New Des Moines Reef Site

[slc-reef]

There is a new reef and marine site up that appears to focus on the Des Moines area, not many members yet but they let you create photo albums of your aquarium and link out to their message board. They have categories for a bunch of stuff like, corals, fish, lighting, filtration, etc. as well as a buy/sell/trade section, pretty cool.

www.desmoinesreefs.com

 

[cabenn]

I'm confused as to why someone would post this on an already Reef club designated for Iowa? It would seem to me that more then 1 organization would cause resource issues and pull members from 1 club to another.

I would think 1 larger organization would be better than 2 small ones.

 

[slc-reef]

I don't know why they created it, but I posted it because I already watch about 4 different boards for equipment and corals and fish. I just thought others might like to know about it.

 

[dascharisma]

I just want to echo what cabenn said. The Des Moines area doesn't need another reef club. We already have a state-wide reef club. It has a message board, a website, guest speakers, meetings, trips, frag swaps, and members. It is called the Greater Iowa Reef Society. It seems to me that the time and effort devoted to the creation of this DM 3 member club would be better spent on improving the club that we Iowa reefers already have.

If you are interested in meeting other local reefers, consider coming to the Des Moines area pizza party and getting to know some of us.




Brad

 

[glaspie69]

Gotta love a guy that sets up a website to see if someone will give him free live rock.

 

[IMAS]

Hello everybody, perhaps I can add some clarification to this topic. My name is Justin and I own desmoinesreefs.com. I have worked in computers for 10 years and have been keeping aquariums for about 15. I have been looking for an opportunity to setup a website and usable message board that combines these two interests. I have enjoyed the setup and config of this site as much as I hope to enjoy using it.

Why did I choose to set up a reef site when there was already a perfectly good reef club in Iowa? I didn't. I didn't know about GIRS when I started this project even though I spent quite a bit of time looking for similar groups. None of the ones I found focused on reefs so I thought I would do it myself. One of my coworkers told me about GIRS when I told him I had finished the message board and photo album.

What now? Well, considering the money and considerable time I have invested in this I think I am going to just let it run. Am I competing with GIRS? No. Now that I know there is a reef club in Iowa I don't have any intention of starting one to compete with GIRS.

However, I hope people will take the opportunity to try my message board. No doubt others feel like I do about Reef Central; it is too big, to confusion, and too easy to get lost and end up in an area that has nothing to do with what you are looking for. I believe that the setup and organization of Des Moines Reefs is easier to navigate and to understand. Please take a moment to look at the setup for yourself and if you agree please join the board.

Will I join GIRS? Probably. Is it wrong to join the club and have a similar message board? Not really, it is just a better way to find information and share experience with others.

If you have questions or want more info from me, please just ask, preferably on Des Moines Reefs.com.

 

[got2lb]

I believe we actually have discussed a discussion board on our website www.greateriowareefsociety.com but it was decided against because this one is already here at no cost to any of us. And for the most part all of us already check it. Adding another one just adds another place you have to check all the time for info.

Reefcentral is an awesome site you really have to do some looking around for yourself. It may be large but there is tons of information from people on this site that have been in this hobby for decades.

Not dissing your site or anything, I actually checked it out and it looks pretty good. I have one setup just like that for my moms side of the family. It's obviously not about fish but it's a site where we can post family events and pics from vacations, etc... I like discussion boards but there really isn't much of a need for another one.

I hope you do join GIRS it's a great club with lots of great people in it! Hope to see you at a future meeting.

Matt

Edit: The club is hosting a pizza party in the Des Moines area maybe you could check it out and meet up with some of the local members. Here's the link with the info on it.

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=993395

 

[leeweber85]

Welcome to the GIRS forum.

Tell us a little more about your tank setup.

 

[Atticus]

I see no problem in starting a local site. I will say we have tried an Iowa specific message board in the past, it failed due to lack of use. Everyone is here or eventually finds RC and this board.

RC is actually a pretty easy to navigate site. Search function is junk unless you pay for it, but besides that you will not find a more helpful group.

An idea that you might want to think about is creating a "freecycle" site for Iowa area aquarium stuff. I know my wife loves the freecycle emails and boards, we actually got a free treadmill last month off it. All it is, is a place for people to offer things for free. Then the people interested just contact the seller to pick it up. Just an idea.

 

[IMAS]

About my tank(s), I just downgraded from three tanks to one. I had a 65 reef, a 37 FWLR, and a 29 mixed. I am down to just the 29 in preperation for a larger tank, possibly a 125 when I can find a good deal. I am also beginning a new venture, no doubt destined to fail, but I am going to try my hand at breeding turbo snails. I can't find much written on it but I hope to publish/post a paper on it if I do well.

I am trying a minimalist system on my 29, two 29w flourescents, a protien skimmer, and two seio powerheads (620 gph each). Also, 1.5 inch sand bed and about 50 lbs live rock.

The turbo snail tank will be a 30l breeder tank with UGF and gravel to keep the water flow to a minimum.

Any more questions, let me know.

 

[Atticus]

Why turbos, if I may ask? There are a lot of marine species that readily breed in captivity and you can possibly break even. Clowns, seahorses, and shrimp being some of the more popular.

 

[jbrunken]

I've never seen "Freecycle" before, but I do think it would be great to have a resource more geared to posting items for sale/trade.

Using the message boards for buy/sell/trade is ok, but having a way to better keep track of items that are still available in the area would be REALLY cool.

I know that I could put something like this together easily (I'm a web developer too) but the last thing I need is another project... However, if this is something that others are interested in and someone would be willing to host it (.NET app) then I might be convinced to build it.

-JB

 

[slc-reef]

:fish1:

 

[Modemagic]

I do have a live webserver *I own it) with some space available on it....

I also need to buy lots of stuff... I'd kind of like to see something along those lines happen.

 

[thugmebaby]

I own my own domain also with 100gigs of storage and 1000gigs of transfer per month. I could probably setup a side domain or whatever if you need/want it.

 

[tibbs2]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8746933#post8746933 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Atticus
Why turbos, if I may ask? There are a lot of marine species that readily breed in captivity and you can possibly break even. Clowns, seahorses, and shrimp being some of the more popular.

Maybe he wants a challenge. It's always fun to be able to do something that few people can do or have tried.

 

[IMAS]

I am doing it for the challenge. I have always like doing things that others can't do, won't do, is unpopular, or have not tried. Perhaps I am a little strange that way.

Also, snails are inexpensive which is good since it is hard to tell which is male and female. When they reproduce they have about 600-700 offspring and I shouldn't have a hard time giving away turbo snails, or trading them to the Lfs for stuff. So, turbo snails are a good choice for lots of reasons. Oh yeah, low maintainance too.