Introduction to R2R

[wildcrazyjoker81]

Welcome to Reef2reef and glad to have a great conservationist here on the forums. It seems your organizations main focus is on SPS corals. Is there any plans to try and introduce SPS that do well in other parts of the world that maybe do not already exists in the area? I always wonder how we in home reefs have such a diverse tank populous of corals from around the world and they seemingly thrive together and if it is possible to introduce other non native species that may do well in the area, or is it seen more as keep it natural and not introduce non native corals?

 

[Stang67]

Hidey HO there Neighbor
I did not know you could adopt a coral outside of a live sale platform!

 

[frickenfragger]

Great work you do! Never knew you existed until now and looking forward to supporting!

 

[ARBurke]

Hi! We have 3 full time staff, and about 7 interns We are about to add another scientist to our work as well (if you wanted to send in a resume). Our facility is about 2,000 square feet separated into two main sections. We have a pacific area that is mainly used for education, and then due to biodiversity we have all of our research separated into another area. Interns photograph the current rescues, measure, due water quality, water changes, siphon, and clean rescue vats. Our marine vet cares for the corals and ensures their healthy on a daily basis. He also cares for our other fish and inverts in our facility. Today I spent 2 hours fixing what should have been a simple tank issue that wasn't simple for some reason Tonight I am being interviewed by a 5th grader wanting to know more about why our reefs are dying. We also have a full time educator and partner with a school to provide weekly education to all of the students in the school. I am the Executive Director and I get to do all of the awesome day to day stuff. We also do coral monitoring locally in the water, fish counts, and so many other things. If you are interested in finding out more you can email me at: [email protected]

Sounds great to be the executive director, you're living the life, Leneita! I love the idea of being interviewed by a fifth grader, that's the sort of community involvement that can really start kids on the path of science. I love inviting kids into the lab, hoping to spark the passion that leads to a future conservationist.

Hi ARBurke, Dr. Gregory here.
I'm a marine veterinarian with a masters in aquaculture and a degree in marine bio and oversee general operations. We are lucky enough to have some amazing automation. 7 apex brains, dozens of gen4 radions, and 5 tridents along with dosing and auto water changers through DOS units help our aquarium maintenance be minimal. The right formula for cleanup crews provided by the Florida Coral Rescue Team keeps the algae balanced as well. We get alarms if there's water on the floor or chemistry gets weird...salinity probes are our current minimal ongoing hassle as calibration on those probes is finicky (the forums here corroborate that). Some of our rescue corals have heavy metal incorporated into their base and skeletons so we send out weekly ICP to watch chromium, cobalt, copper, etc. and use heavy metal ion removing resins. As a non-profit we are lucky to be able to have a large pool of qualified interns to do a lot of the labor while they learn marine bio and aquarium science. The automation and high quality monitoring lets us run lean and mean for staff, providing amazing coral care with our resources being spent on things like water changes and upgrading tech (gen5 radions on the new seedbanks). Covid caused us to keep a skeleton aquarist crew but as we come out of these crazy times we are growing and looking for PhD level supervisory research staff (as well as more educators).

Hey Charlie, you helped me identify some parasites a while back! I hadn't a clue that you ran your own non-profit! I'd love to learn more about your facility and the positions available, or to visit sometime if you're accepting appointments from the public. I'm fairly close to West Palm, working out of RSMAS. Do you still have any involvement with the Seaquarium? I'll go ahead and reach out to Leneita by E-mail.

 

[RickySChan]

Welcome to R2R- just wanna let you know we all appreciate the work you guys do.

 

[DJTJ]

Welcome to R2R!!! I am a college student and was super curious about your research! Is there any way that we can be a part of your data collection?

 

[hosh11]

Welcome! Love that you guys don't just do research but are also focused on educating the public.

 

[Corgigirl]

Welcome! And kudos to you for all your hard work. Love your partnership with the local schools .

 

[CrimsonTide]

Welcome to Reef2Reef! I am very happy you all are taking time out of your otherwise busy lives to make this project work! I was wondering if you could explain the coralbank that your website says yall are a part of. Is the group only doing Florida corals or are yall grouped together we groups from around the world? Thanks! And welcome again!

 

[JonnyTorch]

Hey Reef Institute! Welcome. I'm pretty new myself. I love that you teach children about the importance of corals. How is that in operation? Are you currently just regional in Florida? I think you could really benefit right now the effects of all this online stuff (effects of covid, distancing etc.) I think if there was a maybe an interactive way to engage children all over the country not just regionally it could be great.

Like dude think Farmville but Coralville lol.

So do you currently just have small setups at your location for kids to take field trips, and you come visit the classroom? Wondering how to incorporate a way to have games/media/videos/education involved.

Thank you for your efforts,

Jon

 

[reefz]

Seriously making a difference, awesome guys!!

 

[KaneMN]

Hello R2R community,

We would love to introduce ourselves to this wonderful community.

We are the Reef Institute and our mission is coral conservation through education, research and restoration. We are a small organization on a large mission to save the ocean.


