March Meeting

[reedman]

The March meeting is rapidly approaching. I wanted to start a thread to compile a list of things that need to be done and assign the tasks out to all of us. Maybe avoid some confusion. I'll add to this thread soon.

Who and What:
Dave from O2ManyFish talking about skimmers & stuff

When:
March 18th @ 6PM

Transportation & Lodging:
Colleen, is this all set? Flight and hotel. We also need to decide who is going to play shuttle for this one.

Logistics:
We will need a room with a projector for this meeting. Colleen, would you talk with BCC again and work your magic please?
Drinks at the meeting, pre-meeting social location, etc.

Raffles:
I have queried Via Aqua about getting a skimmer donated for this meeting. We can put the books up for raffle again and maybe give away more glue (if it goes well at this meeting). I will work this one and see what I can get done. We'll need the raffle tix at the meeting.

Tank Tour part II:
He wants to see some tanks....sound familiar? He suggested Eric (SalsaBoy) and Steve Weast. I'm sure Eric will be more than happy, but I don't know about Steve Weast. That's a long drive. Maybe we can sub in some other tanks. I'll look into this further and see exactly how much time he wants to dedicate to this and when he wants to start. I'll try to come up with a list of candidate tanks. Maybe Mark can take over from there.

 

[jesshimom]

Transporation isn't set yet. He is still deciding. We have time and I have it on my radar. I will prompt him again by the end of the week.... He's in court right now I think so probably really busy. Oh, by the way, I think his time will be very short here, he did get notice he will be on trial and he wanted to know meeting times as he may fly in and right back out again, but is planning to still do the meeting. I'll let you know what I hear.

So... maybe no tank tour hassles.

yes on the room; will take care of it.

I probably wont be at this meeting; or will just be for the meeting.

My darling daughter was accepted at the U W for a search for young scholars program because all of her WASL tests and other standardized tests scores are very high. She so far has received a letter from the gov's office last year and now this. She had to retake tests in the 4th grade because she got a perfect score and the district said she must have had the answer key.. LOL; so they retested her at a higher level.

It's rather amazing...

So we will be partying at the U in the afternoon!

Colleen

 

[reedman]

Congrats! Great school (Go Dawgs!!!!)

 

[Alice]

Wow Colleen, that's fantastic!!! Go get 'em, Shiloh!

When I heard he wanted to see Steve Weast's tank, I suggested that maybe the Portland club might want to get into the action (=share the cost!) but with his schedule maybe being so tight, that won't work.

If he doesn't have time for tank tours, or maybe only one or two stops, this will be a pretty straight forward meeting. I should be able to pick him up at the airport, but I may not be able to play host on Sunday - I'll have to wait until we get a little closer to meeting time.

Raffling off a skimmer will be a great draw. I did hear a couple of comments at the last meeting about the raffle tickets being $5. Do we want to rethink the price at all? Just a thought....

Alice

 

[reedman]

Do we want to rethink the price at all? Just a thought....

I think this a great oportunity to react to the members feedback. Maybe for this meeting we can sell the tickets for $1 or $2 each and do a 6 for $5 or 12 for $10 deal? I'm all for that since we aren't hurting for money.

 

[jesshimom]

A buck? I'm coughing and choking. I dont want them to expect that. The raffle was for a nice set up. This raffle is for $200 in gift certs.. one is $100. I just worry if we go cheap now and try to go back we will have lots more bitching. I didn't have any complaints; Alice must have been the fortunate one.

How about $5 or 3 for $10? We can say buy two get one free.. Just an idea.

What are they gonna say about the tank tickets? I hope we stay at $20 for that.

I'm of the feeling you can make everyone happy; such as the one annoyed person with the noise...

 

[reedman]

I'm just thinking that we always charge $5 for a ticket and I usually don't even buy one. Maybe I'm just a cheap person, but to me if I buy one ticket at $5 and see Joe Moneybags walk in behind me and plunk down $100 on tickets....what's the point in me buying in the first place. now if I buy 5 tickets for $5 then I have a false hope of better odds (even though that is not true). I just want people to have fun. The club has money.

The other way to do this is to have 2 different tickets. One for everything except the $100 cert, all at $1 or $2 each. And have the $100 cert for $5 each.

The tank is not an issue at $20. It's a huge prize.

My 2 cents

 

[Alice]

Maybe we could establish a rule of thumb? If our main raffle item is worth $150 or more, $5 ea or 3 for $10. If the main item is under $150, the tickets could be $2. Just a thought.

