Northern Valley Reefers Members Only Swap

[cjscott]

Where: Van Buskirk Community Center
734 Houston Ave
Stockton, CA 95206
When: Saturday, November 3 12-4pm,
Registration: 12:00-12:45pm
Swapping: 1:00pm until we run out of corals
Requirements: $5 entry fee* + 3 coral frags (There is no $20 if buy-in option for this swap if you don't have corals Diablo Corals has generously offered a 3 corals for $20 special) + current contributing membership card(Only current contributing members can buy raffle tickets on that day).
* Entry fee helps cover the cost of renting the room, extra money made from entry fees goes toward buying more raffle prizes.
Why: Sharing the brightly colored stick, squishy, or poisonous things we all love to stare at.

List of Raffle Prizes can be found here soon (only current contributing members will be allowed to buy raffle tickets on that day)

Requirements:

To participate in the frag swap, all you will need is three different frags. Frags must be at minimum 1" for SPS, 2 polyps/heads/eyes per LPS, and 3-5 polyps minimum for zoas/palys. If you cannot supply 3 frags to participate, Diablo Corals has offered at 3 frags for $20 special. This is a great option for those in the hobby that are starting off to acquire some corals.

Example of participation: 1 Ponape Birdsnest, 1 Red Digi, 1 yellow zoa frag.

To acquire a bonus round ticket(s) you will need to provide 3 bonus round eligible frags per 1 bonus round ticket. If you are not able to provide 3 bonus round eligible frags but still want to participate in the bonus round, you can generously bring in 10 common frags to acquire 1 bonus round ticket.

Example of 3 bonus round frags: 1 (2)polyp frag of MaryJane zoas, 1" frag of ORA Red Planet, and 1 (1)polyp frag of Rasta zoas.

Bonus Round list can be found here soon

To keep things fair, only up to sets of doubles are accepted towards your bonus round ticket if you bring in 10 common frags. You may also bring 10 completely different frags if you wish.

Example of 10 for bonus: 2 Ponape Birdsnest, 2 Purple Monti Cap, 2 Red Digis, 2 Pink Birdsnest, and 1 yellow zoa frag, and 1 green zoa frag.

For corals that are considered bonus round eligible as well to submit corals that you may want to add to the list. If your coral is considered for the list we will give you the minimum frag standard in that thread.

Corals that are excluded from the swap entirely: Kenya Tree, Xenia, Purple Clove Polyps, Green or Yellow Star Polyps, Anthelia, brown button polyps. You may bring these items for freebies, but they will not work towards your entrance requirements. If you are questioning your corals please ask here to see if they qualify.

Please have all coral in individual water tight containers. Styrofoam or clear food containers and lids can be found at Smart and Final for like $5 for a sleeve of 50 cups and 100 lids. Styrofoam cups help insulate better but people open the lids to see what coral is inside which takes away from the insulating properties of the Styrofoam cups. Clear cups help people see what coral is inside without having to take off the lid but does not have the insulating properties. If you are using a Styrofoam cup, it is recommended that you print out a picture of the frag and tape it to the cup so that people aren't tempted to take a look inside.

Label each cup with you name along with information that clearly identifies the coral, light requirements, hardiness, and flow. If you do not know the given name for a coral, a small description will work just as good. You can use tape and paper, mailing label stickers, but just please make it legible to read your writing. We would prefer you to have your labels printed if possible.

To protect the integrity of frag swaps and to avoid any conflict during coral check-in, you are required to write down your name and handle just in case a half-dead coral slips pass us during check-in. This is not an event to pass on your half-dead corals to get healthy corals. This event is for people to share within the community. Many are appreciative to those who bring in corals listed as bonus round corals, so it's highly discouraged and frowned upon to mislabel your corals to obtain more bonus round tickets.


Frag Label: NVR_Frag_Label.pdf 66.89K 43 downloads

Example of what should be on a label: Green Acro with Blue Growth tips. Strong lighting (MH) and strong flow. Considered easy with proper SPS levels.

If you do not bring your frag in the appropriate container or labeled correctly, the club will have cups and labels available for 25 cents each.

Swapping:

Registration will open at 12:00pm and close about 12:45pm. Swapping will start estimated around 1:00pm. So don't be late"¦

Each person that meets the requirements to participate in the swap will be issued a colored bracelet during check-in. The color and the picking order will be announced 15 minutes prior to picking (estimated 1:00pm). Please make sure to check-in and get your picking bracelet, this is your entrance into the swap area.

Picking order"¦Those that qualify for the bonus round will receive a ticket for each qualifying 3 bonus round frags, or 10 common frags during check-in. There is no limit on how many bonus round tickets you get, as long as you meet the requirements for the bonus round ticket.

Bonus Round participants will have 5 minutes to pick from the tables and redeem each bonus round ticket to a frag of their choice before the swap. Bonus round pickers will be notified when they are able to enter the swap area. 1 ticket per frag picked. So if you have 3 bonus round tickets, you get to pick 3 frags of your choice in the 5 minute slot.

After the bonus round 5 minutes are up, the general swap will then begin. Picking order will follow the standard up and back orientation (1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10) then back (10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1) then back (1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10) repeat until all frags are gone. Each group will have two minutes to pick their frags. This formation will continue until all frags are cleared from the tables.

No one will be allowed in the swapping area except swap volunteers. This keeps the curiosity going to what hidden treasurers there are and keeps it fair to those that may arrive closer to the 1:00pm deadline.

