Cast Your Vote! Choose from our Finalists for January's Mariner of the Month!

Which of our Mariner of the Month Finalists Get Your Vote? (You can vote for more than 1)


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Daniel@R2R

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The moment we’ve all been waiting for is here! After an incredible round of entries, it’s time to meet the Mariner of the Month finalists—an inspiring group of reef hobbyists who have shared their creativity, passion, and dedication to the reefing hobby. Now it’s up to YOU to decide who earns this month’s title!

Remember, this contest isn’t just about the tank—it’s about the Mariner. As you vote, consider their:
  • Creativity and vision
  • Dedication to reefing
  • Contributions to the community
  • And yes, the beauty and uniqueness of their tank!

These finalists embody the spirit of reefing—Dreaming, Exploring, and Discovering through this amazing hobby. Take a moment to read their entries and be inspired by their journeys. Every vote makes a difference, so let’s show these hobbyists some love!

What’s at Stake?

This month’s winner will receive:

The winner also secures a spot in the running for Mariner of the Year with a grand prize valued at over $12,000!

How to Vote

Browse the finalist entries below and cast your vote for the Mariner who best embodies the heart of this contest. Votes must be registered at the poll in this thread (not as comments). To vote, accounts must have at least 10 posts and 2 weeks of membership at R2R. Voting closes December 31, 2024—don’t miss your chance to make a difference!

Let’s celebrate the best of the reefing community—vote now and make this an unforgettable experience for our finalists!

Meet Our Finalists!

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Mariner #1 -
@tbrown

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Name of Reef: ESHOPPS Mariner 70 Mixed Reef lit by 2 Noopsyche K7 V3

Link to Reef:
CLICK HERE

Describe Your Dream Aquarium!

What is my dream aquarium? I'd have to say that my dream aquarium is a 300-500 gallon tank. I would love a peninsula style aquarium that's 8’ long by 3’ wide between 24” and 30” tall. Glass or acrylic doesn't really matter to me, although I love the more scratch resistance of glass aquariums and they just seem to sparkle more!

What's in the tank??? For aquascape I'd want several islands throughout the tank with catwalks, shelves, and ledges connecting some of them. I'd incorporate caves into the islands and swim throughs for zoomy fish and for cleaner shrimp to hang out.

For fish, like I said, zoomies! My tank would have to have Wrasses for sure! I'd have a Melanurus, a Leucoxanthus or Chrysus (or maybe both???), and at least 1 variety of Leopard Wrasse. I'd add a Red-Lined Christmas Wrasse, a McCoskers or Carpenter flasher Wrasse, and a Blue Sided Fairy Wrasse. There would be more added as I go as well! Also, a tank this size would be required to have a small school of Anthias - probably only 8 or 9, but maybe 12. Springeri Damsels and Dottybacks would also be a requirement for the amazing pop of deep blue. Blennies and Gobies would also be added for the goofy antics. I would probably go with several different colors of Clown Goby (although they'd likely get lost in a tank this size, but they are a must!), a Starry Blenny, and a Lawnmower Blenny. I'd add a couple of Hector's or Rainford Gobies as well. There would be a couple of tangs in there - my Tomini for starters and then an Orange Shoulder and a Chocolate Tang. Maybe a Yellow or Purple when the tank is ready for one. Also a small harem of Mocha clowns.

For corals? Everything! Well, ok. The back wall would get some GSP for the color and movement (don't hate!). There'd be an island on one side for Micromussa and Bowers on the other side. I'd have torches, hammers, and frogspawn islands, I'd have Gonis and Alveopora, and I'd incorporate encrusting Montis, Styloconiella, and Cyphastreas throughout! I'd add some Leptos, Pavonas, and Lithophyllons. I'd also have probably 2 islands for some zoanthids for color. I'd add Favias and Rhodactis mushrooms throughout the tank and probably a few small pockets of Rock Flower Anemones. And then, to fill in the tank I'd have some Montipora Digitatas, some Anacroporas, Stylophoras, and some Acroporas! And right in the middle somewhere there would be plating Montis - green, red, and purple.

So how would I keep all this running??? How about flow and lights??? Well, I love my Noopsyche lights so I'd add 6 or 8 Noopsyche K7 lights suspended from the ceiling on a rail system and that would light my tank. For flow I'd run 2 return pumps with 1 return plumbed under the sandbed to the far end of the tank and, at several locations throughout, there would be a RFG hidden in the rockwork helping to keep flow moving. I'd also incorporate a wave maker into the rockwork about 6’ into the tank to really help keep water moving and another one or two wave makers at the overflow end.

I'd want the tank to be automated as much as possible but I'd still want the ability to go in and tweak as I want.

