What is the Mentored Reefkeeping?

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Mission:

The goal of the Austin Reef Club Mentored Reefkeeping Program is to provide experienced guidance for "newbies" to the hobby. The idea is to record the conversation and thought process that one goes through when planning and constructing a new reef aquarium. This conversation and advice given are documented to enlighten others following along the process with the end goal being the creation of a well-documented build thread that becomes a series of de-facto lessons to future newbies on how to achieve a similar tank setup. As we lose mentors/members over time to re-locations or transitions to other interests their knowledge will be preserved, built upon, and passed along. We'll in effect be creating new hobby mentors as Mentees mature while trying to reduce the number of redundant questions that keep pop up as the club gains new members. The overall goal is to make our members more successful and better educated while reducing the number of mistakes they make (and hopefully therefore reduced loss of livestock).

Mentors are selected by the Mentor Advisory Committee with the goal of having several different Mentors specializing in different types of aquariums (hard corals, soft corals, predator tanks, dedicated species, etc.). Mentees are selected by the Mentor. If you are interested in being a Mentee you should contact one of the listed Mentors via PM to discuss establishing the Mentor/Mentee relationship.

While mentored threads can and probably will involve discussions of specific brands, products, and technologies, mentored threads are not to be uses as advertising or sale threads per existing forum rules.

Mentor Advisory Committee:

There shall be five committee members.The Mentor Advisory Committee is responsible for nominating new committee members, selecting new Mentors, evaluating existing Mentors, and defining the requirements of the Mentored build threads. Additionally they select the winners of the ARC Tim Huyhn Memorial Scholarship each year.

Persons interested in being a Mentor candidate may PM any ARC staff member or Committee member. The committee shall use the following qualifications in selecting ARC Mentors.

• Mentors must have been a Premium, Professional, Premium Sponsor, or Benefactor for at lest one calendar year from the date of application
• Mentors must have a well-documented history or proficiency with marine reef systems, a history of open discussion, a broad base of knowledge, and a sociable attitude
• Mentors must select an area or areas of specialty documented in their Mentor Biography

Mentors:

Mentors are responsible for documenting their systems (present or historical) per the requirements established by the Committee. While Mentors may begin by documenting their own systems, the goal is for Mentors to mentor "newbies". Mentors will:

• Create and Maintain a Mentor Biography page that describes when and how the Mentor first joined the hobby? Why did they want to keep saltwater critters? What was their journey to the present day (a brief summary of the various tanks they have kept). Any valuable lessons learned along the way (such as eels are escape artists)? Any goals/challenges they have?
• Document and maintain a summary of their methodologies and processes used in maintaining their systems (may be in mentored build threads). Such as what tests they run on their tanks and how often.
• Post updates in the Mentee build threads at least monthly, including all relevant data (planning and discussions for system changes, evaluation of the system, and photos of the system). Updates needs to have detailed explanations of the decisions made and options considered,

The intent of this documentation is for newbies to see the decision making process in choosing animals and in solving problems with the system as it matures. Stalled threads less than a

year old that fail to keep up with posting requirements will be moved to the "Tank Builds" forum or removed as deemed appropriate.

Mentees:

Mentees must be paid members of the Austin Reef Club. They are responsible for selecting a Mentor and working with that mentor in the design, construction, and maintenance of their system. They agree to update their thread monthly, to publicly post questions and discussions with their mentor regarding the tank, and to work to share the knowledge they gain with others. If the mentorship ends short of 1 year the Mentee build thread will be moved to the General Build Thread Forum.

The 2014 Mentor Advisory Committee consists of:

• KimP
• ckyuv
• JamesL

Current Mentors:

• Timfish