODI unit. This is a prize package totaled at over $2000.00!!!
We are offering a special discount for New Jersey Reefers Club members between September 15th and September 22nd
If anyone signs up for tickets during this time using the coupon code JerseySav5, they will receive a 25% discount.
Remember, price includes full access and buffet lunch!
Speakers
James Fatherree – Clams
James Fatherree has been an aquarium hobbyist since childhood, has been keeping marine aquariums for well over a decade, and has spent many days diving in Florida, Hawaii, the Bahamas, Japan and Indonesia. He also managed a large retail aquarium store, owned and operated an aquarium design, installation, and maintenance business for several years, and spent a summer working as a diver/collector/slave for an aquarium livestock wholesaler in Florida. James has also published well over 100 articles and 1,000 photographs in various aquarium magazines in the U.S. and Europe, and has written and illustrated five books on the topics of reef organisms and marine aquariums, too.
Aside from his lifelong aquatic interests and experiences, James served as an Army paratrooper, earned degrees in Geology from Mississippi State University and the University of South Florida, with a specialization in invertebrate paleontology, and has traveled around the world. He also lived in southern Japan for two years where he taught English, and is currently a physical and environmental sciences instructor at Hillsborough Community College in Tampa, Florida.
John Coppolino – SPS
John’s innate passion for aquariums was nurtured growing up on an island on a lake in Northern New Jersey with a fish loving father and a mother allergic to everything with fur and feathers!
A saltwater hobbyist now for twenty five years since age 11, John began working at a large regional aquarium store as soon as he obtained working papers in high school, resulting in a house full of tanks before going off to college. In college he went on to study reefs in Bermuda, the Galapagos Islands and Ecuador where he lived (and met his wife!) for about two years after obtaining his B.S. in biology.
John now lives in Northern Virginia with his wonderfully supportive wife and two young children, and keeps about 2500 gallons of saltwater aquariums, most being SPS dominant. In addition to publishing articles and speaking at conferences, including three past MACNAs, John has spoken to reef clubs in over twenty states. His systems have been featured in publications in Asia, Europe, and the United States. These include the newly released book “The Coral Reef Aquarium” by Tony Vargas, which profiles two of his systems, including a 10 gallon “kitchen nano” from over ten years ago, and his SPS system he just broke down this year after moving. John is also one of just two people to have received the prestigious Reef Central Tank of the Month for two different systems (September ’04 and January ’11), both SPS dominant, where he is known by his username and childhood nickname, Copps. In the summer of 2013 John started building his largest SPS system
yet, with a 1300 gallon display that is installed in the "forever home" he and his wife had built. In addition to his reefkeeping at home, John travels yearly with work to Hawaii and Guam, where most free time is spent underwater.
Lou Ekus - Reef Chemistry
Lou has been with Tropic Marin USA as the Director of US Operations for almost 18 years. He is responsible for all of Tropic Marin product support and aquarist assistance in the US and Canada. He frequently works with aquarists, helping them with system issues.
Lou Ekus has been a salt water aquarist most of his life. As an adult, he designed and built a multi-tank system in his home consisting of a 150 gallon full reef tank, a 150 community fish only tank and a 90 gallon predator tank. This system also incorporated a custom lighting and filtration systems all designed and built by Lou. Due to time constraints, Lou has downsized his salt water system to a 29 gallon nano reef for the testing of Tropic Marin products in the US and is enjoying the ease of care of a new 150 gallon African Cichlid tank in his home.
Lou is an avid saltwater fly fisherman, holds a commercial hot air balloon license and is an antique car enthusiast, taking trips in a 1931 Ford Roadster with his wife and business partner, Leslie, who also works for Tropic Marin. Lou and Leslie also run AirTyme Corporation, a company that specializes in media training food professionals for live, internet, television and print interviews.
Justin Credabel – Cuttlefish
Justin will be showing off a cuttlefish display at his booth and to answer any of your questions on how to keep these exquisite animals.
Justin Credabel Grabel was born and raised in New London, CT. He starting keeping and breeding fish at the ripe old age of 11, which kicked off a lifelong passion for all things aquatic.
Over the years Justin has developed methods for propagating the various species of Goniopora, fusing coral through grafting techniques, and pioneered the use of hydrogen peroxide in coral husbandry. Recently Justin and his lovely wife and children moved back to the East Coast from Los Angeles, where he was running large scale coral aquaculture operations.
After 18 years in the aquarium industry on the retail and wholesale, it was time to start a new venture, Reef Generation, with fellow industry veteran Laura Birenbaum. In partnership with Atlantis Long Island Aquarium, ReefGen is growing and marketing coral, fish and other aquatic organisms with the dream team including aquarium curator and co-founder Joe Yauillo, and fish breeding expert Todd Gardner.
Justin Credabel’s food, Goniopower, developed for the successful aquarium culture of Goniopora has been released by Two Little Fishies, and is available at retail and online stores around the globe.
Justin is also a musician and finds the line between art and aquariums blurred. His band Incognito Sofa Love has been playing the last 13 year and can be seen online, heard on CD or experienced in person.
The Connecticut Area Reef Society is hosting its
8th Annual Connecticut Marine Aquarium Conference
on Saturday, October 18, 2014
from 9:00am to 5:00pm
Ticket Prices will be
$20 Per Person
We will be holding this years event at
Groton Inn & Suites
99 Gold Star Highway
Groton, Connecticut 06340
We've got some great speakers lined up and the local reefing community is excited about the event!
