COMAS website and listing

[SubmarinR]

Hello all, Kyle...
My name is Joe Anderson, and I am the Pres of the OKC Aquarium Assoc - general hobby organiz. (FW & Salt)
I've got a collection of aquarium clubs and wanted to add your site to the list, need a solid URL. Last i ckd you had an Angelfire site (?) then another which I couldn't access. Do you have a new URL?

Oh, and I set up my first salt tank last month. DOing great!
anyone ever try keeping turf algae in their main tank as a decoration? I am. Need ideas on keeping it in place (altho it is fairly heavy and stationary now) perm. maybe using hair net or plastic mesh - something that won't show.

Ideas,
Let me know about the URL

Joe Anderson
Pres, OKCAA

[Kyle McClain]

Hey Joe !

here is the clubs URL

http://comasonline.org:8080/home.asp

As far as the turf algae goes I think it needs a lot of water movement to do well. It could overtake your tank if excess nutrients are avalaible. In fact their is a device called an algael turf scrubber or ATS that uses turff algae as a nutrient export.

Let me know when your ready to try some corals and I will give you some frag's

Kyle

[SubmarinR]

Ok, it is now up and viewable.
BTW, like the site. Really like the on-line submission form. Need to borrow the script for our site maybe.(who to talk to?)

Here's the link:
http://www.aquaticlounge.aquariumplants.cx/clublinks.html

Biggest List around! (i think)

As for the turf algae, yeah i been reading about those. basically, my whole tank is one big scrubber. Idea is to use mainly macro algaes and create a "planted" salt water tank. Looking good so far.
Minimal effort too, so that is nice.
Pic coming next....

[SubmarinR]

set up is a 3.5 gal eclipse, no alterations (none planned either) intend to grow only macro algae, very little inverts.
mushrooms mainly.

one fish, V. puellaris (diamond sleeper goby)
pic next..

like to add a sea slug of some sort, (lettuce nudi?) just for visual movement on glass/upper surface.

I know low volume is taxed biologically,
plants/live rock-sand should alleviate nutrient overload.
so far so good, low nitrates.
don't test too much else.
fish is loving it, eats well very active, algaes are reproducing as are polyps!
:eek1:

Joe

[SubmarinR]

we named him chopper. defn a male per extended dorsal fin (?)

[Kyle McClain]

A luttuce nudi would munch on your palnted tank. Slugs are really hard to keep I have not been able to keep one more than a few weeks.

Who is hosting your site ? we have a normal domain registered but due to the network we have it hosted on we have a funky url.

[Kyle McClain]

BTW thanks for posting our link !

[SubmarinR]

no problem.
our site is hosted by a fw planted guy who has lots o' free space. met him on line. he hosts my personal site and our club site too.

eventually, we'll have to get a url of our own. but want to keep expenses down, so dues won't have to be so high (say 25$ :-D)
with a newsletter and various other expenses, we can't afford too much else right now at our present dues structure.

how much did your url cost anyway? is the server reliable? 35 annual seems to be the norm w/o the added digits/characters.

Joe

[Don Davis]

Hello Joe, I'm Don.

It cost $35 a year to register the domain. I registered it through Register.com. You can get a domain for about $5, but you have to pay a monthly hosting fee to have someone host your site. Plus you're limited on storage space, unless you want to rent additional space every month. You're also limited to bandwidth every month, once you exceed your bandwidth for the month, they will shut your site down for the rest of the month, or sell you additional bandwidth. The hosting fees can get very expensive.

I run the website from my personal webserver located in my house (don't tell Cox):). There are no monthly limits to hard drive space or bandwidth. The only fee is the $35 a year for the domain and my monthly internet charge which I would pay for anyway. It is very stable since the server is not used for anything else, it's just a box that sits on my floor.

The only downside is the :8080 that is needed at the end of the URL to get around Cox's webserver port blocking.

Let me know if you need any more info.

Don

[Don Davis]

We'll give your club a link from our site as well.

Don

[OscarBeast]

I have a couple of web assignments in my computer graphics class.

If you guys don't mind, I might try to squeeze in one of your clubs' websites in when I have to redesign a website. Let me know if you wouldn't want me to do it. I have to do a couple of websites in class anyway. I may as well do something useful.

