Tanks in Schools Program
A leader in school reef aquariums
Reef Conservation Society members establish and maintain reef aquaria in schools throughout Pennsylvania. In some cases schools provide generous financial support for the aquarium setup. In others cases we are able to place tanks with support from generous donors. We welcome your support of our existing tanks and future tanks. If you are interested in learning how to start a tank program in your area please contact Larry Flint, Vice President of Education at chemtchr@yahoo.com.
Directory of schools
Williamsport Area High School (Williamsport, Pennsylvania)
Our program's main system with over 1100 gallons of display reefs in four locations, a coral propagation system and fish breeding program.
Allenwood Federal Correctional Institution (White Deer, Pennsylvania)
We established a partnership with the Allenwood Federal Correctional Institution in the Fall of 2011. The prison complex hosts a unique aquaculture vocational training program where trout and catfish are raised in an indoor facility for release in streams and rivers in Pennsylvania. They also have a 130 gallon acrylic reef aquarium in the Law Library that was built from scratch by inmates in conduction with their carpentry program. The system is completely automated and features high quality equipment. The main purpose of our partnership is to receive coral they are propagating at the prison and to provide new species of coral from the propagation system at Williamsport Area High School.
Barbizon School (Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania)
90 gallon reef aquarium
Bloomsburg Area High School (Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania)
120 gallon reef aquarium
Children's Home of Reading (Reading, Pennsylvania)
90 gallon reef aquarium.
Ebner Elementary School (Altoon, Pennsylvania)
55 gallon reef aquarium in a main hallway. Installed in the summer of 2012.
Gettysburg College (Gettysburg, Pennsylvania)
Gettysburg College maintains a 150 gallon reef aquarium in one of their science buildings. We were able to help stock the tank with coral grown in the Williamsport Area High School system and from member donations. Christian Newmann is a student at Gettysburg College and a volunteer who donates his time maintaining their tank. Before Christian's involvement, the tank was in bad shape with lots of aiptasia and hair algae. His dedication to making their tank look great has allowed our club to reach out to college level students.
Lake-Lehman High School (Lehman, Pennsylvania)
65 gallon, 90 gallon and 110 gallon reef aquariums
Lycoming Valley Middle School (Williamsport, Pennsylvania)
180 gallon reef aquarium.
Northwest Area High School (Shickshinny, Pennsylvania)
120 gallon reef aquarium.
Walnut Street School (Avis, Pennsylvania)
90 gallon reef aquarium.
Program sponsors
The generous financial, time and material support of our sponsors and donors makes our program succcessful.
Keystone Supporters ($2000+ in support)
That Pet Place/That Fish Place - Our partnership with That Pet Place for swaps over the past five years has been an immense help in expanding the Tanks in Schools program.
United Pet Group/Marineland/Instant Ocean - We use Reef Crystals salt exclusively
Vertex Aquaristik - We won the 2010 Vertex Me video contest for $2000 in filtration equipment. We seleected the Vertex Alpha 300 skimmer, two IN-180 skimmers adn a UF-20 carbon reactor for use in school aquariums. See our video.
Williamsport Area High School Class of 2010 - Donated a 300 gallon Marineland Deep Dimension Starphire aquarium, 300 pounds of dry Marco Rock, and Octopus Extreme 350 skimmer, Rapid LED components and livestock.
Williamsport Area School District Board of Directors - A very valuable partner in our Tanks in Schools program. WASD provides the space and utilities for our main system and allows us to host an annual swap at the high school.
First Community Foundation Partnership of Pennsylvania - $3000 grant for Coral Growth Experiment and Data Sharing project in 2011
Major Supporters ($1000+ in support)
Williamsport Area School District Foundation - $1500 grant in 2012 to jumpstart our clownfish breeding program
Dr. Daniel Glunk and Family - Donation of a 180 gallon reef aqarium setup for the Lycoming Valley Middle School.
Reef Supporters (up to $1000 in donations or purchasing discounts)
AquaC - We use AquaC Remora Pro S skimmers on a number of our smaller school tanks and for research purposes.
Avast Marine - We have three Avast skimmers in operation on various tanks in our program.
Beyond the Reef in Bloomsburg, PA provided excellent livstock and support while they were in operation
Bulk Reef Supply - We use BRS RO/DI units, carbon, dry rock, GFO, and two part reagents in our systems.
Knockout Aquatics in Reeders, PA for nice coral specimens
Neptune Aquatics - We use Neptune Apex controllers on four of our systems and we're looking forward to future expansion
Rapid LED - We use the Rapid LED Ultra Premium LEDs on most all of our tanks. Excellent people with excellent products!
Reeflo - Closed loop circulation for the 670 gallon aquarium at Williamsport Area High School is handled with Reeflo Blowhole BH2700 pumps. We also use Reeflo Dart pumps in closed loop circualation on two other aquariums at Williamsport Area High School.
AND... all of the members of NCPARS and the Reef Conservation Society who have donated their time, expertise and coral fragments over the years