 

[Skimmy]

a via aqua skimmer??
no offense but thats about the last problem i would want to inherit, i really tried to get eric to get something else for a skimmer for the nano, but it was all he had on hand.
i wouldnt want the club thinking we endorse such a p.o.s. not once, but twice!!
god, i'll spring for the money personally so we can get a better skimmer(no kidding!!)

this brings up a good point too, i really think we should avoid crappy gear when it comes to our raffles, and just stick with the good stuff, which i know is hard considering were usually limited by what sponsors donate, but i think worth the extra effort, as the club image is concerned.

 

[reedman]

Mark,

The reason I went after this skimmer is because Dave from O2ManyFish found it to one of the best performing skimmers in his test and one of the best values. Bottom line here is that I wanted the raffle to line up with the talk. Dave is going to review his findings and he suggested this as a skimmer for us to ask for.

a via aqua skimmer??
no offense but thats about the last problem i would want to inherit, i really tried to get eric to get something else for a skimmer for the nano, but it was all he had on hand.
i wouldnt want the club thinking we endorse such a p.o.s. not once, but twice!!
god, i'll spring for the money personally so we can get a better skimmer(no kidding!!)

this brings up a good point too, i really think we should avoid crappy gear when it comes to our raffles, and just stick with the good stuff, which i know is hard considering were usually limited by what sponsors donate, but i think worth the extra effort, as the club image is concerned.

 

[reedman]

empty your PM box too Mark

 

[Skimmy]

wow, i gotta say im dumbfounded!!
and absolutely speechless...
one of the best performing skimmers for the money???
i just threw up in my mouth

 

[Skimmy]

Mark,

The reason I went after this skimmer is because Dave from O2ManyFish found it to one of the best performing skimmers in his test and one of the best values. Bottom line here is that I wanted the raffle to line up with the talk. Dave is going to review his findings and he suggested this as a skimmer for us to ask for.

"ONE of the best performing", so then there are other skimmers we could get that would line up with his talk, what are they??
anything else but the via aqua, PPLLEEAASSEE!!!

pm box is empty now

 

[reedman]

Via Aqua

Straight from his site...

Via Aqua

This skimmer was provided by the manufacturer. I have been to the Via Aqua testing facility many times, and these skimmers are used on 300-500gallon SPS systems and do a great job.




By far the most affordable skimmer in the test, this skimmer holds it's own against skimmers 10x it's price.​

This skimmer does have some quirks - When brand new this skimmer has the longest break in period of any skimmer - Don't expect consisten skimmate for 3-7 days. I found this to be the case not only with the skimmer in the comparison, but I ended up buying one of these for my dad, and the same situation happened with him.

Also adjusting this skimmer is a little different, you need to turn the air and lower the water level - from what common sense says for the skimmer to skim optimally. After a couple of days of retraining yourself to use this skimmer it's a breeze.

The Via Aqua has the easiest collection cup to remove and clean.
I think most people would have a stigmatism about trusting their 200g+ reef to a simple $200 skimmer. But if your skimmer exploded, and you needed a skimmer on your tank till you figure out which over priced skimmer you wanted to purchase - I am confident the ViaAqua will handle your needs till you shell out 4 figures on a skimmer that gives you the confident and warm fuzzy feeling.

For those folks with a moderate aquarium (Under 150g) take some advice and feel confident in this skimmer, and spend the money you saved on additional lighting and a chiller. ​

Here's his site...http://o2manyfish.com/skimmers/Venturi.htm

You'll notice he doesn't say it's the best skimmer for people that have money to burn, but if you don't have $600-$2000 to toss at a skimmer (which fits a lot of us in the hobby) then this is a good skimmer in his opinion.

 

[Skimmy]

ohhhh, o.k.,
first of all he's not talking about the same skimmer, he's talking about the in sump model, which is a decent skimmer, i thought he was talking about the hang on model, which i hate(could ya tell?)
i actually have no experience with the in sump model but have known people who like it alot.
one thing i dont understand is he says it is powered by a mag 24? is that right?? i thought it comes with a via aqua pump, anyway, that one will be great for the raffle

 

[reedman]

Site says it should use a via aqua 2600 at ~740 gph, so I'm not sure where the mag 24 comes in. Seems like WAY too much flow...but maybe there's a good reason...don't know. Part of the reason I'm excited to hear him talk about the results.

Commodity Axis offered a hang-on version, but I asked for an in sump. We'll see what happens. Hopefully they will come through with the in-sump. It's about the same price as what they originally offered.

 

[Skimmy]

even if we have to pay for the difference between the 2 models, it probably wouldnt be that bad.

 

[reedman]

OK, so I now have the insump skimmer, a pump for it, and a seio pump all to raffle off/giveaway at the meeting. Very generous of the companies.

 

[Skimmy]

cool, what pump did it come with?

 

[reedman]

See...now I was giving out good news and you have to ask which pump

It's a rio 3100...not the best, but it will get someone going.