• Welcome back Guest!

    MARSH is a private reefing group. Comments and suggestions are encouraged, but please keep them positive and constructive. Negative threads, posts, or attacks will be removed from view and reviewed by the staff. Continually disruptive, argumentative, or flagrant rule breakers may be suspended or banned.

MARSH + Moody Gardens = A Reef-Tastic New Partnership! (1 Viewer)

Users who are viewing this thread

MARSH BoD

Staff member
Moderator
Board Member
Supporting Member
Joined
Jun 5, 2017
Messages
10,647
Reaction score
781
growout2.jpg

MARSH is excited to announce that we have teamed up with the awesome Aquarists at Moody Gardens in a first of its kind cooperative for Texas reef clubs and hobbyists!

Many of you over the years have enjoyed spending the day at Moody Gardens for a backstage tour. If you joined us on our last tour, you may have noticed many new additions following their renovation period, part of that renovation included a brand new 2,000 gallon Coral Reef exhibit. Many of you have even expressed a desire to help Moody Gardens re-stock and grow out their coral exhibit. We are excited to announce that we are starting two campaigns to help MARSHians do just that!

Many of our MARSHians have “wet” thumbs. Their corals grow at insane rates and find that they are constantly having to frag them. Sometimes we choose to sell those frags, while others can’t seem to give them away for free. If this describes you, perhaps you would consider participating in Campaign #1, “Let It Grow!”

Some of us have insane success at growing one particular coral. Maybe no one can grow bubble coral, Zoa’s, or Monti’s quite like you can and folks are always asking you what your secret is. If this describes you, perhaps you could consider participating in Campaign #2, “Grow Out Challenge!”

The team at Moody Gardens is committed to doing their part to help conserve our natural coral reefs. Ryan H., Moody Gardens “Coral Guy” will be joining us here on MARSH. Please feel free to ask him questions! Ryan will be following along and chiming in on our campaign threads. This will allow him to watch the corals that will in 6 months time, be donated to Moody Gardens. He can keep track of the husbandry methods for each coral, growth rates, parameters, and maybe even learn a thing or two from our local hobbyists.

A Couple of Important tid-bits

· You do NOT have to be a supporting member to participate, these campaigns are open to all! We want to help Moody Gardens Coral Exhibit be a success, which means that this is an all hands
evolution!
· Participants in Campaign #2 will be limited to the number of frags we have available. These frags are being donated by our some of sponsor LFS stores and members.
· All participants will be asked to post bi-weekly photos of their corals/frags as well as post bi-weekly readings. This will not only help Ryan in preparing to receive the corals, but will also be helpful
in allowing our volunteer “experts” with offering advice and suggestions to our participants. After all, we want EVERYONE to succeed!
· You don’t have to participate in either campaign to donate! Ryan has a tank ready to go for holding corals. If you have corals that you would like to donate now, they would love to have them!
Please let a member of the BoD know and we will make arrangements with the team at Moody Gardens for you to receive a personalized tour. You will be able to walk through the intake process,
ask questions, see where your corals will go, and learn more about their QT process.
· Large Colonies are welcome! As you can image, a 2000gl tank has a lot of open space to fill and they would love to add a few larger colonies to their exhibit while the smaller ones continue to
grow and mature.

For more information about the different campaigns or to sign up, please refer to their individual threads. Each thread will also contain more campaign specific details.

We hope that you are just as excited about this new relationship as we are and welcome Ryan and the crew at Moody Gardens to the MARSH family!

To Access the "Let it Grow" thread click this link...http://www.marsh-reef.org/marine-and-reef-general-discussion/55615-let-grow-campaign.html

To Access the "Grow Out" Challenge thread click this link...http://www.marsh-reef.org/marine-and-reef-general-discussion/55616-marsh-grow-out-challenge.html
 
Last edited by a moderator:

chris85

Guest
Joined
Oct 26, 2014
Messages
1,379
Reaction score
116
Location
galveston
I will help with what I can I can't grow anything or do readings but I have a few mushrooms, and a bunch of xenia. I could also collect some local anemones and some peps and blennies or whatever will help out. I love that place and go at least once a week. Count me in if you need me!!
 

