formerly the North Central Pennsylvania Aquarium Reef Society
formerly the North Central Pennsylvania Aquarium Reef Society
A leader in school reef aquariums
Reef Conservation Society members establish and maintain reef aquaria in schools throughout Pennsylvania and Maryland. 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.
We pride ourselves on using sustainable reefkeeping practices demonstrated in this video where we culture our live rock from quarried dry rock and propagate coral from colonies grown from hobbyist fragments.
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 3000 gallons of display reefs in three 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 conjuction 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
NEW East Pennsboro High School (Enola, Pennsylvania)
We donated a full 55 gallon aquarium setup with stand, canopy, heater, filter and gravel for a freshwater project in Mrs. Christina Baldwin's classroom.
Ebner Elementary School (Altoon, Pennsylvania)
55 gallon reef aquarium in a main hallway. Installed in the summer of 2012.
Francis Scott Key High School (Union Bridge, Maryland)
In 2015 we provided coral, an RO/DI unit and a nice Marineland Reef LED to support a research project in teacher Emily Fair's classroom. Their program is already well established but we help out the best we can!
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 was a student at Gettysburg College and a volunteer who donated 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.
Heights Murray Elementary School (Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania)
We set up a beautiful 180 gallon aquarium in their school lobby and have donated coral, rock and supplies to Mr. Kevin Sickle's classroom reef aquariums. In 2016 we helped set up a new 100 gallon corner curve aquarium with 100% aquacultured anemones, coral and clownfish from our tanks at Williamsport Area High School.
Kistler Elementary School (Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania)
Home to a 65 gallon aquarium that has now been at three different schools in our network
Lake-Lehman High School (Lehman, Pennsylvania)
90 gallon, 110 gallon and 180 gallon reef aquariums
Lycoming Valley Middle School (Williamsport, Pennsylvania)
180 gallon reef aquarium.
Lycoming College (Williamsport, Pennsylvania)
We trade coral with Lycoming College and volunteer as consultants for their beautiful 220 gallon aquarium in the Heim building lobby.
North Central Secure Treatment Unit (Danville, Pennsylvania)
Reef Conservation Society was able to donate a complete 55 gallon tank setup including a stand, filtration, lighting and operational equipment for their Trout in the Classroom program.
Northwest Area High School (Shickshinny, Pennsylvania)
120 gallon reef aquarium
Solomon-Plains Elementary School (Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania)
Jeff Ney's classroom has a 29 gallon biocube donated by Coralife and stocked with rock and coral from Williamsport Area High School.
Sunbury Christian Academy (Northumberland, Pennsylvania)
We donated a 55 gallon aquarium for their Trout in the Classroom program
Walnut Street School (Avis, Pennsylvania)
90 gallon reef aquarium
NEW Williamsport High School (Williamsport, Maryland)
We're installing a brand new 150 gallon reef tank at Williamsport High School in Williamsport, Maryland in November 2017.
The generous financial, time and material support of our sponsors and donors makes our program succcessful.
Keystone Supporters ($2000+ in support)
Aquarium Engineering - Bill Wann makes incredible protein skimmers and calcium reactors. His generous gift of a calcium reactor has accelerated our coral growth!
Bulk Reef Supply - We use BRS RO/DI units, carbon, dry rock, GFO, and two part reagents in our systems.
Central Aquatics - The company that brings you Oceanic, Kent Marine, Coralife and Aqueon invited us to be part of the Conservation Corner at MACNA 2015, covering our booth fee. They also made a generous donation to our program expenses.
DonorsChoose.org - Support for our anemone propagation system at Williamsport Area High School
Dr. Daniel Glunk and Family - Donation of a 180 gallon reef aqarium setup for the Lycoming Valley Middle School and later Williamsport Area High School in 2012
EcoTech Marine - EcoTech has donated lights, pumps and powerheads to our school program and is an ongoing supporter with raffle donations and valuable product service.
Fritz Aquatics - We started to use Fritz RPM Pro salt in all of our school systems starting in 2017. Their salt mixes quickly, cleanly and tests well. Great salt!
Geisinger - Donation of a fully stocked 180 gallon aquarium system in 2015
That Pet Place/That Fish Place - Our partnership with That Pet Place for swaps over the past ten years has been an immense help in expanding the Tanks in Schools program.
United Pet Group/Marineland/Instant Ocean - We light some of our tanks with their Marineland LEDs, use the Magnum Polishing filters and have various other equipment. They have donated tanks and provided excelllent discounts for our schools..
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)
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation - Provided matching support for one of our DonorsChoose.org projects.
Something Fishy in Northampton, PA has provided generous support of our frag swaps in recent years.
Williamsport Area School District Foundation - $1500 grant in 2012 to jumpstart our clownfish breeding program.
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 Frag Plugs - Donation of frag plugs to the school program.
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.
TB Aquatics - Donated NYOS products and Red Sea products in 2015. We did some video reviews for their YouTube channel. Watch one here.
The Alternative Reef - Excellent supplier of ceramic frag plugs. We switched to using their products in 2015.
Travelers Insurance - Provided support for one of our DonorsChoose.org projects.
AND... all of the members of NCPARS and the Reef Conservation Society who have donated their time, expertise and coral fragments over the years
