New contest?

[klwheat]

I think it's about time to do this again! Am I right?! :bigsmile:

[alton]

I would like to second that

[Justin]

We will bring it up at the next meeting. I think part of the problem with the contest was that we were getting some low numbers of participants to justify the expense of some of the frags we were passing out for the contest. If we were to do the contest again, what suggestions would some of you have for the types of corals/ frags we do? I thought that instead of three separate events, we stick to just one or two...say an SPS and zoa divisions.

What do you guys think?

[FarmerTy]

I'm game for being a participant of the SPS division if we can make the MAAST swap in a month the time/place to distribute the frags.

[alton]

SPS and Zoa's is fine. Although the LPS looked awesome last time

[Justin]

I'm game for being a participant of the SPS division if we can make the MAAST swap in a month the time/place to distribute the frags.

The logistics behind getting the frags takes awhile to get started and for the frags to arrive safely in time for the contest. To be honest with you, LMAR events are starting to become so big and large, that it would be a nightmare to hand out the frags for the competition during the event. Not to mention step on some of the vendors toes for passing out frags while they are trying to sell corals.

I am leaning toward passing them out in a smaller meeting and time it so that the contest will end on another small meeting or during our Holiday meeting. The holiday meeting usually has a low turnout and this will hopefully ensure that we get a decent number of members to show up for this end of the year meeting. I would also like to have the competitors discuss some of their tank equipment, dosing schedules, lighting schedules during the contest on the contest threads.

The original purpose of the contest was to showcase everyone's unique approach to growing out each type of frag. The winner being the individual that had the "right recipe" for success with that particular type of coral and hopefully everyone following along will know what they did and try to recreate the same procedure with their own tanks. I know it requires a little more work but the educational piece to the contest is so beneficial.

Otherwise, MAAST is just another coral vendor passing out frags. I would like to see the contest satisfy some of the the foundations of the group like:


To encourage the growth of the marine aquarium hobby in South Texas.

To educate and inform members and the public about care, keeping and propagation of marine fish and invertebrates.

To organize workshops, seminars and discussions related to all aspects of the hobby.



I think the membership would get "more bang for the buck" if we at least just highlighted the steps each of us took in growing out our coral frags for the contest.

It was a bit long winded, but that was my $.02 regarding the contest. Having been a judge for previous contests, I would like to see more members participate and share their wealth of knowledge on reefing to the rest of the group rather than a bunch of folks just posting pictures that were too fuzzy or what not. Just a little more "meat" to the average participant grow out thread I suppose.

[Dean]

The logistics behind getting the frags takes awhile to get started and for the frags to arrive safely in time for the contest. To be honest with you, LMAR events are starting to become so big and large, that it would be a nightmare to hand out the frags for the competition during the event. Not to mention step on some of the vendors toes for passing out frags while they are trying to sell corals.

I am leaning toward passing them out in a smaller meeting and time it so that the contest will end on another small meeting or during our Holiday meeting. The holiday meeting usually has a low turnout and this will hopefully ensure that we get a decent number of members to show up for this end of the year meeting. I would also like to have the competitors discuss some of their tank equipment, dosing schedules, lighting schedules during the contest on the contest threads.

The original purpose of the contest was to showcase everyone's unique approach to growing out each type of frag. The winner being the individual that had the "right recipe" for success with that particular type of coral and hopefully everyone following along will know what they did and try to recreate the same procedure with their own tanks. I know it requires a little more work but the educational piece to the contest is so beneficial.

Otherwise, MAAST is just another coral vendor passing out frags. I would like to see the contest satisfy some of the the foundations of the group like:


To encourage the growth of the marine aquarium hobby in South Texas.

To educate and inform members and the public about care, keeping and propagation of marine fish and invertebrates.

To organize workshops, seminars and discussions related to all aspects of the hobby.



I think the membership would get "more bang for the buck" if we at least just highlighted the steps each of us took in growing out our coral frags for the contest.

It was a bit long winded, but that was my $.02 regarding the contest. Having been a judge for previous contests, I would like to see more members participate and share their wealth of knowledge on reefing to the rest of the group rather than a bunch of folks just posting pictures that were too fuzzy or what not. Just a little more "meat" to the average participant grow out thread I suppose.

Everything you said is right in line with the last couple of grow out competitions we have had. See below for part of the rules that were in place for the last two. Getting all of the participants to fully comply is another story.

8. It is required for all participating members to post frequently in their own CGOC threads through out the duration of the competition. The input as to your husbandry techniques in maintaining and growing these beautiful species will be a great educational tool for anyone interested in maintaining them. It is equally important to post any problems that you may have encountered in keeping them. While this is going to be a fun and entertaining competition, the higher purpose is to educate ourselves, our fellow members, and the general public in the successful husbandry practices of these three beautiful species of corals. Your personal CGOC threads will also be the tools of the competition judges in comparing the growth of the frags. The better the quality of the photos that you post the easier it will be for our judges to determine the category winners. Post photos as often as you would like to but at no less interval than 2 weeks. If you post your initial photo and then not another one until you have 6 new polyps, or 4 new eyes, or complete frag plug encrustation then you may be disqualified by default. Post photos often! I can't reiterate that enough.

