nauti1us
ORCA President 2007~2008
Just thought I'd pass along some fun info regarding the trip Mel and I took out to Tampa on Saturday.
We've wanted to take periodic road trips and visit neighboring reef clubs every couple months or so, just to see how other clubs function, get new ideas and share our stuff as well. By the way, if there's anyone else out there that wants to come along and would like to be on a separate mailing list for club travel events let me know. PM or email me and I'll plug you into my planner. Atlanta, Sarasota and Miami are other club visits I want to do soon.
OK, back to TBRC, an awesome very talented group of hobbyists. The Club meeting was held at "Bens" house. He and his wife were excellent hosts. His Tank was really something to see. While still relatively new (just a few months old), his design and use and current technology was really impressive. I'm a little off in my guess-timation, but the tank itself was around 200 gallons. Acrylic and uniquely plumbed .Mostly sps with some lps scattered about. It was truly an absolutely stunning display.
The club members were very welcoming and friendly and I look forward to visiting with them again. In fact we talked about trying to come up with club activities that we could participate in together. Like joint club field trips to the Florida Aquarium, etc.
In the month of November one the TBRCs member's (Forgive me I can't remember his name...) holds a party/meeting at his home. This gentleman has a 3000+ gallon set up where according to the club members his methods are very untraditional yet he is wildly successful.
Their talent pool is tremendous. Lot's of "old school" experience yet there is clearly a very strong technical understanding of the reef keeping hobby. The presentation given at the meeting was given by two gentleman explaining Randy Holmes Farley's method's of making your own "Two Part" Chemical Additives. Calcium, Alkalinity and Magnesium. While this information is available on RC, having these guys go through this presentation and offering tips on how to possibly do it even better was very good to hear.
The meeting concluded with a group fragging event. I believe there was one or two coral heads (Softball sized) purchased by the club. The members then took turns chopping it up and taking individual frags home to their respective tanks. A very unique activity that we might try and do at one of our meetings in the future.
The TBRC is in the process of reinventing their club infrastructure. They've gone through some changes over the years and are now very excited to start making some new changes hoping to spur membership and find new ways for members to enjoy the hobby together. I’m looking forward to sharing ideas with this club as we move forward. They are a fine group of hobbyists that we could learn quite a bit from.
Thanks guys for a good time!
Matt
ORCA Pres. 2007
www.o-r-c-a.com
president@o-r-c-a.com
BTW, I’ve penciled in a 10% water change for later tonight…
-might not be such a bad idea...
We've wanted to take periodic road trips and visit neighboring reef clubs every couple months or so, just to see how other clubs function, get new ideas and share our stuff as well. By the way, if there's anyone else out there that wants to come along and would like to be on a separate mailing list for club travel events let me know. PM or email me and I'll plug you into my planner. Atlanta, Sarasota and Miami are other club visits I want to do soon.
OK, back to TBRC, an awesome very talented group of hobbyists. The Club meeting was held at "Bens" house. He and his wife were excellent hosts. His Tank was really something to see. While still relatively new (just a few months old), his design and use and current technology was really impressive. I'm a little off in my guess-timation, but the tank itself was around 200 gallons. Acrylic and uniquely plumbed .Mostly sps with some lps scattered about. It was truly an absolutely stunning display.
The club members were very welcoming and friendly and I look forward to visiting with them again. In fact we talked about trying to come up with club activities that we could participate in together. Like joint club field trips to the Florida Aquarium, etc.
In the month of November one the TBRCs member's (Forgive me I can't remember his name...) holds a party/meeting at his home. This gentleman has a 3000+ gallon set up where according to the club members his methods are very untraditional yet he is wildly successful.
Their talent pool is tremendous. Lot's of "old school" experience yet there is clearly a very strong technical understanding of the reef keeping hobby. The presentation given at the meeting was given by two gentleman explaining Randy Holmes Farley's method's of making your own "Two Part" Chemical Additives. Calcium, Alkalinity and Magnesium. While this information is available on RC, having these guys go through this presentation and offering tips on how to possibly do it even better was very good to hear.
The meeting concluded with a group fragging event. I believe there was one or two coral heads (Softball sized) purchased by the club. The members then took turns chopping it up and taking individual frags home to their respective tanks. A very unique activity that we might try and do at one of our meetings in the future.
The TBRC is in the process of reinventing their club infrastructure. They've gone through some changes over the years and are now very excited to start making some new changes hoping to spur membership and find new ways for members to enjoy the hobby together. I’m looking forward to sharing ideas with this club as we move forward. They are a fine group of hobbyists that we could learn quite a bit from.
Thanks guys for a good time!
Matt
ORCA Pres. 2007
www.o-r-c-a.com
president@o-r-c-a.com
BTW, I’ve penciled in a 10% water change for later tonight…
-might not be such a bad idea...
