pbetito
New member
The raffle at last night's meeting was full of fun and exciting items from our local stores. When I set out to collect donations from the local shops I was hoping they might contribute but had no idea just how generous they would be. I also reccomend making the rounds from time to time of our local fish stores as I saw a lot of amazing deals on dry goods, fish, corals, and inverts.
The first stop I made was to Brian at Coral Reef Shop. As a continuous supporter of M.A.R.S. I knew Brian would be a good donation candidate. I had no idea just how generous he actually was. Brian donated 2 gift certificates, 2 bags of reef crystals, 2 bags of aragonite sand, a gorgeous purple LTA, and 10 frags including hammer coral, zoo's, bright feather duster clusters (which were gorgeous and CHEAP!) and many other LPS. He also donated P.E. mysis, and cyclopedes and provided us with type of cooling insulated box to keep them frozen. I can't possibly thank Brian enough on here to equal how much he aided the club. Brian has an amazing amount of reef tanks so that you can see the items you are buying thriving in a reef atmosphere.
The things in CRS that I saw that were most appealing to me were:
A huge selection of very nice frags from 12-20 dollars. Brian had colorful yuma's, ulstra zoanthids, hammer corals, torch corals some sps, and too many others to name for as little as TWELVE DOLLARS!!!! He also has a large variety of fish, inverts, and anemones. Finally, there is no better store on the planet than CRS when it comes to customer service. Brian, Jamie, and Jerry are three of the nicest and most patient people you will ever deal with when it comes to questions and getting help. The fact that they give away FREE RODI water doesnt hurt either.
My next stop was O St. where I found another great store filled with all kinds of cool things. Although Peggy was not in, Dennis was nice enough to call her on the phone and when she found out it was M.A.R.S. she made a very generous and appreciated donation of some reef additives, a large candy cane coral colony, and a sea hare. That is a really nice donation condisering she was asked out of the clear blue sky via a phone call.
These are the thing I saw at O St. that were the most appealing to me:
They had blood red anemones that were absolutely the most gorgeous I have ever seen. They also had a huge selection of fish and inverts that looked healthy and were affordable. One of my favorites were the dime sized blue tangs that were only TWENTY DOLLARS!!!! I would have bought five of them but they give my triggers indigestion :lol: . The thing that impressed me most however at O st. was their prices on dry goods. They have salt buckets for the 20-25 dollar range. That is for 150 Gallons!!!!
After O st. I headed out to Elk Grove and Exotic. I can't thank Matt at exotic enough for all of his contibutions to the club. Exotic donated A koralis 1 unit brand new in the box. Matt also donated around 20 frags icluding some amazing zoo's and an Idaho Grape Montipora Cap. When I noticed that they had some very miniature clown fish and asked what it would cost for a pair, Matt donated a pair in which he took out his own wallet and paid for them as his personal donation to M.A.R.S. For any SPS guys in M.A.R.S. I believe that Matt is looking to collect some high end SPS and would like to know what you have for trade or sale. Matt, on behalf of M.A.R.S. thank you for your generosity.
Things that I saw at exotic that were of interest were:
They had some amazing blasto's, dendro's for only $40 dollars for some HUGE heads, gorgeous Duncan's, Achilie's tangs, Hawaiian Bartlett anthias, and just about every fish and coral you could ever think of. For you fresh water buffs, I don't have enough room on this post to tell you about the amazing stuff they have in that department as well. Exotic is HUGE and they have it all.
Other stores that I stopped at which will be making future contributions were YourReef and Aqualife. John at Yourreef was going to meet me at his store on Friday to donate some frags but was side tracked with taking home his new baby girl. CONGRATULATIONS JOHN, MAY SHE BRING YOU A LIFETIME OF HAPPINESS AND MANY MONTHS OF SLEEPLESSNESS!! Yourreef for any of you who don't know is an excellent source of SPS and zoo's.
Aqualife in Rocklin was very cordial with me but I came on the wrong day and without enough notice to get a donation that day. Aqualife currently has an email sale every month that you can become a part of just by dropping by and giving them your email address. The sale they had going on while I was there was 25 percent off of several types of corals!!! The thing that impressed me the most about Aqualife howveer were some of their amazing fish and the prices. While there were far too many to name, one example is that they had a blonde Naso streamer tang at 6 inches with streamers for only............. $49.99 :eek1: (no that is not a typo)
Last but not least, (except in his looks) is Mr. Mike B. and and the California Center for Reef Conservation. Mike donated several awesome corals, one of the grand prize Korlia units, and around $100 that he spent among several local stores while donating the items to the raffle. He also called in the cavalry and got some donations from fellow reefers such as Ed "tank of the month" Simmons. Thanks Ed :bum: Mike also came with me and aided me in collecting, organizing, and acquiring all of these treasures. Without him it wouldn't have been nearly as fun and twice the work. Mike, thanks again!!!
