Reintroducing the Palm Beach Marine Aquarium Society!!!

The Palm Beach Marine Aquarium Society is returning!

Keep an eye on the tanknicians social media pages by following the link bellow and clicking on the social media icons! We will be updating you there as we learn more about the arrival of the reborn Palm Beach Marine Aquarium Society

The Palm Beach Marine Aquarium Society: Back and better than ever!

When I first entered the hobby in 2004 Palm Beach County had a thriving community of marine aquarists and a supporting club. The Palm Beach Marine Aquarium Society was a space to get advice, share your progress, buy and sell used or unneeded equipment, trade livestock like corals that have overgrown your aquarium, learn about exclusive discounts from club sponsors and meet other hobbyists at events with cook outs, guest speakers, and vender raffles. The PBMAS membership drives attracted many new hobbyists which led to better events, more and larger stores with better selection, and more collective aquatic wisdom to pull from.

PBMAS Frag Swap

The Palm Beach Marine Aquarium Society Frag Swaps were a great time for hobbyists and vendors to share experiences and corals

It was a sad day for the local hobby in South Florida when the PBMAS went defunct

I’m not sure exactly what happened but at some point, the PBMAS starting back tracking. There was less involvement. The club did fewer and fewer events which had the result of having fewer and fewer people attending. A couple years ago, the club went officially defunct and the once thriving community of hobbyists became fragmented. I recognized the decline of the club and admit to being too busy to participate in its final years, but it was still jarring for me to hear that it had dissolved. My experiences within the industry leads me to believe that the local hobby in palm beach county is larger now than it was 15 years ago- it’s time to bring back the PBMAS.

The loss of the club had a major effect on the local aquarium and reefkeeping hobby.

Over the past five years, I’ve felt the void that the loss of an aquarium club has had on the community. This hobby thrives off of a strong supporting community. New hobbyists rely on the experiences of others for their initial successes and experienced hobbyists rely on the experiences of others for their continued successes. Without the club, the pool of experience for hobbyists in palm beach shrunk. Many hobbyists had to start relying more heavily on local fish stores for guidance, which means that their well of experience is only as deep as the employees that work there (Line about profit conflict motives). Even hobbyists willing to venture into Facebook groups and larger national forums like reef2reef have to contend with the barriers inherent to online communication. There is no digital substitute for talking to someone with experience directly.

Now is the time to re-energize the aquarium keeping communities of South Florida!

2019 is an exciting time for the hobby. All aspects of the aquatic hobby are growing in interesting ways. Hobbyists are pushing the boundaries of aesthetics, technology, ecology, and biology. The range of aquascaping materials have unlocked incredible hardscapes from floating reefs to realistic freshwater planted landscapes landscapes. Smart devices and aquarium controllers are increasing in user friendliness and complexity while simultaneously dropping in price. Automated water monitoring devices like the mind stream, kh guardian, and apex trident have made it easier than ever for hobbyists to maintain stability and balance. We’re seeing more and more diversity in the hobby, not just in fish and corals, but also in plants and invertebrates. As a result, aquariums are more ecologically complex and interesting. Most importantly hobbyists are undeniably more successful now than they have ever been. Species that I was told were impossible to keep 15 years ago are now commonplace in the hobby and what we’ve collectively learned about there captive care has implications for the hobby and science broadly.

Reintroducing the Palm Beach Marine Aquarium Society!!!

The rate of progress in the hobby means that its more important than ever that local communities stay strong. I’m proud to announce the reintroduction of the PBMAS here and excited to see the fun and innovative projects that the new leadership has planned. Stay tuned to this blog and out social media to learn how to join the new Palm Beach Marine Aquarium Society!!!

The pictures in this blog are fond memories for those that were in the club years ago. To the new hobbyists joining the club, look forward to making memories like these for yourselves!