You can purchase tickets by going HERE
Our top raffle prize is amazing this year! Red Sea has generously donated their new Red Sea MAX C-130 the compact 34 gallon fully featured REEF-SPEC system for the top raffle prize at CMAC! If you are looking for a complete reef ready aquarium system, this is it. But, that's not it...Red Sea is also including a refractometer, a variety of Red Sea test kits valued at approximately $200.00 and Red Sea Salt. But, we're not even close to done! We want the winner of this to go home with the works! We are also throwing in 40 lbs of Carib Sea Life Rock, two 20lb Bags of Carib Sea Arag-Alive!™ Sand, a $50 Champion Lighting Gift Card and an Aqua FX Barracuda 100 gpd RODI unit. This is a prize package totaled at over $2000.00!!!
We are offering a special discount for New Jersey Reefers Club members between September 15th and September 22nd
If anyone signs up for tickets during this time using the coupon code JerseySav5, they will receive a 25% discount.
Remember, price includes full access and buffet lunch!
Speakers
James Fatherree – Clams
James Fatherree has been an aquarium hobbyist since childhood, has been keeping marine aquariums for well over a decade, and has spent many days diving in Florida, Hawaii, the Bahamas, Japan and Indonesia. He also managed a large retail aquarium store, owned and operated an aquarium design, installation, and maintenance business for several years, and spent a summer working as a diver/collector/slave for an aquarium livestock wholesaler in Florida. James has also published well over 100 articles and 1,000 photographs in various aquarium magazines in the U.S. and Europe, and has written and illustrated five books on the topics of reef organisms and marine aquariums, too.
Aside from his lifelong aquatic interests and experiences, James served as an Army paratrooper, earned degrees in Geology from Mississippi State University and the University of South Florida, with a specialization in invertebrate paleontology, and has traveled around the world. He also lived in southern Japan for two years where he taught English, and is currently a physical and environmental sciences instructor at Hillsborough Community College in Tampa, Florida.
John Coppolino – SPS
John’s innate passion for aquariums was nurtured growing up on an island on a lake in Northern New Jersey with a fish loving father and a mother allergic to everything with fur and feathers!
A saltwater hobbyist now for twenty five years since age 11, John began working at a large regional aquarium store as soon as he obtained working papers in high school, resulting in a house full of tanks before going off to college. In college he went on to study reefs in Bermuda, the Galapagos Islands and Ecuador where he lived (and met his wife!) for about two years after obtaining his B.S. in biology.
John now lives in Northern Virginia with his wonderfully supportive wife and two young children, and keeps about 2500 gallons of saltwater aquariums, most being SPS dominant. In addition to publishing articles and speaking at conferences, including three past MACNAs, John has spoken to reef clubs in over twenty states. His systems have been featured in publications in Asia, Europe, and the United States. These include the newly released book “The Coral Reef Aquarium” by Tony Vargas, which profiles two of his systems, including a 10 gallon “kitchen nano” from over ten years ago, and his SPS system he just broke down this year after moving. John is also one of just two people to have received the prestigious Reef Central Tank of the Month for two different systems (September ’04 and January ’11), both SPS dominant, where he is known by his username and childhood nickname, Copps. In the summer of 2013 John started building his largest SPS system
yet, with a 1300 gallon display that is installed in the "forever home" he and his wife had built. In addition to his reefkeeping at home, John travels yearly with work to Hawaii and Guam, where most free time is spent underwater.
Lou Ekus - Reef Chemistry
Lou has been with Tropic Marin USA as the Director of US Operations for almost 18 years. He is responsible for all of Tropic Marin product support and aquarist assistance in the US and Canada. He frequently works with aquarists, helping them with system issues.
Lou Ekus has been a salt water aquarist most of his life. As an adult, he designed and built a multi-tank system in his home consisting of a 150 gallon full reef tank, a 150 community fish only tank and a 90 gallon predator tank. This system also incorporated a custom lighting and filtration systems all designed and built by Lou. Due to time constraints, Lou has downsized his salt water system to a 29 gallon nano reef for the testing of Tropic Marin products in the US and is enjoying the ease of care of a new 150 gallon African Cichlid tank in his home.
Lou is an avid saltwater fly fisherman, holds a commercial hot air balloon license and is an antique car enthusiast, taking trips in a 1931 Ford Roadster with his wife and business partner, Leslie, who also works for Tropic Marin. Lou and Leslie also run AirTyme Corporation, a company that specializes in media training food professionals for live, internet, television and print interviews.
Justin Credabel – Cuttlefish
Justin will be showing off a cuttlefish display at his booth and to answer any of your questions on how to keep these exquisite animals.
Justin Credabel Grabel was born and raised in New London, CT. He starting keeping and breeding fish at the ripe old age of 11, which kicked off a lifelong passion for all things aquatic.
Over the years Justin has developed methods for propagating the various species of Goniopora, fusing coral through grafting techniques, and pioneered the use of hydrogen peroxide in coral husbandry. Recently Justin and his lovely wife and children moved back to the East Coast from Los Angeles, where he was running large scale coral aquaculture operations.
After 18 years in the aquarium industry on the retail and wholesale, it was time to start a new venture, Reef Generation, with fellow industry veteran Laura Birenbaum. In partnership with Atlantis Long Island Aquarium, ReefGen is growing and marketing coral, fish and other aquatic organisms with the dream team including aquarium curator and co-founder Joe Yauillo, and fish breeding expert Todd Gardner.
Justin Credabel’s food, Goniopower, developed for the successful aquarium culture of Goniopora has been released by Two Little Fishies, and is available at retail and online stores around the globe.
Justin is also a musician and finds the line between art and aquariums blurred. His band Incognito Sofa Love has been playing the last 13 year and can be seen online, heard on CD or experienced in person.