Nominated by: @00W

Nomination post:

I would like to nominate @tbrown for everything that he does for everyone.
Over 55,000 posts and Tim never fails to give advice on multiple threads other than his own.
I find Tim to be head and shoulders above anyone else in never failing to help all of us with whatever issues arise.
His generosity with his time puts him at the top of my list for mariner of the month.
He also has the best sense of humor of anyone I know.
Nuff said.

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Mariner #2 -
@F i s h y

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Name of Reef: Big Momma

Link to Reef:
CLICK HERE

Describe Your Dream Aquarium!

The running joke with our current 8ft reef tank is we could have gone over 2 more ft. I would love to have a 10 or 12ft reef tank. Similar front to back and depth dimensions as what we currently have. A bigger dream would be to someday have a very large (think swimming pool) lagoon shark and ray tank. it would need to have a viewing panel, so it could be viewed from more than the top. @Mrs.F i s h y wants jellies, sea horses, and a predator tank. We would probably just seal off the house and fill it with saltwater if we could.

Nominated by: @tbrown

Nomination post:

I want to nominate @F i s h y !

For those of you that don't know him, Jason is an amazing guy. Similar to Frank, Jason has been there for countless individuals both here on Reef2Reef and offline outside of Reef2Reef. He has given of his time and knowledge to many struggling reefers and is always willing to answer questions that new reefers have. Jason is a huge asset to the reefing community and I'm proud to have him as a friend! His knowledge and his humor have helped many in our community stay positive and keep their tanks running and healthy.

Thanks @F i s h y for all you do for our reefing community!

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Mariner #3 -
@Slocke

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Name of Reef: Eelysium

Link to Reef:
CLICK HERE

Describe Your Dream Aquarium!

My dream tank would be a massive predator tank, I'm thinking a few hundred gallons. The fish would be the focus with a couple eels including Gymnothorax meleagris (white mouth moray) being the stars. Some wrasse of course including my awesome Novaculilichthys taeniorious (dragon wrasse), Coris gaimard (galaxy wrasse), Thalassoma lutescens (banana wrasse), Bodianus anthoides (lyretail hogfish), and others. Other cool fish like a sea robin, French and regal angel, Achilles and sailfin tang, and others would round out the stocking. As for decor I want some massive caves for the eels with an overhang formed by plating montipora with acropora at the top. Maybe an 8'x4'x4' would work for that and let's just have it take up a wall in the living room... screw it 12'x4'x4' not like this is ever going to happen anyway so why not make it giant.

Nominated by: @Gumbies R Us

Nomination post:

I nominate @Slocke. He’s always been extremely helpful when it comes to information on wrasses and other fish. If you have a question about wrasses, he’s the man to ask. His knowledge that he brings to the hobby is impressive, and he does have a great tank. Not to mention he’s been very welcoming to people on his build thread, and various other threads he’s a part of. Thank you slocke for what you do for this community and what you do for everyone that is a part of it

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Mariner #4 -
@Fish Styx

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Name of Reef: Fish Styx's Fishy Stick Tank

Link to Reef:
CLICK HERE

Describe Your Dream Aquarium!

As for my dream system, I am fortunate in that I get to tinker with and enjoy it every day. Now, that's not to say that I, like the rest of you Heathens (also IYKYK), don't dream of something larger, because I certainly do. My dreams, however, are unfortunately tempered by my budget. For now.

If I had my druthers, and I actually may next year, I would like to construct a 500 gallon plywood build in my basement with a fish room behind it. I suppose that that would be my dream system.

Whew! Five whole (long-winded) sentences.

Nominated by: @tbrown

Nomination post:

I want to nominate @Fish Styx

Another great mentor in this Reef2Reef Community. He has taken several younger reefers under his wing and helped them to begin their reefing journey. He is funny and has a lot of information to share with those of us willing to ask and listen. Although we're all Heathens when we're on his thread, he treats us with respect and kindness and is always available to share a cup of coffee with and willing to share coral with others.

Thanks for being great @Fish Styx !

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Mariner #5 -
@JoJosReef

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Name of Reef: JoJo's No Funny Business Office Tank

Link to Reef:
CLICK HERE

Describe Your Dream Aquarium!

To understand my dream tank, you need some visual guidance. First, my tanks at this time of life must reside in my office, not my home. Second, safety of the office is imperative, so every precaution possible should be taken to avoid disasters. Third, I have only the space of my office to work with. This is the current layout of my office:

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Next, consider the dream. While I'm sure many would argue that a sump and proper plumbing is as safe as it comes, it is a simple fact that containing all water in ONE box is safer than two boxes. Thus, the safest option is an AIO with proper emergency overflows. In the event of clogs or nems covering overflows or anything else, the water just flows over the AIO wall back into the return chamber. No controllers with potential failures necessary (although there would still be controllers). Thus, my dream is one very large AIO tank. Here's how the office would now look:

