South Eastern Coral Farmers Market Text

2011 SE-CFM History

Images of the 2011 Event below !

Our second annual South Eastern Coral Farmers Market SM coral show held at Orlando on May 29th 2011 was another successful venture into Florida for the CFM companies. The event itself was well attended although total attendance did decrease this year and we believe that was entirely due to economic conditions. Vendor participation was strong and there was literally a few thousand captive grown corals displayed for sale. Total attendance was around 250 including vendors. The SE-CFM will be working with a Florida based company to help promote future events within the state of Florida. Operationally the event only experienced a few minor problems that included lost hotel room reservations and a vendor who put shipping water into a clean salt water barrel.

The CFM company was able to utilize our Coral Transport System and this was the first time it was used for a 4 day outbound and 4 day inbound drive across the country. In the past we have operated the CFM Coral Transport System for 2 day outbound and inbound trips. This time we literally drove about 250 coral fragments from California to Florida. We gained a significant amount of experience transporting these corals. They were given light every night in 30 gallon coral holding tanks that were setup in Motel rooms. We did lose about 10-12 fragments on the outbound trip due to filtration requirements being greater then expected and due to an operational error. All these lessons learned were applied to the return inbound trip where about 150 coral fragments were transported from Florida to California. We did not lose a single coral on the return trip. We even stopped in Mississippi to deliver captive grown coral fragments to a private collector. These fragments had been traveling on the road for nine days when delivered. The CFM is working on expanding these coral transport road trips in the future. On this trip we were able to stop near New Orleans and pick up corals from a reef shop. These corals were transferred into the CFM Transport System on the road and delivered to a vendor for consignment sale at Orlando. A couple were also used as CFM Raffle and Auction corals.

Our Golden Sponsor World Wide Corals provided all our saltwater requirements, assisted with pipe and drape setup and WWC also housed corals flown in by some of our vendors. These corals were in excellent condition at the coral show event. We experienced very good support from Reef Nutrition another one of our Golden Sponsors. The SE-CFM also hired a Florida crew and utilized a few local volunteers to help operate, setup and tear down the show equipment. They consisted of three Space Coast Reef Club (SCRC) members - Steve Kinnaird, John Miller and Tim Wilhelm. Along with four Florida Reef Aquarium Group (FRAG) members - Terry and Bonnie Alexander along with Mike and Kelly Martin. Their expert operational support was most welcome. We definitely will continue to make Orlando Florida an annual location for the CFM events. We are also exploring the possibility of adding a second Florida location in the future. Thanks to everyone who helped to make this event a successful coral show.

SE-CFM and CFM Staff

2011 South Eastern Coral Farmers MarketSM Images
(Images copyright of Bonnie Alexander unless otherwise noted.)

Reef Empire made the trip all the way from Southern California by plane.
They displayed some rather large sized aquacultured corals.

A very impressive display from Seachem. They have developed an extensive product line.
Seachem also donated buckets of salt and a RODI water filtration unit for the SE-CFM raffle.

A diverse coral selection and some unique LED products were being displayed in the ReefKoi booth.
And we assume Chris made it all the way back to Colorado without breaking any bones this time.

The Auctions and Raffles were the place to be for attendees looking for a deal.
Only three auctions broke the $100 selling price and there were some incredible corals.

CoOwner Victor and a good part of the work crew of World Wide Corals were present.

The front door of the 2011 SE-CFM coral show just prior to the start of the event.

The Happy Coral also made the long flight out from Southern California.

Looks like CoOwner Art Petit has some competition for the announcer position.

PrecisionWerkz a St. Augustine Florida company was displaying its plastic fabricated products.

Victor from WWC was present but probably thinking about the 10 foot tank they received the night before.

Jason Fox has become a regular vendor at many coral shows along the east coast.

The floor crowd for the raffles was a respectable size, but smaller then our previous event.

Reef Aquariums of Miami was able to setup an impressive last minute booth display.

We did experience fairly active raffle participation from the 2011 attendees.

Boston Aqua Farms displayed a great lineup of tools and supplies specifically for the coral farming market.

Florida Aquarist Farmer Jeff D'huyvetter also setup a display tank during our first SE-CFM Coral Show.

Local Floridian Get Pumped Saltwater participated in their first SE-CFM Coral Show.
They displayed a mix of cultured clams and captive grown coral fragments.

Florida based Tropical Reef Corals setup a coral display tank with a very impressive lighting system.

And some of the attendees who won big in the raffle were very excited.

Another vendor from Colorado Gonzos Coral Frags made the long trip to Florida.

And this big raffle winner could barely contain himself.

Local Florida Aquarist Farmers Frag-A-Holics displayed both coral fragments and LED lighting.

Reeffarmers displayed 8 racks of coral fragments that had been transported in the CFM Transport System.
Here Steve and Art stand by 5 racks of coral fragments that were returned on the inbound trip from Florida.
A few additional corals were added and not a single one was lost on the return drive to California.

Golden Sponser Reef Nutrition setup an informational booth for their diverse reef food product line.

Closeup of 4 of the 5 racks that were returned to California after being placed into a special holding tank.
Almost all the corals in this image had been traveling on the road for 12 days just prior to this image.
Image Copyright 2011 by the Coral Farmers Market SM.

Miami Aquarium Builder Reef Savvy setup their second SE-CFM coral show display.

Closeup image of the cultured corals that Reef Empire flew out from Southern California..

Fort Pierce retail shop The Fish Store setup their first SE-CFM Coral Show booth.

Closeup image of the corals displayed by Frag-A-Holics.

The 2011 SE-CFM coral show work crew, volunteers and coowners Art and Steven.

Our Golden Sponsors support the SE-CFM with critical infrastructure and monetary support.
This support is vital to the success of this event and we sincerely thank them.

We would also like to thank the following companies or individuals who have donated either products or services to the 2011 South Eastern Coral Farmers Market SM event. These companies and individuals help to make this event a success !