sneezebeetle

Treasurer
Staff member
Moderator
Board Member
Supporting Member
Joined
Jul 9, 2015
Messages
5,525
Reaction score
1,899
Location
Houston, TX
I will help with what I can I can't grow anything or do readings but I have a few mushrooms, and a bunch of xenia. I could also collect some local anemones and some peps and blennies or whatever will help out. I love that place and go at least once a week. Count me in if you need me!!
Thats awesome @Chris85. Mushrooms and Xenia is on Ryans wish list for the exhibit! Peps will also handy as well as some pods [emoji4]

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk
 

Seaturtle

Guest
Joined
Sep 22, 2017
Messages
23
Reaction score
30
Location
Galveston
Hi everyone,

I see that my name is getting posted a bit so I thought I would formally introduce myself. My name is Ryan Hannum and I'm the coral biologist at the aquarium at Moody Gardens. Just a little bit of a background about myself, I've been working at Moody Gardens for two years now leading up the coral program here. Before that I've cared for other reef tanks at other facilities and helped private parties with there tanks as well, one of my favorite being a 600 gallon reef exhibit that had been running for over 10 years! I've built a couple grow-out tanks ranging from 30 gallons to 400 gallons and as you all can guess by now have played a part in designing and building our new 2000 gallon reef exhibit. It's been a long challenge planning this exhibit through our complete renovation and we've had a few hiccups along the way to be sure but we are going strong and we're ready to start on this exciting next step with all the MARSHians out there!

I look forward to getting to know everyone who participates in the events to come as well as those who just want to help in any way they can and even to those who just want to chat. I am happy to help in any way that I can as a resource to you as you are all stepping up to help us out and I hope this newfound partnership will extend on long after the conclusion of the event.

If you have any questions, comments, or just want to say hi feel free to send a message, I will be on regularly to check things out (also to read up on some of these informative threads).

Cheers!
 

Maga

Supporting Member
Joined
Jul 28, 2010
Messages
71
Reaction score
5
Location
SE Houston
Hi Ryan, nice to meet you, I live in the area and we love to go to Moody Gardens. We visited the aquarium pyramid and although it was very nice to see more corals, many were bleached already or not doing that good. I hope I am not rude, but I wondered if you guys maybe need some help figuring out what is the problem? I understand you are using NSW and coral/tank volume ratio was very low, so that is not likely to be an issue. Best, M.
 

sneezebeetle

Treasurer
Staff member
Moderator
Board Member
Supporting Member
Joined
Jul 9, 2015
Messages
5,525
Reaction score
1,899
Location
Houston, TX
Hi Ryan, nice to meet you, I live in the area and we love to go to Moody Gardens. We visited the aquarium pyramid and although it was very nice to see more corals, many were bleached already or not doing that good. I hope I am not rude, but I wondered if you guys maybe need some help figuring out what is the problem? I understand you are using NSW and coral/tank volume ratio was very low, so that is not likely to be an issue. Best, M.
Hi Maga!

That was a great observation. When we went down to MG to discuss our ideas and campaigns, we had a chance to see the 2k gl tank and get behind it to see what was running it. It was great to talk with Ryan about the history of the tank, cycling, stocking, and yes...the bleaching. I can assure you that Ryan and the Moody Crew are already working on it and making adjustments as needed to get the system ready.

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk
 

Seaturtle

Guest
Joined
Sep 22, 2017
Messages
23
Reaction score
30
Location
Galveston
Hi Maga!

That was a great observation. When we went down to MG to discuss our ideas and campaigns, we had a chance to see the 2k gl tank and get behind it to see what was running it. It was great to talk with Ryan about the history of the tank, cycling, stocking, and yes...the bleaching. I can assure you that Ryan and the Moody Crew are already working on it and making adjustments as needed to get the system ready.

