Club Showcase

Central Ohio Reef Aquarists (CORA)

About Us

The Central Ohio Reef Aquarists (CORA) is a club consisting of a casual group of aquarists of all ages and experience in Central Ohio with over 100 members. We were founded in 2002 when it was just a handful of guys who got together to drink beer and talk reefs! CORA is lead by an elected group of officers and a board of directors.

Meetings

Thanks to the leadership of CORA’s original group of officers, the club went from casual monthly meetings to hosting world-reknowned speakers and began producing some of the best frag swaps in the country! CORA meets once a month. At a typical monthly meeting we have around 30-40 members in attendance. For most meetings, we have either a speaker or a workshop or some other activity for our members. During the summer months, the club takes a more laid-back approach, and we typically get together to just socialize and talk reefs.

Membership

Membership is open to anyone. Benefits include discounts at some local fish stores and optional participation in the club's local activities and outings. And, most important of all, the ability to interact with a large group of well-informed hobbyists who are open and willing to share their experiences in the hobby and lend a helping hand as needed. This can be a priceless asset to those just starting out in the hobby or to seasoned hobbyists alike. Some of our member’s tanks have even been honored as Reef Central’s Tank of the Month!

Aquarist Education

A a club CORA strives to educate hobbyists about the importance and delicate balance of our marine ecosystem. One of the primary ways we do this is by increasing member’s knowledge around the husbandry of closed marine ecosystems.

Promoting Coral Propagation

One of the goals of CORA has always been to help educate fellow hobbyists on the impact our hobby has on our ecosystem. CORA brings fellow reefers together and educates its members on conscientious reefkeeping by promoting captive-propagated corals and environmentally-friendly reefkeeping practices.

SECORE Project

CORA has worked with the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium to support the SECORE project! The goal of the www.SECORE.org project is to conserve the endangered Elkhorn coral, Acropora palmata. The program “…creates a platform for public aquaria and zoos to work closely together with marine science, sharing knowledge and practical skills in coral husbandry and coral research.”

Frag Swaps

CORA is well-known for is our frag swaps! We have partnered with C-Sea, the Cleveland Aquarium Society, in the past on speakers and split the year with them on a bi-annual swap, with them hosting in the spring and us in the fall. Early on, the swaps were small, around 20 or so people, and they were held at member’s homes. When that quickly became no longer feasible, we had to go bigger. The venues continued to get larger, more and more people came, and eventually we ended up where we are now - a large venue that allows us to host 15 vendors and more than 40 hobbyist tables. The focus of the swap has always been the hobbyist. With participating vendors bringing some of the finest SPS, LPS, and soft corals available, as well as hobbyists setting up tanks filled with stellar quality captive-propagated coral frags, and well over 300 attendees on average annually, our swaps are one of the best known and biggest in the Midwest.

Speakers

We regularly host world-class speakers for our local members such as Steven Pro, Mike Paletta (pictured), Eric Borneman and Joe Yaiullo. Our member presentations have covered topics from setting up a refugium, maximizing your lighting, getting the most out of your digital camera, to making your own homemade fish food.

DIY Workshops

The club has hosted do-it-yourself workshops where we have built Kalkwasser reactors (instructed by Geo himself). We’ve also done the Maxi-Jet modification and at our August meeting this year we did a fragging demonstration in preparation for our upcoming swap.

Tank Tours

We have incorporated a bi-annual tank tour. These are always very popular with our members and gives everyone a chance to learn from others.

Website

In addition to our dedicated forum on Reef Central, we also have our own club website. www.CORAREEF.org, which is used as our primary communication tool for the club. It’s here where we make meeting announcements and solicit feedback from our own local forum.

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