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But what about the tank, you say? I'm glad you asked. The custom design would be all acrylic. 12 feet long by 3 feet wide and 24" tall. There would be two partitions in the tank: 1 back partition for the AIO chambers and 1 side partition for a display refugium. The main display would be 96" x 28" for a total of 280 gallon space. The display refugium would be 24" x 36" for a total of 90 gallon space. The back AIO chamber would be 96" x 8" to make space for 7" filter cups, some equipment, and a long cryptic refugium. And naturally, my dream tank would be wrasse dominant, but with the size I can add a few fish I'd always hoped to get one day, like a few tangs. Here is the sketch:

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The main overflow will be wide and lead into two filter cups, passing through a baffle wall to the equipment chamber, followed by two baffle walls into the return chamber. There will be two overflows situated a bit higher on the right hand side leading into the display refugium. The overflows are higher to reduce the amount of flow going through the refugium so everything isn't blown around too much. Flow can be adjusted by raising or lowering the overflow covers. There is one return into a filter cup followed by a double baffle into a Cryptic refugium chamber. There should be pods galore in this tank with only one major pod-eater in the display refugium (ruby dragonet), and with mostly macros in the refugium and perhaps some corals, I will be able to add some less reef-safe fish like dwarf angels and a smaller butterfly. But what about maintenance!? Once again, glad you asked. Since this is a dream tank, I feel no reservation in pointing out that the whole tank will be placed on an industrial grade aluminum stand with machined rollers that roll the tank forward very smoothly a few feet so I can get around to the back. No expenses spared. That's amazing! But how are you going to get flow to cover that huge space when you have an entire side blocked by a refugium and the entire back blocked by an AIO? You're on a roll, my friend. The plan will be to build acrylic boxes on the backside of the AIO wall where powerhead magnets can be safely placed without being touched by water, kind of like overflow columns with no inlet or outlet for water. This will allow MP40s/60s or gyres to be place on the back walls safely.

With 28" width, ideal would be a larger fixture oriented front-to-back. Orphek Natura Icon seems ideal with a spread fit for a 31.5"x24"x24" tank, so that would be 4 icons over the main display and an additional icon set to a refugium spectrum over the 24"x36" refugium. A bit less coverage in the refugium, but that should be OK. Can have some dimmer light macros in the back.

Flow, I think I'm just going to have to go with MP40s along the back wall, probably one for every foot or so.

For filtration, my preference is to go very simple with only a bit of GAC to cover leathers and any other toxins, and that's it. However, with a large tank and lots of fish, I'll reserve the right to getting a skimmer. Alternatively, I could make the equipment compartment an ouster bed and use oysters for filtration!

For control, I would go Hydros. A Minnow would dose my All For Reef, which I'll have to get in the super bulk direct package. I would also have 4 Hydros dosing pumps inside of a fridge dosing Reef Nutrition ROE, PacPods, PhytoFeast and RotiFeast. Sense ports would detect leaks, detect water levels that are too high or low, detect temp and activate heating or cooling (with an inkbird for redundancy). Testing will still be manual, so no need for a Maven. A Kraken or two would be used for cable management.

I can see that you're dazed. Fear not, once I hit the jackpot, you'll get to see the dream in action!

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Mariner #6 -
@armyvetheather

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Name of Reef: Sophie's Reef

Link to Reef:
CLICK HERE

Describe Your Dream Aquarium!

My dream tank would be a whole bunch of tanks that make up a small store. I would love to open a fish and coral store, not to get rich but just so that I could talk about aquariums all day everyday. I would love to be able to teach everyone this hobby and guide them through the processes. I would also love to be able to go and assist people with setting up tanks and maintaining them for those that can't be home or don't have time to do it themselves. Maybe one day, right? Anything is possible.

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Mariner #7 -
@JeremyKnight

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Name of Reef: Whole House Reef

Link to Reef:
CLICK HERE

Describe Your Dream Aquarium!

My dream tank will eventually be a few thousand gallon cinder block aquarium with a twelve foot by four foot viewing panel built in my basemen. We plan on having a theater room with a huge reef! I want to learn how to build and program computer machine logic on an industrial scale to make a computer that runs my whole system. I currently have a reef PI that handles a lot of the heavy lifting. I want a display that will allow my corals to grow to their true sizes as nature intended without needing fragged to maintain the peace. I also want to have a bunch of big angels that need room. This is the next step once our kids are grown.

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Mariner #8 -
@mini

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Name of Reef: mini Reef

Link to Reef:
CLICK HERE

Describe Your Dream Aquarium!

Aquarium I would most want would be a nano aquarium something easy. Get it established and leave it be with a simple tiny water change. Doesn’t take up much space. With an hidden oversized ato. With zero light spill.

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Mariner #9 -
@Reefing_addiction

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Name of Reef: Coral Addiction Tank

Link to Reef:
CLICK HERE

Describe Your Dream Aquarium!