A Little About Our Mission:

Scientists estimate that 50 -80% of all of the oxygen we breath comes from photosynthetic algae in the ocean. Much of this is produced specifically by the zooxanthellae algae living in the tissues of coral. No matter where you live in the world coral, affects your livelihood. For those of us on the Atlantic coast of the United States, our coastlines are directly effected by our coral reefs. The Florida Reef Tract is 365 miles long, running from Dry Tortugas National Park off the coast of the Key West, north to Martin County. As the only barrier reef along the coast of the continental US it creates not only a habitat for literally millions of animals, but a wall of protection from waves and storm surge. It is estimated that this track breaks into patch reefs, and then deep sea reefs up to the northern US. Unfortunately, our coral is suffering greatly. As one scientist once said, “We don’t even know the full extent that coral protects us and the rest of the ocean.”

This is why the Reef Institute sees the importance of protecting our coast, along with educating the next generation on how to best care for the fragile reefs is vital.

Our Research:

On the research side, we are a part of the Florida Coral Rescue Project. Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease, was first discovered in 2014 and along with other environmental factors, has caused Florida coral reefs to decline to only a 3- 5% survival rate. We are the first holding facility to be given corals that have intentionally survived this disease zone. Our organization is also the only non zoo, museum or university to be part of this prestigious project. Additionally we are the only holding facility for Favia fragum, and are holding one of the largest single colonies currently rescued. Our other research projects include work with artificial reefs, and a large coral monitoring project in Palm Beach County, Florida

Our Focus on Education:

For us, our research and education walk hand in hand. Educating the next generation on how to best care for the fragile reefs is vital. We offer many opportunities from outdoor classrooms to distance learning online. Working with the classroom teachers, we reinforce science concepts as students discuss marine science, and see live animals while we facilitate lessons.

We would love for you to check out our website! We are excited to get to know hobbyists! Our board members, Executive Director, marine scientists and marine veterinarian will be on Reef2Reef to interact, learn, and help in any way we can. Some of our staff and board members are active hobbyist and are members to R2R community also. We are grateful for this community and can’t wait to get to know you! We are looking to offer some free virtual education to help you see our coral, and get to know us for both adults and kids very soon!

Welcome to R2R! I’m excited to learn more from your publications!

 

[beachsidereefer]

welcome to R2R! love the work you all are doing!

 

[YNRA]

Welcome to Reef2Reef! Amazing work you're doing, will be following along to watch you guys grow! How do you stay afloat financially? Do you take donations?

 

[mjh712]

Welcome, can't wait to see a picture of my adopted coral. It's nice to now have something golfball sized in the water that I didn't hit into it myself...

Edit: What do you do with the invasive species that you come accross in your dives? (noticed a post about sun coral on your instagram)

 

[Eagle.]

Welcome, It is very good to see youth getting knowledge about our ecosystem and getting inspiration to be in the hobby.

 

[itsken37]

Thank you for our work! We really appreciate it!

 

[danschoenherr]

Welcome to Reef2Reef and thank you for the work that you are doing.
Can you tell me if you have found any coral that are actually adapting and/or thriving in the changing ocean enviroments?

 

[Bacon505]

Its nice seeing more institutions trying to focus on saving the reef.

 

[Adrianna]

Hello R2R community,

We would love to introduce ourselves to this wonderful community.

We are the Reef Institute and our mission is coral conservation through education, research and restoration. We are a small organization on a large mission to save the ocean.


A Little About Our Mission:

Scientists estimate that 50 -80% of all of the oxygen we breath comes from photosynthetic algae in the ocean. Much of this is produced specifically by the zooxanthellae algae living in the tissues of coral. No matter where you live in the world coral, affects your livelihood. For those of us on the Atlantic coast of the United States, our coastlines are directly effected by our coral reefs. The Florida Reef Tract is 365 miles long, running from Dry Tortugas National Park off the coast of the Key West, north to Martin County. As the only barrier reef along the coast of the continental US it creates not only a habitat for literally millions of animals, but a wall of protection from waves and storm surge. It is estimated that this track breaks into patch reefs, and then deep sea reefs up to the northern US. Unfortunately, our coral is suffering greatly. As one scientist once said, “We don’t even know the full extent that coral protects us and the rest of the ocean.”

This is why the Reef Institute sees the importance of protecting our coast, along with educating the next generation on how to best care for the fragile reefs is vital.

Our Research:

On the research side, we are a part of the Florida Coral Rescue Project. Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease, was first discovered in 2014 and along with other environmental factors, has caused Florida coral reefs to decline to only a 3- 5% survival rate. We are the first holding facility to be given corals that have intentionally survived this disease zone. Our organization is also the only non zoo, museum or university to be part of this prestigious project. Additionally we are the only holding facility for Favia fragum, and are holding one of the largest single colonies currently rescued. Our other research projects include work with artificial reefs, and a large coral monitoring project in Palm Beach County, Florida

Our Focus on Education:

For us, our research and education walk hand in hand. Educating the next generation on how to best care for the fragile reefs is vital. We offer many opportunities from outdoor classrooms to distance learning online. Working with the classroom teachers, we reinforce science concepts as students discuss marine science, and see live animals while we facilitate lessons.

We would love for you to check out our website! We are excited to get to know hobbyists! Our board members, Executive Director, marine scientists and marine veterinarian will be on Reef2Reef to interact, learn, and help in any way we can. Some of our staff and board members are active hobbyist and are members to R2R community also. We are grateful for this community and can’t wait to get to know you! We are looking to offer some free virtual education to help you see our coral, and get to know us for both adults and kids very soon!

Welcome!! I can't wait to see more content!