North County Reefers

[jschnepf]

Ok so it seems like a bunch of new and veteran reefers up here in north county are becoming more active on the forum. I wanted to see if we could get a handful of members together that would be interested in organizing monthly meetings. We had this going a couple years ago when Larry Montgomery was around and kept us organized and on track. After his passing we lost our leader and the group sort of dissolved.

Previously we held a meeting and voted on members to run the group, I don't know if we really need the structure we had in place before. It was done in order to make the group a not for profit organization so we could receive donations for monthly raffles and the sort. I was thinking maybe we just start off with a monthly meeting where we pick a topic and discuss amongst friends, and maybe have a frag swap. For our first couple meetings I think we can just pick a hobbyists home or maybe reefers garage if louis is ok with that. In the past we had done some demonstrations on DIY fish food, coral propagation, coral treatment techniques, and aquarium controllers. Once we have a group of people committed to get this going we can pick some topics, dates, and locations for meetings. We can also discuss if we want to go in the direction of a non profit organization.

I just got back the NCRMAS frag tank and should have enough spare parts in my garage to get it up and running for meetings. I may ask for some donations of spare power heads, heaters, or look down boxes if anyone has these items and want to bring to the first gathering that would be awesome. Ill follow up with a list of what I have for the frag tank and if there something needed to make it functional.

Please let me know if you are interested in helping organize this group or if you have a good spot to host an event. I would be happy to host at my house but it isn't very large, if there were more than 25 of us it might not work. I would ideally like to keep events located north of the 56 freeway. Of course anyone is welcome to join us no matter where you live. And I am not opposed to the occasional event outside of north county, maybe a birch aquarium tour or a meeting up in the temecula area for our north, north, north county reefers.

[DaveMorris]

While I obviously have my hands full with SDMAS, I am happy to help any way I can. We have a very large county and we have had mixed luck trying to incorporate it all into one club. I helped start NCRMAS when Mike originally started it up many years ago and I really enjoyed making the trek up there from Lemon Grove. SDMAS is happy to support NCRMAS any way we can. Just let us know if you need anything. SDMAS is a 501c3 non profit and I did 99% of the paperwork for that so I can help there too if thats the way you decide to go.

So all of you North County folks that haven't been able to make it down south for SDMAS meetings, you now have no excuse to not participate in a club. There's one firing up in your neck of the woods. Participate and make it work. It is one of the best ways to get more out of this hobby.

[jschnepf]

Thanks so much for that offer! I have no knowledge whatsoever on the proper way to run a club like this but I'm hoping maybe someone else will. I just know it was a lot of fun and great way to meet and interact with like minded people. I was a little worried that there would be a conflict of interest but that really puts me at ease. Once we get a little more organized I will be sure to hit you up for some suggestions on topics and how to go about getting speakers for those topics and product donations for raffles. But those things are a ways off. First things first. Thanks!

[rudy]

Oh cool, it's awesome you're restarting the club. I always liked the NCRMAS meetings, it was fun and great to see other tanks and meet members.

Let me know if you need anything for the frag tank, I have a bunch of stuff here.

[Sancho]

Great Idea! I am right around the corner from you and can offer my help if needed. I know Louis was also trying to get something together he had a meeting a couple months ago not a huge turnout but was nice to meet some of the north county guys.

[Whiskey]

This is awesome!!! I would love to attend some meetings. I might even be able to host one or two if the group is reasonably small. I don't have much to look at yet though, just a tank of nice frags.

Whiskey

[chireef]

Am down yall yea you guys have saw pics of my tank but it would be cool to attend to meetings 😀


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Rudyg308]

Great idea guys woild l9ve to gobto a meeting and meet new people!

[jschnepf]

I knew there were a lot of us up here that would like to start having meetings!

I am hoping to get a few guys or gals to commit to help organize said meetings. We just need a group of 4-6 of us so a couple leaders can make each monthly meeting, to keep things on track, and help report what we can do to improve the next one. I was thinking maybe we could do one monthly meeting of the organizers to get location and topic decisions made and make sure one of us can bring, and setup the frag tank an hour or two before the meeting should start so the water can get up to temp. And one monthly meeting for everyone. We can do the "board" meeting right after the gathering or at a different time depending on schedules.

I would love to get this going relatively soon, so if any of you want to help organize just pm me or text me if you already have my number. Even if you just want to help for the first meeting that is fine with me.

[Trojans11]

I'm down to meet up!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Whiskey]

I was a member of a club like this before, and when we did frag auctions it worked more like this.

1. There was an acution thread, sellers posted pictures of what they were bringing, and people made note of what they wanted to bid on.

2. Every buyer was given a bidding number.

3. The seller kept their corals in bags that they brought them in, and in coolers that they brought. When it was there turn to sell they went up there and pulled out the bags. People could view the frag in the bag if they wanted to go up there during the bidding.

4. When a buyer won a peice it was handed to them right away, and the number and price was recorded, all buyers settled up with the house at the end, and the money was then distributed to the sellers.

With this format there was no need for a frag tank and administrative cost was kept to a minimum.

I hope it's not out of line to make a suggestion like this, but I thought a format like this might help us especially while the club is small and starting up.

If you would like help let me know what is needed! I'm sure that I can spare some time for a great cause like this.
Whiskey

[jschnepf]

Your frag auction system seems way more organized than what we used to do. Everyone that wanted brought some frags and claimed a place in the frag tank. Everyone checked out frags and then said I'll trade you this for that. Or I'll give you 5-10 bucks for that one.

As far as administrative cost... We already have the tank and most hardware for it, and I usually go pickup Scripps water to fill it. The only downside is the chance of cross contamination from everyone's frags but we should all be inspecting and dipping any coral purchase anyway. And I would hope if you know you have a pest you wouldn't toss your frags in the community tank. Bring them but keep them in a sealed container and offer the warning and let the buyers decide if they want to buy and treat or not.

And I very much appreciate the offer to help. I'll pm you my contact info shortly. I have gotten a few people committed to helping so I think we should first pick a time and date for the "first" gathering. Does anyone have a preference if we do it on a weekday evening or weekend? If so what time? I am down for either.

Once we get a time and place I'll start a new thread and sure hope people post pics of stuff they are going to bring, that would be fantastic.

[Trojans11]

I'm also down for either meeting day/time willing to help any way I can! Eager to learn from other members.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[ReefLove]

I'm just getting started and don't have much to trade but I'd like to be a part of the meetings. I'm available to help with the meeting admin too, just let me know.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[A.M]

I'm new too, and I'd like to come by also!