Stars Frag Tank?

[Saldebo]

How is it going guys. I have lighting that i would be happy to donate to the club frag tank. I'm sure I have the Icepack to power it. I just have not seen the wiring for it. Think they go for about 20 bucks on ebay. The light is a retofit 2x 250 MH. Was going to use them right before i went with LEDs.

 

[nmnative]

Sounds like a great idea! It would be nice if one of the LFS could house the tank and STARS members could maintain it. Then anyone could see the tank, add to it, trade in one central location as long as the store was open. Do you guys think this could be an option?

 

[mistaflicksta]

John, the dont break the chain method is also a great idea, the only down side I see in this the fact that people might not know what is available for trade unless we have a dedicated forum/sticky to anounce it openly on. I like this idea as well but we would have to do some modifications to the DBTC

That is a good idea Audry. the problem I see with this is we dont have a club member registry to allow only members of the club to be able to take coral from the tank.

 

[seauniverse]

I can help with the tank; Im on the west side and its closer to the members from Las Cruces. So who do I need to kill to become a member? Would there be inventory of all the stuff, certain days that members can swap frags?

 

[Gomer]

the only down side I see in this the fact that people might not know what is available for trade unless we have a dedicated forum/sticky to anounce it openly on.

BAR runs a club site based on Drupal (not vB etc) which has had a really cool way of tracking DBTC with stats, availability, distribution trees etc. If you want to go that route, I can see about getting a STARS officer access to the bar member section to see how it runs.

Here are some screenshots to give you an idea of what BAR has done with a fair bit of work, and some smart folks who know this stuff lol.

I'm sure there are other ways of doing it. Not sure if you have a drupal wiz. Just saying that it can be done :-D

Initially (for the first few years), there was simply a thread where each thread was for each chain. When someone had something available, the donor posted to the thread. Worked reasonably well.

 

[mistaflicksta]

Gomer, that is awsome. If we could pull something like that off would be great.

 

[mistaflicksta]

I sent Lynn the questind and this is what he replied, keep in mind they have certain rules that we don't.

Hello Lynn,

I have a set of questions that a member had posted and I wanted to know how you handle these situations. Right now we don't have any established club fees so we would have to work those out before we commit to this. Here is what the person wrote:

Our club dues are $25 a year. You get a laminated badge with your name and RC handle on it and the current year. I make money from it every. The give aways in January, the frags from the program, the discount prices at lfs, the discount prices at events like the public aquarium.... you get the point.

Erik--I think this is a great idea. It will bring in more new members and interest to this club once word gets out that STARS has a frag tank of its own. I think that it is great marine husbandry.

However, the logistical nightmare to get through all of the issues that are associated with such a "free" frag tank would be problematic.
After reading your questions, I really don't think so, but lets talk,

Who is going to watch the frag tank?
Are the officers of STARS going to look after the tank?
Is the frag tank going to be mobile (are STARS members going to take turn looking out for it )?
We hold officer elections each November. At that point, the president appoints several chairpersons to serve at his/her discretion for the coming year. These include a librarian--keeps up with with all the books and DVD's the club owns and are available for check out; equipment chair--keeps up with all the equipment like glass clamps and other equipment the club owns and is available for loan to benefit the club; donor program chair-- keeps the frag tank, updates the webpages and brings frags to each meeting as well as receives donations.
So, we have one person-- appointed by the president, for one year.

Is there going to be a "minimum" monetary donation given to STARS in order to be able to have frag?
frags are free within the requirements I sent you last email. But really, even a toadstool comes close to the membership fees. If you have a mature tank and get a favia or any sps-- bingo, you really got paid to be in the club that year.

