For those who are just entering the hobby and those who are experienced.  There is a new resource now available to the home reef aquarist.  A company is now offering online courses to aid the home enthusiast in our efforts to create natural aquatic environments.  “Maco” has designed a series of course ranging from Reef Chemistry to Reef Husbandry.  Here is a complete list of currently planned courses and their associated syllabuses.

Reef Chemistry – January 2008

There is a moderately steep learning curve associated with aquarium chemistry and hobbyists often get conflicting or confusing responses when they ask questions of their local aquarium/pet stores or other hobbyists. The main goal of this course is to dispel some of the confusion and mystery that surround subjects of marine aquarium chemistry. It will do so by providing the background necessary for understanding basic subjects such as the differences between atoms and ions as well as complex subjects such as ionic strength and the marine carbonate buffer system. It is the instructor's goal that, by the end of the course, students feel comfortable with both the science-specific end of aquarium chemistry and what it means in the real world. This course is a review, but it will have information for a range of aquarist experience from early beginners to more advanced individuals.

Reef Microbiology – January 2008

This course starts with the basics of microbial growth and nutrition and follows, for 6 weeks, into a breakdown of the current scientific knowledge regarding nitrogen cycling and fixation in the marine environment. This is the real deal, no supposition or myth!

Digital Reefkeeping – Late Winter 2008

Included is the outline for this 8 week course. This course is designed to help students understand how to build a basic web site to share photos and information about their aquariums with others. The course will cover topics such as hosting options, FTP, web page creation and basic image editing. At the end of the course each student will have a working website that they can continue to update.

Aquaculture in Practice – Data unknown

This is a 6 week course designed to teach the basics of growing and maintaining cultures of food organisms for the reef and marine aquarium.

Reef Husbandry – Date unknown

This class will introduce you into the world of marine fish husbandry, from basic biology and taxonomy, to principles and procedures used to insure that these animals live out long and healthy lives under your care. You’ll learn how to select the proper equipment, and be guided on how to set up your system in a way that suits the fish that you’ve chosen and the environment that you would like to emulate. Most importantly, you’ll learn to avoid all the mistakes that are so easily made when learning to keep these amazing animals. The class will cover the tendencies and idiosyncrasies of various families of marine fish, how they interact with each other, and how to keep them together without experiencing the problems that plague so many aquarists. You’ll learn how to manage and avoid diseases that commonly infect and often kill so many captive marine fish. You’ll learn what you must do, and as importantly, what you must not do in order to excel as a marine fish keeper.

With more courses to come with a successful launch of the first series.  There are no reviews as of yet to the contents and quality of these courses as this is the first time they are being offered.  However, I am sure as with any time you get a group of enthusiast together something productive with come out of it.  I once heard a great saying once “A truly wise man realizes that he knows very little”.  There is always something new to learn with this hobby and that is true for this hobby more then most.  I plan to attend either one or both of the first courses being offered “Reef Chemistry” and/or “Reef Microbiology” and plan to post a detailed review of the contents of the course/s.  They have provided a basic layout of the course on there web site and the services that will be offered with them.  The course boasts weekly live chat sessions with an instructor on select topics outlined in the syllabus as well as a lifetime subscription to the forum for the particular class you registered for.  The typical class cost is $75 dollars which while pricy, is cheaper then the loss of 1 coral in most cases.

Please visit the Maco website for further details.

Jeremy Orchuk