[Dean]

AquaSD has tanks full of healed and ready to go frags and if my memory serves me correctly we collected enough entry fees in previous contests to cover the cost frags. Just sayin... :)

[Zack]

I completely agree with Justin and Dean.

I think a contest in theory is a great idea but we definitely did not have the participation in the last contest by the members who bought in to justify the logistics and effort it would take for us to organize one in the month we have between now and LMAR.

Hosting a CGOC involves: negotiating the cost of the frags, organizing pickup (both at a meeting and after for those who cannot ), making sure people post regular and quality updates so that others can learn about the coral, and finally judging takes a lot of effort. As a judge for the last contest, I was incredibly disappointed when we were literally begging people to post final shots and many either ignored us or flat out said they only bought in for the corals. I think out of each category we had last go around, less than half submitted final photos.

At our first board meeting of the year, we asked every charter member in attendance their thoughts on the contests, and this is what we came up with as a board along side them:

"G. CONTESTS (TBD)
1. What should we do for this years contest? Last years CGOC did
not have a lot of people finish the contest and had a hard time
getting people to post. Should we do a different kind of contest?
Some I’ve seen in other groups are fantasy football league or
weight loss challenge in addition to aquarium based challenges
i.e. pico challenge/ CGOC.

It’s such a huge commitment from the club to order these frags,
have them shipped, distributed, then keep on top of everyone to
post their updates and final updates that I feel we may need to
look into other alternatives to generate interest.

Considering non aquarium related contests.
Discussion around creating a “Fat *******” contest for MAAST members to participate in to lose weight. Possible 5k running group consisting of MAAST member. Discussion was around opening up contest to benefit the group and gain more participation and grow the group dynamic"

In the past, I've heard many members call for a 'Jason Fox' grow out contest, which could work, although for these contests it's something that would take several months if not an entire year to complete along with a fairly large price tag for each contestant to cover the cost of the frag and the prize for the winner that would justify the effort for them and I'm not sure how well that would work for the newer hobbyists. Also theres the issue of some people only doing SPS/ LPS / Zoas which we would have to work around.

As far as a contest this year goes, we can definitely talk about it at our next board meeting, but based on the charter member feedback we had at the last board meeting and last years numbers I personally don't have strong feelings towards getting another contest going.

[FarmerTy]

I completely understand the desire for the educational aspect of the competition. While I don't have much to add that hasn't already been said on how that could be improved in the next contest, I will throw out an idea that might satisfy the selection and distribution of the coral.

Couldn't you just have a meeting at one of the LFS, have them do a talk on fragging corals as the meeting topic, and then after fragging the coral for demonstration purposes, hand out the frags to the contestants of the competition? It would be pretty easy for a LFS to order an Aussie shortcake, frag for demonstration purposes, and then hand out frags to the contestants. Just a thought.

[Justin]

That is a good suggestion. Well have to check it out. Hoping for people to chime in with otger suggestion or what type of coral tbey would like to take part in.

[Zack]

Alton had a great idea that me messaged me about and I wanted to share it with you all.

What if we had two categories, Expert & Beginner. The beginner would be a low cost coral (say orange bam bams) and would be free with a small prize while the expert would be a higher end coral (probably sps) with a larger prize. We would need to decide the maximum price that those who participate in the expert category would want to pay and we would then look at corals we could acquire within that price while still leaving funds for the prize.

So for you experts, what would be your budget for this?

[Frogman]

http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160401/6c7017a90c32492de019815cdd3519f9.jpg

I don't want to retype it. So read my comments here. Thx


It's in everyone's best interest to take care of those who take care of you. Support a local Veteran!

[Frogman]

Alton had a great idea that me messaged me about and I wanted to share it with you all.

What if we had two categories, Expert & Beginner. The beginner would be a low cost coral (say orange bam bams) and would be free with a small prize while the expert would be a higher end coral (probably sps) with a larger prize. We would need to decide the maximum price that those who participate in the expert category would want to pay and we would then look at corals we could acquire within that price while still leaving funds for the prize.

So for you experts, what would be your budget for this?

Depends on the coral(s). We could check with Will(ASD) and with Dan (TKC) and see what kind of sticks we could get for a group buy. Will would be a great choice since they have multiples of everything.

I'd be willing to go in for 100 max for a pack on 3. But prefer 65 which is a good doable number.

If we only had a few "experts" we might could do a really nice stick like a rose/peach/Orange Milli. Or maybe an ASD Rainbow Milli.

I could also Ping JKR and see if he has his Joes Rainbow 2.0 that he could cut us a deal on.

[Zack]

I would like us to stay with one coral for this go around and also would prefer to keep our business to a sponsor. One coral i hear a lot about from some of our more experienced hobbyists is the Pikachu but I think that would put us well over most people's budget for the contest.

[Jasonb]

I am in for a contest depending on coral and price.

[Jasonb]

Alton had a great idea that me messaged me about and I wanted to share it with you all.