Which city is this frag tank going to be located?
great question, depends on where the donor chairman lives

What hours is the frag tank going to be available for the paying STARS members?
Is there going to be a minimum amount of membership time in STARS in order to receive a frag?
we have never received nor given frags except at monthly meetings

How long must a person have kept a marine setup, 1, 2, more then 3 years in order to prove that you can properly care for a marine animal (can prove proper marine husbandry)?
Not everyone shares the same marine husbandry skills, so what kind of frags will each individual be able to take or will it be based on the type of system they care for ie LPS, SPS, softies?
If more then one person wants a particular frag that has arrived to the frag tank, is there going to be a rank and file system of who gets to have it, or first come first served type regardless of how many years or contributions she/he has made to the club?
We don't really make people prove their husbandry-- unless they kill a bunch of frags. It's a club not, well you get the idea. Nor do they have to have a tank set up a set amount of time. People come in as newbies with cycled tank-- they talk to me or another member at meetings and we help guide them to helpful frags. They don't ask for sps because they don't know what it is.
As far as who gets what first. Frags are available on the web page or on the monthly thread. Whoever ask first gets the frag, whether 6 years or 6 months in the hobby.
Honestly, for the last year it has been a blast sharing pm's with people, meeting new members, being part of the leadership, handing out frags, and so on.


If you could please give me some input on how you would handle these Also feel free to chime in and give us words of wisdom in our thread on STARS.


2 more things, Our President who was instrumental in bringing the donor program into being, has written an article in reefkeeping magazine. Paul Whitby is his name. I have asked him to send me a link. You can speak to him as well.

#2 Send me a link to Your thread on STARS and I'll give it a read and chime in if it's appropriate.

This is really exciting watching you guys get started.

Keep me posted.

Lynn

__________________
--Lynn

2010 COMAS Frag Donor Program Chairman

The challenge is the fun.

 

[deehz]

Erik--this is awesome!!! Great job.:thumbsup: This proves that this is VERY FEASIBLE and should be talked about in depth at the next meeting so it won't get swept under the rug so to say.

It's going to take work from all of us and not just one single person to make this happen. It may entail a lot of WORK, but when you see something like this frag tank come to fruition and the work it took to get it of the ground, is worth it in the end result--a STARS frag tank for all it's members.

I think that is what may shy away some of the members here because this is going to take some "work" to get accomplished. But if we are ALL involved, this can be accomplished even if I had to pay a monetary fee to be a member of the club to get the necessary equipment for this frag tank and extra equipment that can be loaned out to it's members. Heck, this thread has seen positives already with members already wanting to help and donate. They see the value in this along with Erik, Jay, Jesus, Audrey, and others that have expressed great interest in this.

With the amount of frags that I could possibly get and give back, the membership due's will have paid for them selves. Knowing how I am, I would give more frags than I would take. Erik, count me in and let me know what I can do to help to get this of the ground. Great job buddy!

Sorry so long. But I usually do my best writing when I am sick! :lol2: Sucks to be under the whether before Thanksgiving!

 

[Lytehouse]

Hey folks

Hey folks

How great to see your enthusiasm.....

Couple things I picked up reading the thread:

It is work for me to keep up the tank, take pictures and get frags to the meetings and receive donations to bring back to the tank. It is, however very rewarding and so far no frag chairman has done this volunteer position for a single year. I wouldn't have the position, but the last guy had a new baby and not more time.

Somebody mentioned donations-- Awesome. The light over our tank is donated. I donated the skimmer we are currently using as well as the new and larger sump. The stand was welded by a member and I believe the tank was purchased inexpensively by a member;

Someone from bayarea reefers mentioned dealing with critters I believe. HUGE issue to discuss often. I dip every single coral that comes back to the tank. I also hand out a sheet to everyone who takes a donated coral that is 2 paragraphs. The first 2 lines are:

Here are your donor coral(s). I have taken great care to get them to you healthy and pest free. Do not trust me or anynoe else. Always dip your corals as well as acclimate them appropriately. A Google search, or asking a longer term member will tell you how to dip for softies, lps and sps corals.

Everyone gets this sheet---- yep even the club president gets this sheet and he has a 600 gallon tank.

In post #19 you see some of the monthly threads I use to market what is currently actually available, wysiwyg. No I'm not a great photographer, but a descent macro shot will get a coral out of my tank to someone elses every month.

We also keep up a websight with a different coral for each page that has a picture, description, growing conditions, who donated, who has frags out and who is waiting on a frag. My monthly threads are a result of the web page being re designed for an extended time.

