Please tell me what you want to do!

[moe_k]

Howdy folks,

A few of us have been trying to figure out where the Boston Reefers Club is going. We want to get an idea of what you folks - the members - want out of your club. Are you satisfied with just holding bi-monthly frag swaps?
Do you want to hear from guest speakers? Do you want to have Q&A sessions with veteran reefers?

There are many possibilities. I don't want to stymie the conversation, so I'll leave off here. Please let me know what you want out of your club - even if it is nothing.

Thanks,
Moe

[jimbos]

I enjoy being able to communicate via this board. It is a great tool and you can post at will. I'm sure we could get a chat room of sorts setup somehow and have monthly chats? Not that I am against the meetings but with a busy schedule it just makes it easier. Maybe the occasional meeting at NEAQ would suffice? Just throwing it out there....

[Jim Godfrey]

Hey Moe: First let me thank you for pulling this group together. I've enjoyed the meetings that I have attended so far even the tailgate party (sorry about that :rolleyes: )
Also this forum was a great idea, kudo's to those responsible.

As far as future plans: I would enjoy getting together probably 4 times a year to hold regular scheduled meetings/informational sessions/ places of interest to hobbyist/frag swap. Other smaller swaps or meetings could be arranged here on the forum as the need/opportunity arises. Also small group shopping excursions to not so LFS might be cool.

I found the meeting at Gregs to be very informative and interesting. And the prospect of a meeting at the aquarium sounds great! (But next time we check with the owner before we schedule a venue :D )

Thanks for listening,
Jim G.

[tstone]

Hey Moe

I second Jims statement THANKS MOE!!

I like the meetings althought I cant make all of them. I think bi-monthly is great.

I especialy like this board it is convenient.

If we could maybe once a year or twice a year get a guest speaker that would be very cool. I think that would invole money and logistics such as venue, loging for guest, travel arrangments,etc. I think its doable if others were interested. I think I could find the time to organize it.

Jim don't let that panty wasted manager get you down. If he was smart he could have turned it into a good thing for his resturant. I say we go back this month and do it again!

Anyway Thanks Moe.

[moe_k]

Vilas has some great ideas, I hope she posts them...:D

[ScavDog]

The frag swaps are great. I also enjoyed the meeting at Gregs. It is that type of thing that turbo charges your ambition to create great things with this hobby.

Some of the most interesting people are the ones that have been with the hobby for 10+ years. They have been through all the "trends" and may have insight on recent trends (IE sandbeds, refuges etc etc).
Recently I became acquainted with a Boston native that has been doing marine for 30 years. He turned me on to using natural sea water in one of my systems. I found his experience invaluable and his tank sureal. I would love to hear more from guest speakers like this not to mention authors like Eric Borneman etc.

Perhaps a field trip to Gibbons is in order. I hear great things about their systems.

Also, it would be cool to get a contact list of people who may want to pool livestock or dry goods orders online. This will save us on the shipping.

If MACNA survives perhaps there would be interest in gathering a group for the next Living Seas.

Jim:
BTW, how do you stop those BTA's from splitting? I went from 5-9 :eek2: :eek1: :eek2:

[Vilas]

oooo, dibs on a BTA! Pretty please?

I'm not sure my ideas were all that great, but I sent a few brainstorm emails to moe at some point, though trying to remember them all might be a task!
I was thinking (among other things) that as reefers, we have a lot to offer the hobby through our experience pool. Having a forum like this is wonderful, and we can do a lot to help new reefers, and so on, but perhaps we can reach out in real life as well? Things like basic setup and advice for people thinking of getting into it, tank care and planning for novices, perhaps tank maintenance for our members (and others??) when they're on vacation. This does -not- have to be some big formal thing, I'm just thinking we have so much to offer..and Lord only knows, there are people out there that really need it. Maybe I've been talking to too many people at the LFS lately. That always depresses me.
Another thought is that we can expand our membership by putting flyers or whatever at LFSs. Not everyone's as connected as we are, it seems like the majority of this club is made up with people from the boards. This is fine, but it might be nice to include others.
Hmm..I was also thinking of various fun outings we could do (whale watching, NEAQ trips, whatever) or even just a tour around Boston of reefer's tanks. It seems like that might be a bit difficult, judging by the turnout at the last meeting, though! I don't think you'd all fit on my street, much less my apartment. ;)
mmm..I think that was the gist of my random ideas.
I'm prone to coming up with grandiose schemes, however, so don't be surprised if I come babbling about all chipping in to heat the harbor up to a temp wherein we could grow corals or some such. :D
Charlotte

[Jim Godfrey]

Joe: The BTA tend to split most after any major changes, ie: new bulbs, re-arainging the tank, moving to new tank. Also heavy feding seems to encourage them . I only feed mine once eery week or two unless I want them to split. Then more like every 2 or 3 days. Just a small piece of scallop, shrimp or whatever will work. Looks like plenty of people are waiting for a BTA so you shouldn't have any trouble moving them. If you figure out a good way to remove them from the rock please let me know how.

