As some here know, I work for a university Marine Science Program. Among other things, it gives me an opportunity to work with some marine life that is not available in the hobby. When I was asked to set up some display tanks, the opportunity to work with tropical Atlantic hard corals came along. The reason for the display tanks, when our building was built, the wet labs were build with nice round "port hole" windows that look in from the hallway. My boss (also an old time fish guy) thought it would be good to set some display tanks up in these windows. Not something I was going to argue with 
Naturally being a Florida University, have to go with Florida habitats.
One of our grad students was working with Acropora cervicornis (Staghorn coral) that were donated by the Coral Reef Restoration Foundation. He finished his work, but had some left over frags that were now in need of a home. This required two things, permission from CRF and permitting from the NOAA people at the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. Thus the project of setting up a Tropical Atlantic Hard Coral display tank began. Along with the A. cervicornis from the CRF, the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary also offered me additional hard corals from their nursery program (run by Mote). The permit itself is not difficult to obtain, but it does require one to have legitimate research or educational use. BTW, please note my permit # in the thread title, posting it is one of the permit requirements for making such posts
The FKNMS nursery corals are all rescues, salvaged from seawalls before construction or from dredge sites before the dredging begins. These corals are then used for restoration projects, research, and educational uses.
Now, we all know reefing requires patience, combine it with a job for which such activities are a minor part, it's been a slow road to getting this tank up and stocked. The corals from the FKNMS I got back in March. It wasn't much later that received 100 lbs of aquacultered (in Florida) live base rock donated by our friend Richard of Tampa Bay Saltwater, those that know Richard and his reputation know that he is one of the best in the industry...especially when you factor in his willingness to donate LR to such educational endeavors.
To start with a few pictures from back in March:
Mote Marine Lab's outdoor nursery tanks. They are on canal a short hop from the ocean side of Summerland Key. Growing under 70% shade cloth.
A grow tank of one of the Montastraea species. They start these from from only a polyp or two microfrags. Very high success rate utilizing flow through sea water and natural sunlight.
Naturally being a Florida University, have to go with Florida habitats. One of our grad students was working with Acropora cervicornis (Staghorn coral) that were donated by the Coral Reef Restoration Foundation. He finished his work, but had some left over frags that were now in need of a home. This required two things, permission from CRF and permitting from the NOAA people at the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. Thus the project of setting up a Tropical Atlantic Hard Coral display tank began. Along with the A. cervicornis from the CRF, the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary also offered me additional hard corals from their nursery program (run by Mote). The permit itself is not difficult to obtain, but it does require one to have legitimate research or educational use. BTW, please note my permit # in the thread title, posting it is one of the permit requirements for making such posts
The FKNMS nursery corals are all rescues, salvaged from seawalls before construction or from dredge sites before the dredging begins. These corals are then used for restoration projects, research, and educational uses. Now, we all know reefing requires patience, combine it with a job for which such activities are a minor part, it's been a slow road to getting this tank up and stocked. The corals from the FKNMS I got back in March. It wasn't much later that received 100 lbs of aquacultered (in Florida) live base rock donated by our friend Richard of Tampa Bay Saltwater, those that know Richard and his reputation know that he is one of the best in the industry...especially when you factor in his willingness to donate LR to such educational endeavors.
To start with a few pictures from back in March:
Mote Marine Lab's outdoor nursery tanks. They are on canal a short hop from the ocean side of Summerland Key. Growing under 70% shade cloth.
A grow tank of one of the Montastraea species. They start these from from only a polyp or two microfrags. Very high success rate utilizing flow through sea water and natural sunlight.
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Keep in mind, they were all taken with my cell phone, and for the front view of the display two panes of glass with a 6" gap between them...talk about the challenge of reflections and distortion :eek2: 