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

Hi Maga,

We're so glad that you were able to come out and enjoy the aquarium! Even more-so to mention your observations so that we can move forward to better improve our facility for all of you. As sneezebeetle mentioned we had a brief but productive discussion about some of the challenges that the new tank has been facing and some steps to take in order to improve the quality of life for our animals. In the last week or so we have been seeing some improvements to the button corals (palythoas) and that they are returning to their original coloration and polyp extension. Additionally new corals going into the exhibit are not showing similar signs as the earlier counterparts have. We are still facing challenges with our Euphyllia and actinodiscus in the tank but are continuously working to improve this. If you've had similar experiences with these and have been able to come up with a solution I would be happy to have any suggestions from you and other members/guests. Hopefully we'll have them back open again shortly.
 

chris85

Guest
Joined
Oct 26, 2014
Messages
1,379
Reaction score
116
Location
galveston
That is the same question I was going to ask. Just wondering why they bleached out? I was guessing that the nutrients were low from a freshly setup system. I have found that if you use natural unfiltered seawater they tend to color up a little faster. Just turkey baster or in your case turkey baster with a big extension the fresh seawater just like you were spot feeding them. Or if you use fresh plankton feeding fish or just there gut matter helps to in my opinion.(menhaden, pogies, shad)
 

paraletho

Guest
Joined
Jul 30, 2008
Messages
597
Reaction score
119
Location
Sabine Pass TX
I sent the schools shark to Moody Gardens today. Ryan said it was the first official MARSH donation in the partnership. Looking forward to a long and beneficial relationship with them.
 

paraletho

Guest
Joined
Jul 30, 2008
Messages
597
Reaction score
119
Location
Sabine Pass TX
I was so busy gathering things we needed and helping lure her and then tease her into the net I didn't get any, but the science teacher was busy with her phone snapping pics. I will see what I can do. Ryan said he would be posting updates once she is settled into Quarantine
 

sneezebeetle

Treasurer
Staff member
Moderator
Board Member
Supporting Member
Joined
Jul 9, 2015
Messages
5,525
Reaction score
1,899
Location
Houston, TX
Awesome!

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk
 

sneezebeetle

Treasurer
Staff member
Moderator
Board Member
Supporting Member
Joined
Jul 9, 2015
Messages
5,525
Reaction score
1,899
Location
Houston, TX
I was at MG yesterday to deliver some corals and was able to snap a few pics of the shark. They are very excited to have her. Once she is done in observation/qt she will join other female bamboo sharks in the main exhibit. For now though she is in good company with some rays and other sharks. She is being fattened up a little and enjoying continued human interaction so the divers are able to continue to hand feed her once she is in her permanent tank.

108735ec5fa601f5127d32881c0b7d30.jpg
b04fbc00529e6dc4cdfac699208df2c2.jpg


Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk
 

sneezebeetle

Treasurer
Staff member
Moderator
Board Member
Supporting Member
Joined
Jul 9, 2015
Messages
5,525
Reaction score
1,899
Location
Houston, TX
This is the other fish that was donated to MG by Clownfish Chris, a very healthy and happy Vlamingi Tang. She was placed in their new 2k reef exhibit tank with some other Yellow Tangs, a Skunk Clown and Maroon Clown. She is really enjoying being in charge and still enjoys a good petting session with Ryan.
db7e097de78eb3a5dd043b2426ebfcc5.jpg
b0c45c7209722eba7b9bcbcd16f9142a.jpg


Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk
 

Seaturtle

Guest
Joined
Sep 22, 2017
Messages
23
Reaction score
30
Location
Galveston
Hi guys,

Sorry for the late post, was out of town for some time during the holiday season and didn't have a chance to put the photos up. Thank you sneezebeetle for posting some follow up picks of the bamboo shark. I'm happy to say that she's cleared her qt time and is still a happy young lady and we plan to keep her in her holding tank for a little bit longer just to put a little more weight on her before she joins her new sisters. She would be the smallest shark in the tank and we would like her to match the size of the others a little bit more first. Another thank you to sneezebeetle for being our first coral donor to Moody Gardens, she brought over 8 beautiful species of corals that our now residing peacefully in one of our two exhibits. We look forward to the months to come!
 

Clownfish Chris

Moved On
Joined
Nov 15, 2014
Messages
1,915
Reaction score
4
Location
Spring 77373
Ryan, thank you for the update! Any more pictures of the corals? Of course I’m always interested to hear about the Vlamingi as well!
 

gregg

President
Staff member
Administrator
Moderator
Board Member
Supporting Member
Build Thread Contributor
Joined
Jan 28, 2015
Messages
6,798
Reaction score
2,812
Location
Downtown
My son and I watched that shark come out of its egg, it's amazing to see it come so far and now end up at moody gardens. Looking forward to coming out and seeing how far she's come.
 
Top