Moe: one addition to my post above. I often have to work Saturdays, and usually don't find out I'm working till the day before. Sundays are more predictable for me.

My vote: 2/9/02

Thanks for making NEAQ happen Moe!

Take care, Jim G

[Greg Hiller]

My $0.02. I like having the meetings a folks houses if it can be done. I know Jake offered a while back. My wife loves to cook the treats, and specifically volunteered to have folks over to my place again.

- Greg Hiller

[moe_k]

Greg,
That's very generous of you. Your wife is a saint!

[Reef-lite]

Moe, you've done a helluva job so far. Kudos to you.

In addition to all the great ideas already posted, I have two things I really would like to see. First is tank-sitting during vacations. This would be a godsend since the last time I took a vacation my tank almost crashed. Second is an occasional DIY session. Each person would bring a power tool and we could build stuff like sumps, ca reactors, skimmers, etc. That way, those of us with two left thumbs can benefit from the experience of hardcore DIYourselfers, engineers, electricians, and carpenters. And others who lack the the power tools of Norm Abraham can finally get access to a router to polish off the corners on their DIY hood.

One last suggestion. Feel free to impose things on us. It doesn't have to be a total democracy. If you think you need a $5/$10 membership fee to pay for the website, just propose it. Heck, I'll be the first to pay for a lifetime membership!

[moe_k]

Wow Reeflite, you said a mouthful.

Any more comments folks?

[reefmoron]

wud it b possible to make a small guide full of notes from experienced reefers in this club whcih will explain how they started , what size tank, filter, lighting, corals, fish and also what problems they faced in the initail stages of setup. I think reefmorons like me will get a lot to learn from these notes and it will also guide them properly in designing their own setup.I know this hobby is based on patience and experience and u learn from the mistakes u make over a period of time, but any notes like these compiled together will give a good insight of reefkeeping to someone who is planning to setup his first tank.

[Jake]

What about a mentor program? Make a list of people and their locations so that new people could contact someone with at least a little more experince.

Also make a list of people willing to trade tank sitting services with each other? Would have names and locations so we could each "Buddy up" with someone who is near enough to actually check daily.

My house is still open altho it can only fit about 20 people.

Also, I had mentioned to you previously, that through e- conversations Randy Holmes-Farly expressed to me in the past that he would be willing to speak for us. I bet he would still be open to doing it. (Espically if we had some of Marivic's home cooking ;-) yum,yum.) He has authored a lot of articles and is one of the authors for the new Advanced Aquarist.

If we had workshops I think we could all add in our little tricks. I have found a really great way to mount and position frags in my tank. I am sure it is not an origional idea but I'm sure it coould be of use to people. Others might have a great way to frag a certian coral or feed a certian coral or aquascape. We could have a couple people show a couple things that they have done at each meeting. I espically like the DIY workshop idea.

Just my suggestions and thoughts- As usual long winded. Hope I didn't put any of you to sleep.



Jake

[Vilas]

I like reefmoron's idea. I know for sure it'd have helped me a great deal starting out. A page or two per person, maybe, with tank setup, problems they hit, their favorite advice, etc. That wouldn't be too hard to put together, we can even include pictures. I know we all looooove to talk about our tanks. :) It dosen't have to be a big thing, one person with MS word can put the booklet together, then people who want a hard copy can either print it out, or pay the cost of copying. I'd be willing to work on that if people like the idea.
I'd love to host people here, but I don't think you'd all fit in my building, much less my little apartment. Heck, the tank hardly fits, and it's just a 55. :)
I would -love- to hear from Randy Holmes-Farley if he can speak. On the other hand, we do seem to have an expert of our own - Greg, I, for one, would love to hear you speak on the intricacies of SPS keeping, rearing clowns, all of that magic you do.

[tstone]

I second Villas. All those in agreement say aye, those opposed say nay:D

[mikeroby1969]

AYE!!! I would love to learn a thing or two from more experienced people and thier setups. Just a quick thought, Maybe someone should setup a questionaire that we could email to everyone in the club. We could set it up with all the questions and then you will have the same types of information from everyone in the club. Probably make things easier for those who wouldn't know what to write (like myself). Then it would be easier for people to compare setups!!! Just my 2 cents.


Mike

[parkerman]

How about a directory of members, which includes names, email address, city address..ect. For those looking to arrange for tank sitting, it might be nice to know who's in your area.

Also if someone could arrange a webpage to include pics and specifications of member tanks, that would nice. Perhaps the directory could be included on the same page. This might require some imposed member fees for webspace and a web developer's time.

I think both of these ideas were intended during the early stages of the club, but to my knowledge have sort of been forgotten. Is the Boston Reefers web page still up?

[Jake]

Hey guy's what is the new web page address for the club?

I can't seem to find it.