I think that pretty much covers the rules and how the swap will go. Whoomp whoomp

We will also have a raffle with some nice goodies towards the end of the swap, and will also be selling t-shirts and memberships. Please tell all your reefing buddies, and spread the word. This swap is open to only current contributing members.

Jess from Diablo Corals and Jeremy from Exotic Frags will be in the house to sell corals!!

If you would like to volunteer please PM me. We can always use the help.

Summary:

$5 entry fee + 3 frags to participate + current contributing membership card.
3 bonus round frags or 10 common to participate and get in the bonus round.
Be there by 1:00pm at the latest.

For more information check out www.nvreefers.org

 

[cjscott]

Some of the raffle prizes. More will be added later.

1) Ecotech Radion
2) Kessil A350W
3) Vortech MP10 ES (non-wireless)
4) $100 RapidLED gift certificate
5)(2) $25 Air, Water, & Ice gift certificates
6) $25 Drs. Foster and Smith gift certificate
7) (2) Pairs of Snowflake clownfish from Pickle
8) $25 World Wide Corals gift card
9) (5) Multi packs of Rod's Food
10) (2) $25 Reefs2go.com gift cards
11) $50 Bay City Reef Supply gift certificate
12) BRS 5 stage RO/DI Complete Unit
13) (2) $25 Your Reef Gift Cards

 

[lzyreefguy]

anyone gonna make this swap??good times and an amazing raffle..

 

[tcoral]

anyone gonna make this swap??good times and an amazing raffle..

Only contributing members can do the raffle though, when do they have their meetings? How much is membership? OK, contributing member is just membership? I'm in and can carpool. I also see they are going to have a tank tour coming up and DrDoolittle is on the venue, I'd love to see how my fish are doing .

 

[CLeadfootS]

I'm curious too. What exactly is a contributing member mean? Are we excluded from the raffle if we join NVR just to go to the swap?

 

[jeffm59]

I find it interesting that most of the local clubs seems to be moving away from the status quo which allowed members of other surrounding clubs to participate without paying to join each club. First the BAR's swap, and now NVR is doing the same. If the Chico and MARS clubs follow suit, you would need to join four different clubs to attend all the local events. At a time when membership is already down due to the economy and therefore limiting the number of attendees to these events, I find this trend hard to understand.

 

[HV1990]

I find it interesting that most of the local clubs seems to be moving away from the status quo which allowed members of other surrounding clubs to participate without paying to join each club. First the BAR's swap, and now NVR is doing the same. If the Chico and MARS clubs follow suit, you would need to join four different clubs to attend all the local events. At a time when membership is already down due to the economy and therefore limiting the number of attendees to these events, I find this trend hard to understand.

Jeff I totally agree. With membership down the incentive to help each other is not there.

 

[tcoral]

I find it interesting that most of the local clubs seems to be moving away from the status quo which allowed members of other surrounding clubs to participate without paying to join each club. First the BAR's swap, and now NVR is doing the same. If the Chico and MARS clubs follow suit, you would need to join four different clubs to attend all the local events. At a time when membership is already down due to the economy and therefore limiting the number of attendees to these events, I find this trend hard to understand.

Though we charge $12 (changed from $20) to attend our event (other clubs admitted). BAR was free ($20 membership), and NVR is $5 entrance with a $20 membership, so I see it as a wash. Also, I like to go to other events to see what may be different stuff growing in their tanks.

OOPS I see we are charging $12 this time instead of $20 like other years so I guess we are a deal counting gas for us, LOL.

 

[jeffm59]

Though we charge $20 to attend our event (other clubs admitted). BAR was free ($20 membership), and NVR is $5 entrance with a $20 membership, so I see it as a wash. Also, I like to go to other events to see what may be different stuff growing in their tanks.

With preregistration MARS is at 12 dollars, subtract the food/beverage ticket of 8 dollars and your entrance fee is only 4 dollars in relative terms. The only difference is the requirement to join their club. I think we all like to see what other groups have growing in their tanks, the point is the clubs moving away from the status quo of the "shared membership" among the groups.

 

[CLeadfootS]

Do you guys and gals think this is their way of increasing membership in the tough economic times? I guess it makes sense if you look at it that way. I am on the BOD for a totally unrelated club and our membership is down and we are figuring out ways to increase it. I was just thinking while I was typing.

 

[jeffm59]

Dont see what good more paid members does them. Let face it, its all about the net dollars in, so if someone like me who would normally go, doesnt, the club just lost the entrance fee for two people, the 20-40 bucks I would have spend at the raffle table, the money I might have spent at their vendors, the food and beverages I would have bought from the club while there. Looks like a net loser for the clubs treasury to me. If I am missing something, I will approach the MARS board about changing our swap to a members only event.

Not trying to be argumentive here, just trying understand the thought process. Seems the more that show up, the better the swap and the better the revenue

Edit: Also sorry about derailing the thread with this discussion

 

[Diamond Jack]

I'm not on the NVR bod, but I know this is our second swap this year. The first swap was open to anyone in a reef club for $5. This members only swap is something fun for members of the club.

 

[vulteiv1]

We have an annual swap (open to everyone) and a member's only swap. The member's only swap is a way for the club to give back to it's members.

 

[cjscott]

I would like to explain my motives for posting here even if no one is going to believe me.

I posted here because there is a lot of cross over between MARS and NVR. A lot of MARS members post on the NVR forums, come to our events, and a lot of NVR members goes to MARS events. Putting this information here was not meant to try and recruit members or make extra money but simply to let people a lot of people that might not visit or forums frequently the information.

Mods please close as this has quickly gone sideways.

 

[Dino]

Mods please close as this has quickly gone sideways.