If you don't mind, then I will try to redo one of them, and if you like it, you can have full rights to it and put it up if you like. Otherwise I will just find something else to do to pass the time. :P OSU has a ton of websites that are right out FrontPage or even word. :P

[Don Davis]

Oscar and SubmarinR, you will need to talk to DrkShadow about using or changing any scripts or web content. He did all the web design and wrote all the scripts, and I'm not sure how adamant he is about his copywrites.:D I'd hate for someone to get sued. :eek1: :D Just kidding about the sueing part, I think.

Don

[OscarBeast]

Well I sure don't want to step on anyone's toes. I just like to volunteer my skills to a good cause when I have a chance. I wouldn't want to take over someone else's job or anything.


I am curious Don, why don't you setup a redirect on a free web host.

For example have www.comasonline.org on a free server with a page that redirects you to www2.comasonline.org:8080 on your server. That way you could get around the port, webspace, and bandwidth problems. :P

[Don Davis]

Yeah, we could do that, but the :8080 never really bothered me. I have typed longer addresses. :D If it really bothers others that much, we can change it.

Don

[SubmarinR]

Don, thanks for the heads up, I will defn have to get in touch with DrkShadow on those scripts. Would defn appreciate the linkage too. I'll need to get Brad to add a link to the COMAS site from the OKCAA site too. That other listing was from my personal page.

I will do some investigating with some ppl that host servers. I'll either post here or let Kyle know personally. My host just does planted fw. But I do know someone else too.

I'll get back with you.
Joe

[SubmarinR]

Oscar,
I certainly don't have a probl with you playing with our site. Altho, Brad Newton actually handles the whole matter. He's our VP and attends COMAS too. You may talk to him as well, but there is no harm in practicing.
FOr starters we are trying to put together an advertising banner. Have some free programs (Wiper and KzmAdvertise) but still haven't got it figured out yet. Also need the on-line submission form and possibly a faster load time by optimizing the graphics. My web design skills are nominal. Just the bsic html, tables, etc. no design skills at all, jsut organizational (if that)
see my site (aquaticlounge.aquariumplants.cx)
For that matter, you could play with it if you'd like. I am totally in agreement there.

Play away!
Joe

PS OscarBeast for a reefer? Your first fish right? :p

[Kyle McClain]

Don the one advantge to what oscarbeast is suggesting is it's easy for new people to remember. Plus it's on all the posters ! I think from a PR standpoint we should proably do this.

Kyle

[Don Davis]

OK, I'll look into it. I'll call the printer tomorrow and see if he has started the cards. The :8080 is on the card layout

[OscarBeast]

Ohhh, I am just starting to be a reefer. I still seem to be reefless though. LOL

Right now I am working on my first saltwater tank. Originally it was going to be a FOWLR. Somehow it has evolved into a nano reef. So far my reef is a couple of fish, rocks, a few feather dusters, a nudi (hitchhiker), and lots of algae. The algae is getting mowed down by my clean-up crew though. :P

I am waiting for it to age a little. I just slammed 72 watts of PC lighting on it and a Red Sea Prizm, all on a 10-gallon tank. :P

And Yes, Oscars are my first love. :p

To be totally honest, I am a Graphic Design student, so I am not too fluent with scripts and such, just site design and structure. So what I am looking for is permission to redo sites all the way down to the logo even. 100% original content is goood. :P If you wanted to use it when I was done, that would be kewl, if not then that is fine too.

[OscarBeast]

Actually, if you did a redirect, either addy would get you there.

[rldavis]