My dream is to own a house where I can have a 300+ gallon tank. I would likely go with a tank that is wider front to back then average (the 100 gallon has an extra 4 inches front to back and I love it!). I want the back of the tank to be in the Fish Room! But I still want access to look into the tank from the sides because I love the way my tanks look like that. I love the way the aquascape came out in the 100gallon so I would just supersize that for the larger tank. I would still go the route of minimal equipment. Filter socks and a refugium. This tank could house ALL the goniopora ….. all the bowerbankis, hammers, octospawns, acans, and I guess even Acros that my wallet loves to open up for. Might even have room for a scoly or 2….maybe an acanthophyllia…..fish stocking would be fun! I could finally get those big Tangs! And definitely need more wrasses. But if I’m being honest I am in this for the corals and the community of people who share in my addiction!

The Fish Room would be set up so I could run another system dedicated to corals spawning (looking at you @F i s h y !!) ! I want to provide my corals an environment they thrive in.
Then I want to provide the fishy community I’ve grown to love frags at the low low price of overnight shipping! So the Fish Room also needs a fragging station.
It needs to also be able to accommodate phyto cultivation because why not? I don’t do water changes but it would be nice to have an endless top off system in place.

OH! I almost forgot. Need to have a place for the cats to sit and dream about catching that big fish!

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Mariner #10 -
@KingAlee

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Name of Reef: River's Reef

Link to Reef:
CLICK HERE

Describe Your Dream Aquarium!

How would I describe my dream aquarium? My dream aquarium would be a larger 500+ Gallon, custom rock, large negative space, and plenty of corals. My ultimate goal is to have a large mixed reef with a lot of colonies of many types. Fish wise, I would want to have a mix of tangs, clowns, etc. I cant forget to add pink as it is my wife’s favorite thing about the hobby, happy wife happy life! In all my dream tank would just be one I could enjoy with my family and soon to be son, hoping he picks it up as he gets older!

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Mariner #11 -
@Johnd651

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Name of Reef: HelloReef15

Link to Reef:
CLICK HERE

Describe Your Dream Aquarium!

My dream tank will be a 72" long x 24" high x 30" deep mixed reef tank. I have the spot picked out for it at home and as we have been doing construction on our 1886 Victorian farmhouse, I have added small things to make future install of the tank easy, such as 1/4" water line in the wall to the basement, wood blocking for lights, outlets at the ceiling, independent circuit behind the tank, supports in the basement, and more. I had been out of the hobby for a while and really wanted to come back and do it once and do it right. We weren't ready for it yet, but a beta tank in November of 2023 started it all. This summer the HelloReef 15 got setup thanks to TSA, and now I am working on figuring out and collecting everything I will need for my dream tank.

I think the hardest part was deciding on a size for the dream tank. I wanted it to have plenty of room for fish and coral, but also wanted to be able to work on it without needing scuba gear. After much reading and input from a lot of new friends on R2R, I decided to flip the dimensions on their side and go 24" high, allowing for lighting and reach, and 30" wide so I can get that space.

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Mariner #12 -
@LadyMac

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Name of Reef: Luck be a Lady

Link to Reef:
CLICK HERE

Describe Your Dream Aquarium!

I do dream to have an amazing thriving reef.

The tank that I’ll speak about is the one in my build thread. “Luck be a Lady” as coined by a member here. This is the very tank that was a generous giveaway and is lit by another generous giveaway. It’s a Waterbox 70.2 system lit by an Orphek Natura icon. It’s in the beginning stages of a redo.

My ideal setup for this will be some lovely acropora, and maybe, just maybe a clam. I mean why not? The light should support it. Still researching fish and other corals and equipment that will go great with this.

I want some color. Some flash. Some semblance of peace and tranquility. After all this is my happy place. Where I can just glance over from the couch or go sit beside it. The main talking point of people who my dog allows inside the house lol.

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Daniel@R2R

Daniel@R2R

Living the Reef Life
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tbrown

Nominated Cronie Intern - Might be failing?
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Oops! Fixed!
I was wondering if it was purposeful and that November would be the finalists for Mariner of the Year announced in December. Math
 

tbrown

Nominated Cronie Intern - Might be failing?
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I used to love watching this with my dad growing up. Highlander was such a cool show. Then after I got married my wife and I started watching it... It's completely different as a 20 year old than as a 12 year old. :face-with-tears-of-joy: My wife wasn't super impressed. I think we got through 2 episodes.
 

mjszos

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Bunch of great cats up there. May the best reefer win.

Except @Slocke

May the best reefer… come second after me!
Cracking Up Lol GIF by The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon


Joking, joking. I’m just here because I enjoy answering the monthly question!

I mean get a load of this guy!

John Travolta Kiss GIF


(Jokes, Slocke is good people and deserves the nomination and potential victory as much as anyone else)
 

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