It was an amazing way to wrap up this summer’s Science Research Enrichment program at Walt Whitman High School. Thanks to Whitman science teachers Fred Feraco and John Karavias, our students were able to visit what’s considered to be the largest privately-owned reef tank in America. This custom-built tank holds 17,000 gallons of water and measures 16x15x9 feet! It’s called a reef tank because it is so much more than a fish tank. Reef tanks are a type of aquarium that includes live coral and specific species of fish to mimic the natural environment of a coral reef in the ocean. And this one looks like it would fit nicely in any public aquarium in any big city. But this one is in someone’s home here on Long Island in Old Westbury.
Polo Reef is the extreme result of what started out as a hobby. Andrew Sandler’s passion for aquariums began when he was a kid with a 10 gallon freshwater tank and some fish from the local pet store. Over the years, the tanks got bigger, freshwater turned to saltwater, the fish got more exotic, the aquascaping became live reef rock, and it all eventually evolved into plans for “a wall of water” in the spacious work/study basement-level area of Sandler’s sizeable estate home.
Sandler spends his days dealing with the stress of Wall Street. The reef room and his hobby of reefkeeping help him relax and escape all the hustle and bustle. He sees the reef tank as living art - a snapshot of nature. But it takes a lot of time, money and planning to mimic nature. The Polo reef tank was set up in 2019 and now that the system that maintains it is well established, Sandler is on a mission to give back to the hobby and turn it into a learning experience. To that end, he’s opened up his home to reef hobbyists and science students hoping to inspire them.
“I particularly like when a school or schools have curriculum for either aquarium science and marine biology to have the kids here to inspire them, to see what can be done, to learn, and to make sure the hobby grows. I think it sparks a whole bunch of things in their brain,” said Sandler.
Walt Whitman High School fits the bill - offering marine biology and oceanography courses. Whitman also has something few other schools have - a 600-gallon state-of-the-art reef tank with live coral and several species of fish. The tank is 10 feet long by 4 feet wide and one foot deep. Students help maintain the system and use it for specialized science research projects of their own choice that often allow them to team up with outside researchers at Stony Brook University, Brookhaven National Laboratory and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.
Whitman science teacher Fred Feraco was first introduced to Polo Reef through the Long Island Reef Association and he was able to arrange a trip during the school year. “He [Sandler] welcomes us to bring students whenever we want. So when John Karavias and I were planning the summer research enrichment program, we wanted to bring those students here as well,” said Mr. Feraco. But there wasn’t enough money in the summer program’s budget to pay the cost of transporting all the students who were attending four separate sessions. When the Polo Reef team found out about that, Sandler offered to pay for the buses and provide food for the students’ visit.
“That was so generous. So we were able to bring about 120 kids there this summer,” said Mr. Feraco.
Our students were welcomed by Polo Reef’s operations team, as well as Andrew Sandler, then given a tour of the entire operation including the reef tank and the complex system that maintains the water’s temperature, treatment, circulation, and filtration. There is even special lighting required to help the coral grow.
Whitman senior Beckett Loomis is interested in marine biology as a career. He was a counselor for the summer program and is planning an independent research project this year at Whitman. “A hands-on experience seeing this type of architecture and living art is an amazing experience for students. And by seeing this type of stuff it might spark some inspiration for them. With the help of local companies and organizations like Polo Reef, our school has been able to create a really warming educational program that helps kids figure out what they want to do in life,” said Loomis.
To learn all about this amazing project, visit PoloReef.com.
The spacious work/study basement-level area of Andrew Sandler’s sizeable estate home inspires visitors, reef hobbyists and science students alike.