Thanks

Jake

[ScavDog]

There is no web address for the club yet, as we have not secured a domain name or host. If you want to see the site I have uploaded one page to http://www.scavdog.com/bostonreefers.org . Please note that this is not the finished product. It is to allow members to view the look and feel of the site. I will keep you posted as updates are made.
Also, feel free to mail me your pictures should you want them posted on the finished site.



At the next meeting we will need to address the cost factor of keeping and maintaing a web page.

HTH

[moe_k]

The new page isn't up yet.

The old Homestead page was taken down when they started charging to host.

Scavdog has been putting a new page together, but we had trouble finding a host.

We also wanted to ask you all if you would donate $ so we could purchase a domain name like www.bostonreefers.org. I don't think the registration would cost too much. What did we figure, Scavdog, 40 dollars or so?

Anyway, when Scavdog gets the time, we find a host, and we resolve the domain name - we'll see the new site. Stay tuned.

Please correct me if I'm wrong on any of this, Scavdog.

[moe_k]

Sorry about any repeat info.

Scavdog & I posted at the same time.

[ReefLady]

I'm not sure if this is of any interest - I don't know enough about web hosting to know whether or not this might be worth a shot. Anyway, this was posted on the rec.aquaria.marine.reefs newgroup, fwiw:

"FishClubs.com is offering free web hosting for your aquarium or pond club or
society.


This incredible deal includes -

* Unlimited disk space - bandwidth for your club pages. (No commercial
accounts)
* No banner ads or pop-ups
* Full FTP access
* http://fishclubs.com/yoursocietyname web address
* Pop email account
* No Charge/Cost

If your club is interested in this great deal, simply reply to this email!


Sean O'Brien
http://FishClubs.com"

[Vilas]

Wow, that sounds like a great deal!

If people are interested in the booklet idea, I'll be happy to put it together. I'd like input on what kind of info should be there, how's this for a start:

items with a * are optional, for privacy sake, maybe?

handle
name
*email
*phone/address
years in the hobby
tank size(s)
tank age(s)
sump/fuge/reactors/etc
filtration
lighting
circulation
livestock
extras (sand activator, detritivore kit, etc)
general thought and info on tank setup
pitfalls you've hit
advice for newcomers
things you wish you'd done differently
any other info you'd like to share

This is for -comments- only! Don't answer this!! :)

Any thoughts?
Charlotte

[moe_k]

Good start Vilas.

I would suggest instead of address, how about just listing the town (or within Boston - the neighborhood). Could be an option.

And instead of "tank age" I'd suggest we ask the date the reef started. A "born on" date. That way the field won't need to be updated.

[ReefLady]

Wow, that *is* a great start, Vilas!

The only thing I can think to add to the list is a "water parameters" category - not so much A/N/N, but temp., salinity, ca level.

Maybe "Additives/Supplements Used"

Looks awesome!

[ScavDog]

Vilas,
This info will be ideal for the web site as well. Keep me in the loop as you progress and I can work that information into a separate page on the bostonreefers web site.

[Vilas]

See, that's why I posted this for comments. Thanks on all counts. Anything more, feel free, everyone!

Now, I was thinking of just putting this all into a word doc, perhaps people can include pics? For size, maybe max 2 pages per person, and 2 pics of a somewhat limited size - say 50k or so?
maybe an example page would also help people fill in theirs.

[jimbos]

Domain Name reg will run 35.00 /yr. We can get a web site with 50 mb of space for 10.00 per month. I think that is pretty reasonable. Cost for one year would be 35.00 domain, 120.00 for the hosting. So 155.00 between 15 people would be 10.33/per person per/year. I will do all the leg work if you all want as I am in between jobs right now and it would keep me busy (for 5 min).

Let me know if this sounds reasonable to you....

Moved to new thread1/30/02 JF

[reefmoron]

Just a suggestion: In addition to the existing list can we also include a list of books each one referred to or any notes whcih can be good to have in hand so we can reach a general consensus as to the book-for the beginner. I know everyone like a adifferent book but we can have some sort of uniformity.Also, if everyone can include what stores are good for what and where do they buy their stuff from. Also here is a link for a local pet directory~ not necessarily reef but has many stores around this area.

http://www.actwin.com/fish/dir/stores.php

[moe_k]

bump up

[Vilas]

hehe, everyone seems to like the idea, but so far, I've gotten zero responses. So, if you're still into it, the questionnaire's on another thread in the forum.
Charlotte

[moe_k]

I keep meaning to be the first to answer, but never seem to remember.

[reefmoron]

i started writing all my setup but keep on facing more and more problems and i have to edit it every single day:eek: I'll send it soon .:D

[ReefLady]

Vilas,

I *finally* completed this. :D

How do you prefer I get the information to you? I have it saved as a Word doc., and can send that as an email attachment if you like - or I can just copy and paste the text into an email. Just let me know.

Thanks!

[Vilas]

yayyy! just email it, in any form, to vilas@emetic.org.
Anyone else?