The raffle will only be getting better in the coming months as we are able to get more and more people to donate to our cause. Please be sure to thank the sponsors when you stop by their stores. Remember that when you use your M.A.R.S. card for a discount you are representing the entire club and act accordingly. I am asking that we all try the golden rule from this point on when it comes to our vendors. That was the most fun I have ever had at a raffle and look forward to even more fun next month. We will try and start the raffle earlier but it will still take awhile as their will be twice as much stuff at the next one!!!! I will see you there-
Paul
The first stop I made was to Brian at Coral Reef Shop. As a continuous supporter of M.A.R.S. I knew Brian would be a good donation candidate. I had no idea just how generous he actually was. Brian donated 2 gift certificates, 2 bags of reef crystals, 2 bags of aragonite sand, a gorgeous purple LTA, and 10 frags including hammer coral, zoo's, bright feather duster clusters (which were gorgeous and CHEAP!) and many other LPS. He also donated P.E. mysis, and cyclopedes and provided us with type of cooling insulated box to keep them frozen. I can't possibly thank Brian enough on here to equal how much he aided the club. Brian has an amazing amount of reef tanks so that you can see the items you are buying thriving in a reef atmosphere.
The things in CRS that I saw that were most appealing to me were:
A huge selection of very nice frags from 12-20 dollars. Brian had colorful yuma's, ulstra zoanthids, hammer corals, torch corals some sps, and too many others to name for as little as TWELVE DOLLARS!!!! He also has a large variety of fish, inverts, and anemones. Finally, there is no better store on the planet than CRS when it comes to customer service. Brian, Jamie, and Jerry are three of the nicest and most patient people you will ever deal with when it comes to questions and getting help. The fact that they give away FREE RODI water doesnt hurt either.
My next stop was O St. where I found another great store filled with all kinds of cool things. Although Peggy was not in, Dennis was nice enough to call her on the phone and when she found out it was M.A.R.S. she made a very generous and appreciated donation of some reef additives, a large candy cane coral colony, and a sea hare. That is a really nice donation condisering she was asked out of the clear blue sky via a phone call.
These are the thing I saw at O St. that were the most appealing to me:
They had blood red anemones that were absolutely the most gorgeous I have ever seen. They also had a huge selection of fish and inverts that looked healthy and were affordable. One of my favorites were the dime sized blue tangs that were only TWENTY DOLLARS!!!! I would have bought five of them but they give my triggers indigestion :lol: . The thing that impressed me most however at O st. was their prices on dry goods. They have salt buckets for the 20-25 dollar range. That is for 150 Gallons!!!!
After O st. I headed out to Elk Grove and Exotic. I can't thank Matt at exotic enough for all of his contibutions to the club. Exotic donated A koralis 1 unit brand new in the box. Matt also donated around 20 frags icluding some amazing zoo's and an Idaho Grape Montipora Cap. When I noticed that they had some very miniature clown fish and asked what it would cost for a pair, Matt donated a pair in which he took out his own wallet and paid for them as his personal donation to M.A.R.S. For any SPS guys in M.A.R.S. I believe that Matt is looking to collect some high end SPS and would like to know what you have for trade or sale. Matt, on behalf of M.A.R.S. thank you for your generosity.
Things that I saw at exotic that were of interest were:
They had some amazing blasto's, dendro's for only $40 dollars for some HUGE heads, gorgeous Duncan's, Achilie's tangs, Hawaiian Bartlett anthias, and just about every fish and coral you could ever think of. For you fresh water buffs, I don't have enough room on this post to tell you about the amazing stuff they have in that department as well. Exotic is HUGE and they have it all.
Other stores that I stopped at which will be making future contributions were YourReef and Aqualife. John at Yourreef was going to meet me at his store on Friday to donate some frags but was side tracked with taking home his new baby girl. CONGRATULATIONS JOHN, MAY SHE BRING YOU A LIFETIME OF HAPPINESS AND MANY MONTHS OF SLEEPLESSNESS!! Yourreef for any of you who don't know is an excellent source of SPS and zoo's.
Aqualife in Rocklin was very cordial with me but I came on the wrong day and without enough notice to get a donation that day. Aqualife currently has an email sale every month that you can become a part of just by dropping by and giving them your email address. The sale they had going on while I was there was 25 percent off of several types of corals!!! The thing that impressed me the most about Aqualife howveer were some of their amazing fish and the prices. While there were far too many to name, one example is that they had a blonde Naso streamer tang at 6 inches with streamers for only............. $49.99 :eek1: (no that is not a typo)
Last but not least, (except in his looks) is Mr. Mike B. and and the California Center for Reef Conservation. Mike donated several awesome corals, one of the grand prize Korlia units, and around $100 that he spent among several local stores while donating the items to the raffle. He also called in the cavalry and got some donations from fellow reefers such as Ed "tank of the month" Simmons. Thanks Ed :bum: Mike also came with me and aided me in collecting, organizing, and acquiring all of these treasures. Without him it wouldn't have been nearly as fun and twice the work. Mike, thanks again!!!
The raffle will only be getting better in the coming months as we are able to get more and more people to donate to our cause. Please be sure to thank the sponsors when you stop by their stores. Remember that when you use your M.A.R.S. card for a discount you are representing the entire club and act accordingly. I am asking that we all try the golden rule from this point on when it comes to our vendors. That was the most fun I have ever had at a raffle and look forward to even more fun next month. We will try and start the raffle earlier but it will still take awhile as their will be twice as much stuff at the next one!!!! I will see you there-
Paul