OscarBeast,

You've only just begun. :D I hate to be the one to tell you this, but this hobby should be called an addiction, there should be support groups for people like us. When we first started out, we bought a 55gallon tank, got it set up, and in the process learned A LOT. (Didn't know about this board then).....Well, that lasted about 4 months, then we bought a 125. It sat in our garage for almost 9 months while we got the proper equipment (lighting, skimmer, built canopy, etc.) We're going on 3 years of having that setup....But is that enough? NO!! We just bought an additional tank 220gallon, that is in the process of being set up. This will probably take awhile too, since we have a new baby and the money thing isn't as liquid as it once was.:) But in about a year we hope to have a kick ***** SPS tank. The only thing I'm dreading is the electric bills, our 125 has 640Watts of VHO, and this one will have at least 1520Watts, possibly a little bit more.
SOOOOO, I guess what I'm trying to say is that you're lucky you're limited in what you can set up now, because when you move to a more permanent address, all he!! is going to break loose.
Our biggest problem is that both myself and my husband (Don Davis) really love this, in otherwords there's no control. :eek:
So, good luck on this adventure you've begun. Just remember we're here to help, but can't promise that we'll be able to stop you once you're started. But don't worry, you're among friends (or should I say fellow addicts) here.
:cool:

Becky

[DrkShadow]

Oscar and SubmarinR,

This site is done using various script. HTML being the most basic part, most of the real work is done using ASP/VbScriting some PHP and Perl/CGI which access the member database currently in MsAccess, hopefully we will get it on MS SQL soon :D

If there is some particular part of the site you want a copy of that's no problem, just let me know what your needing. Of course I'd have to edit out some of the code for security.

As far as the 8080 thing goes, IMO I don't think its much of an issue. If we got a regular webhost it would suck ^@# because we need them to install certain apps to do what we are doing and they may not be willing. Having control of the physical server is a must IMO. The only other option is paying for the Cox Business connection which is 2x the cost. I think it runs $100 a month and they don't block any TCP/UDP ports. :D

[Kyle McClain]

Richard

Correct me if I am wrong but it's not just having to add :8080 to the end of the address right? It has to be entered http://comasonline.org:8080 right ? For the purpose of making it easy for people to remeber the web site that is a great deal more complicated than www.comasonline.org. Plus if setting up the redirect is free it only makes sense to do it. All that page has to be is the logo and a link, not mention that it can be set up to autoforward.

[OscarBeast]

All I am doing in class is the grahical and html aspects of sites ATM, so I won't need access to any of your code at all.

If you like what I do, I am sure that you can add the scripts that you would like to, but I will not be able to incorperate them into my work at this current time because of the way I have to turn my assignments in to my professor.

To be honest, I really don't want to put my work online, but I am just leaving the option open to you guys to actually use it if for some reason you need it. If not, it will just be a portfolio piece. :p

More or less, I am only looking for permission to use the COMAS (or OKCAA) name and the general concept of the logo. Any work I will do will be from the ground up for any design I do in this class. Content has to be 100% original. :p

I hope I am being clear. I am not wanting to redo your site or anything, just use it as the basis for a class project.

[Kyle McClain]

Oscarbeast feel free to use COMAS as a project.

[DrkShadow]

OscarBeast,

No problem dude. If you need something let me know.

[Kyle McClain]

Oscarbeast, Don, Richard

What do we need to do to get this redirect page set up ?

Can it just have the logo on it then automaticly forward to the site on Don's server ?

Kyle

[Don Davis]

Kyle, we are currently working on getting a site to host a redirect page. There are a few problems that we will eventually work around. It may take some time, but we will get it done. I have visited roughly 50 hosting companies in the last 2 days. One problem is that the so called "Free" sites require a one time setup fee and an annual administration fee. The one time setup fee varies from $20-60 and the annual admin fee is $10- 30. The free part only refers to no monthly fees. Other free sites require you to place one of their banners on your site and the banner stays up even after you redirect. Other sites that are truley free state that they are no longer accepting free sites, but they can still hook you up if you are willing to pay monthly. Other free sites won't host your domain, but will give you a subdomain. They all seem to have their little catches, but we will make it happen. :)

The redirect page doesn't even really need a logo, it will flash by pretty fast if it is working right.

Don

[Kyle McClain]

Don

I should have know you would already be on top of it. Thanks for all your hard work.

[DrkShadow]

We have it setup, will take some time for DNS and the URL Forwarding to kick in so the site may be inaccessable for a few hours today. If it works right it will work like this

www.comasonline.org:8080/anything
www.comasonline.org/anything

those will redirect to ww2.comasonline.org:8080/redirect, this will do 2 things, remove the gay register.com banner and send you to
ww2.comasonline.org:8080 which will be the actually DNS for the server. So all existing addys will work, will just take a sec for them to redirect.