I wanted to reach out to my “southern†reefing brothers and sisters to extend an invite to the 2015 New England Frag Farmer’s Market on March 7th at E.O. Smith High School in Storrs CT. This is the 8th edition of the FFM and it has grown into the biggest coral show in the Northeast. I used to jokingly include this in my posts but it has become true over the last few years with an overwhelming number of corals for sale. I know it is a haul for most of you guys to come up but I have not had people who come and leave disappointed. I have quite a list of sellers already signed up and some room for new people as well. Pretty much all the major players will be there again this year, and a few pretty exciting new ones! I am going to top the number of vendors at 50 or so to try to maintain some sanity. As usual, I would love to add more hobbyists to the list, which was the original intention of the FFM, so please let me know if you are interested in making a few $ from your fragging at home. Just let me know soon so I can save a space for you to sell.
I also wanted to mention the admission fee. I have never really charged to attend the FFM in the past but based on the # of people who came out last year (800+), I was asked to pay to use the school’s space for this year’s FFM. I very reluctantly decided that I had to raise the admission fee. I chose $5, and am planning to increase the number of FFM gift certificates that I give away as door prizes and in the raffle. I am also going to use some of the $ collected at the door to start a scholarship for college bound seniors planning to study biology. I am not sure what the scholarship looks like yet, but I promise that the $ will go to a good cause!
As in previous years, please let me know if you have questions or need any information on this year’s FFM. It looks to be bigger and better than last year!
I hear you. I post in your forum and few others that are a bit of a ride just to let you guys know it is going on. There are so many meetings/swaps that happen that are so small and not worth a long ride but the FFM has grown into a monster and it is ALL about the frags. I have a few groups that all carpool out to the FFM every year from some distance. Maybe you guys could get a group together and ride up for the day. You guys drive all the way up from Delaware, admission is on me.
I have gotten a TON of emails asking for clarification on how the FFM works so I thought it might be easier to just post the general info for people who have not been in the past.
The FFM is on March 7th and the doors open to the public at 11am (there is usually quite a line by then!). There are no advance tickets, you just need to pay at the door that day. Admission is $5 per person. Spouses, and kids under 15 are free.
It is a GIANT coral market, with a TON of corals for sale. Some swapping does go on but it is really just a way to bring together as many hobbyists and local shops as I can to sell off their “homegrown” stuff. The focus is really on the “homegrown” corals and promoting aquaculture, so you can figure on seeing lots of frags of all different types.
My seller list is pretty much full and I already have a small waiting list to get a space if people cancel but people are welcome to shoot me a PM and get on it. I have already had some spots open, so you never know!
Do me a favor in the last few weeks- spread the word!
Lou Elkus, from Tropic Marin and a huge supporter of the school’s project, and I had been talking about the range of the crowd at the FFM- from legendary reefer to complete newbie. Lou mentioned that he gives a number of talks about reef chemistry. Having talked to Lou a number of times about various aspects of my own reefs, I thought it would be a great idea to include one of Lou’s talks at the FFM to get some of the newer people up to speed on their own tanks. Here is the official announcement for Lou’s talk:
At 1pm in the lecture hall of the school (just around the corner from all the corals!) Lou will be giving a talk titled “Basic Reef Chemistry.” The talk will be focused on teaching the newer reefer the basics of reef chemistry including calcium, alkalinity, magnesium and more. I have heard Lou speak a number of times and he really has a gift for breaking down the complex ideas of reef chemistry into an easily understandable package. I highly recommend it. Oh, and by the way, the talk is FREE and anyone who attends the talk will be in the running for a $25 FFM Gift Certificate to be pulled at the end of the talk.
Thanks and see you all in a few weeks!