What if we had two categories, Expert & Beginner. The beginner would be a low cost coral (say orange bam bams) and would be free with a small prize while the expert would be a higher end coral (probably sps) with a larger prize. We would need to decide the maximum price that those who participate in the expert category would want to pay and we would then look at corals we could acquire within that price while still leaving funds for the prize.

So for you experts, what would be your budget for this?

I am probably good for the 60-80$ range. A nice milli would be nice.

I have a rock full of orange bam bams. Depending on the demand for beginners I would be willing to make frags for that contest.

Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk

[Zack]

Jason that would be awesome!

Let's get some more feedback about pricing to anyone who may want to participate in the expert contest.

[Zack]

My thoughts would be the participants of either contest be exclusive. If you participate in the expert contest, you cannot participate in the beginners contest. What do you guys think of that?

[Jasonb]

My thoughts would be the participants of either contest be exclusive. If you participate in the expert contest, you cannot participate in the beginners contest. What do you guys think of that?
I like it.

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[Zack]

If you guys can do me a favor and select a few sps each from the last few Aqua SD posts pand put them
here we will take a look and see what we can do. Please keep in mind there will be a small fee added to each coral to cover the prize for the winner.

[Frogman]

Here are a few of my suggestions. http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160403/0d608d661588c00e9cbd30c8be698193.jpg

http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160403/35174e81e789cf6ee95a9c55b8dcb972.jpg

http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160403/5f026589f8accb07ea729071ddd00c06.jpg

http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160403/b0234a959dfc032593e82620a9725547.jpg

http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160403/5cfbb94c769e161bed179f191ecdc508.jpg

http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160403/d07d301ff8cf3cd927434426e7069592.jpg

http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160403/e35b7cff52f1d633af385639786cb50b.jpg
Ideas???


It's in everyone's best interest to take care of those who take care of you. Support a local Veteran!

[klwheat]

Wow! I leave town for the weekend for a bike race for my kid and I miss a great conversation!
Well, now that I'm back...I think the "expert" vs "beginner" idea is great! Also...one or the other...not both...also good idea.
I'd be interested in entering the expert/sps category (although I have a difficult time putting myself into that group with Alton and the rest).
I'll look online tomorrow at available frags...but pretty much any of the ones that frogman suggested are good with me...I especially like the "strawberry" or "banana" ones (mostly because I don't have those colors in my tank yet! :) ).
I'd say $50-75 per person seems reasonable.
Can't wait to do this again. Also...I definitely think there needs to be a picture/education/tank parameters/etc "requirement"! Don't post...can't win!

[alton]

Strawberry would be fine, anything red or orange. $50 to $75 average. As far as the prize it is not that big of a deal, a GC would be fine. I agree you either are in, one but not both. I think posting pictures once a week is fine. Keeping the beginners class fun will be important.

[Justin]

Yea I think we for sure need to have two separate groups based on experience levels. Lets use this thread to get a gauge of how many people are interested in doing the contest?

[Frogman]

Strawberry would be fine, anything red or orange. $50 to $75 average. As far as the prize it is not that big of a deal, a GC would be fine. I agree you either are in, one but not both. I think posting pictures once a week is fine. Keeping the beginners class fun will be important.

I liked the strawberry as well and it's a great price point.

[Frogman]

Plus we can save a crapload each having it all sent to a centralized location. I think the winner should get a duo frag from Will. We can order it ahead of time. A really nice pair of Acro. Thoughts?


It's in everyone's best interest to take care of those who take care of you. Support a local Veteran!

[Zack]

We can definitely work something out with him!

We could also do a gift card to any sponsors store. For example if we get $200 accumulated extra for
the prize the winner can pick a gift card to their favorite store?

[Frogman]

We can definitely work something out with him!

We could also do a gift card to any sponsors store. For example if we get $200 accumulated extra for
the prize the winner can pick a gift card to their favorite store?

Will stated that he has a bunch of the strawberries cut and healed. All beginning to encrust and most are about the same size. So he is expecting yalls call.

As for the gift card, I think that works. I'm ready, let's do this thing :-).

What did we figure would be the amateur coral? And when would we begin this contest? April15? Tax day??

[Zack]

Not that I'm discounting Will but we have a few more sources to look into as far as corals for the contest goes. I think it'd be best to wait until after LMAR to get this up and running as we still have to write the rules, get a few things and find all of our contestants for both contests and myself and the rest of the board are all working on our own projects for this weekends meeting, totq, and the swap.

Let me start an interest thread for both contests so we can formally get some names in the hat.

[HemiPowerReef]

Im in

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[Zack]

Alright guys, please post your interest in the stickied threads on the CGOC forum!

[Zack]

All,

Due to the interest in the coral grow out contest in recent weeks, we will be holding an emergency board meeting to discuss this contest and some new marketing directions we will be taking. If you are a charter member who is interested in this contest, I encourage you to attend so that your voice can be heard.

The meeting will be held Sunday at 2PM at Mikes house and if you would like to attend this and/or the LED Showcase at his house afterwards, please let us know. We will be sending the itinerary with his address Friday night.

Zack