Once again, Paul Whitby is our president--pwhitby on the forum. He has a 600 gal. tank you should take a gander at. He's also very open to answering questions. He also wrote an article for reefkeeping magazine in Sept. 2008. It gives the historical basis for how the program was organized and matured.
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2008-09/feature/index.php


Best of wishes to you all in you project---

Happy Turkey Day,

 

[mistaflicksta]

check out what Lynn "Lytehouse" just sent me

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2008-09/feature/index.php

 

[jmait769]

Lynn "“ Thanks for helping and contributing! Much appreciated. Hopefully we can get this off the ground. :thumbsup:

I can donate that 40 gallon breeder for a sump. Also, I can do the welding on a stand if we go that way.

Jay

 

[jtinoco]

I'd be more than happy to help out in the setup. I'm still trying to see if I will be able to make it to the next meeting, but I can help in the set up and donating some frags.



-Jesus


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[pwhitby]

Hi All,

AS Lynn (Lytehouse) kindly said above, I came up with the donor program a while back to boost membership of our club. The initial concept was very similar to what BAR now runs, the DBTC program.

In the short term, this is a great way to go, it will increase membership and it will bring funds into the club that can ultimately go to the maturation of the program and the ultimate purchase of equipment.

A sideline of the program is that with increased membership and cash in the club you can also do "frag demonstrations" Normally I purchase 4 diverse corals and we split them out, as part of the donor program. Everyone leaves with corals and hopefully some came back 6 months later.

In this way it becomes self perpetuating. It bring people to meetings and provides a topic for several meetings.

In COMAS it is my hope that we can do 3 such frag demos a year.

I would be more than happy to answer any questions you may have, but the article in Reefkeeping explains the early days of the program before we evolved to the COMAS frag tank.

Regards, and best of luck,

Paul.

 

[mistaflicksta]

Paul, I apreciate your input. I like the fact that you and Lynn are willing to guide us through this if it takes off. This is still a proposal for the club members I hope we will talk more in depth about it in our next meeting. I have been researching this quite a bit that is why I am reaching out to you.

If we decide to start a frag tank or go the DBTC route, I will consider that as getting this project off the ground. Like you said, the initial concept was similar to DBTC so what ever we try and how ever we try it if we find success with any of this it will lead further interest in the programs progression.

Once again I would like to thank all of you for hearing me out.
Happy Thanks Giving!

Erik Guzman

 

[stvguerrero]

I also want to be a part of this and help let me know. Count wit me

 

[psuedopimp]

i thought my tank was the club frag tank :lol: i only have two specimans that i have bought, and the rest came from other members!! i try and share as often as i can with other members.

i think this is a great idea. and as i was reading through this again, i thought about the NMSU tank. I know it is set up already and most people in cruces have access to it. i thought it would be a great start, and it would look good with all the new frags.

 

[mistaflicksta]

That sounds like a good idea

 

[mistaflicksta]

Ok I just got an email from Lynn from COMAS and As I have been doing, I am posting the email along with links to some of their publications, check them out they are good.

Hi Erik,

Sorry for the delay. Remodeling our office and I got behind on a lot of stuff. I'm listing 2 links here I've given you. Look again at the Donor program link toward the bottom at the rule of 5. I know it may sound simple, but we really don't operate with a lot of rules. To be honest, the donor program is a draw for the club. I ask some history questions of Paul at our Christmas party this weekend and he told me the Donor program brings in more members than any other program. You should see the quarterly meetings when we bring in 2 or 3 colinies of corals to frag and give out. What's left, or at least one frag goes into the tank. Everyone present gets to take home a frag of each coral they want.

If I didn't answer your questions, please write again, Lynn

Donor program Link:

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2008-09/feature/index.php

Comas club link:

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2008-08/cs/index.php

Best of luck to you guys, keep writing.....



PS we are still waiting on the tank to get the ball rolling on the club tank

 

[mistaflicksta]

Just another update on COMAS frag tank. Thanks Lynn I know you are watching us get this thing get off the ground. We really apreciate it.

Re: starting a frag tank

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Erik,

Had our first meeting of the year. Gave out a lot of frags---- brought in a whole box of donors.

Thought of you guys, Hope all is going well.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh....php?t=1959704



__________________
--Lynn

2010-11 COMAS Frag Donor Program Chairman

The challenge is the fun.



Thanks again

Erik Guzman