Jon
Here is the updated list as of this morning, with a few cancellations and a few additions. My apologies to any of the “vendors” whose home locations I mixed up…
AC Corals (CT)
Alex’s Advanced Aquatics (CT)
ARKSC (CT)
Aquadreams (MA)
AZNnutty’s Saltwater Connections (OH)
BareBottom Corals (NY)
Blastomaster (CT)
CTARS (CT)
Coralium (CT)
Dan Rigle ¶
dizzzy1209 (NJ)
Elmafioso52988 (NY)
E.O. Smith Coral Project (CT)
Exotic Fish and Corals (CT)
Exotic Reef Creations (NY)
Fins Aquarium (NJ)
Fish Frenzy (MA)
Frag Freaks (MA)
Fraggin Waggon (SC)
Frank180Reef (MA)
Gotham Aquatics (NY)
Greg Hiller (MA)
Hammer (NH)
Ijamcorals (MD)
Jason Foxx (MD)
Kwong1998 (NY)
Marine Reef Habitat (MA)
Matt Spaulding (VT)
MetroKat’s Sassy Frags (NY)
Micheal Reeve (CT)
MO~Idol (NY)
Neublian (CT)
New York Coral Farmer (NY)
New York Reef Club (NY)
Pablo (NY)
Pacific East Aquaculture (MD)
Pieces of the Ocean (NY)
Pimentinha (NY)
Polywise (NJ)
Popcorals (NJ)
R+R Aquatics (NJ)
Reef Creations (NY)
Sassawrasse (CT)
Shayna 123 (CT)
Shawn B (CT)
Shector (CT)
Long Island Sound School (CT)
SteelerMike (CT)
sydaze4 (CT)
Suicideissleep (CT)
The Coral Reef (CT)
Triggreef (CT)
Ultimate Corals (NJ)
Upstate Corals (NY)
Wet Pets (CT)
xclusive corals (NY) zooanthids.com (OH)
I just got a note that Logan from Reefbreeders will be offering a few specials for the FFM this year.
First, he is throwing a Superlux LED fixture into the raffle, to go with the dosing pump he was already putting in. He is also offering:
$20 off all Jaebo pumps, at the FFM only. He NEVER discounts them.
I just got back from the school (okay, I might have slept for a few hours…) and about 1/2 the people came to set-up last night. I have to say that the stuff people brought this year, compared to previous years, is amazing. Just walking around, I saw quite a few things that I had never seen before. The only problem that I had was that I was too busy to cherry pick anything before the FFM got going! Seriously, I am positive that this will be the biggest and best FFM yet, with more set-ups, and just about all of the local clubs there to promote their events and club. Do me one last favor and tell someone about the event this morning, or just stop by their house and grab them on your way out. When you are at the FFM today, stop by and introduce yourself. I love to meet all the people that are just as crazy as I am!
-Jon
Now that the dust has settled, for the most part, I wanted to extend a thank you to all of the vendors and attendees. The vendors this year brought the sweetest stuff I have ever seen at an FFM. They truly brought their A game and I was just sorry that I didn’t get to stop and see half of them during the day. I also appreciate any of you guys who made the trip up to come shop and hope that your ride was worth it!
On a less positive note, one of my students had a clam that he had bought taken from the greenhouse at the end the FFM. He spent all of the money that he had on this clam and someone walked off with it. I am hoping it was an accident but if anyone knows anything about the missing clam, please let me know. I don’t want to see the poor kid have to save up for another few months to replace it…
I just wanted to let people know that this whole thing is going to have a happy ending.
Both The Coral Reef and Aquadreams have offered to give Ethan a replacement clam to make him whole again. He just needs to decide which shop he will take up on the offer. I showed him the threads today and he was flattered by all of the generosity from this, and many other groups. I started this thread just to see if someone had picked it up on accident and discovered that the reefing community in the area is full of just plain great people. I thank you, and Ethan thanks you as well for all of the very generous offers everyone has made. Thanks to everyone for showing him, and reminding me, of great a group the reefkeepers in this area are. I am glad to have him to leave the experience with that rather than the negative of losing the clam. Thanks again!
Jon
