I did enjoy coming to the frag swap. I sure hope it is not the last one. Having missed the first one I can’t compare it to anything other than other swaps that have been doing this for years and years. The beginnings of MACNA were not huge, but they persisted and now are the biggest.
[quote=“Hudzon, post:40, topic:6193”]
I say we take the lesson learned and come back and have a great one next year.
I say start a committee On our first meeting next year that will give us 5 months to get sponsors, vendors maybe a speaker, make it big and advertise, I think if the sponsors & vendors can see the club making a big commitment to pulling off a nice event they will be more than happy to come, I have spent a few hours today looking at other swaps around the country and some of them are small clubs bringing in 300 or more customers from up to 4 hours away.[/quote]
I agree, take what is learned and apply it to the future. I don’t anticipate being the biggest or best but improving.
I hope its not calling off all future swaps because this one was not up to expectations.
I’ve been out of the hobby for almost 15 years and am looking to (finally) get back in. Decided to go check out the frag swap, even though I don’t yet have my tank up and running. Just wanted to see whats out there and meet a few people. Even though it was small, I thought it was great - got me all fired up enough to stop procrastinating.
So this weekend I’m starting with making some DIY Base rock (Thanks Faralon for the DIY videos). Still have to buy (or build) most of my equipment, so it’ll probably be a few more months before I’m ready to “get my tank wet”.
Attached is a pic of my “empty” 120gal tank - can’t wait to get it going! z<>z
Welcome back to the hobby Scott, glad you enjoyed the swap
Scott - tanks for coming out. It’s the positive responses like yours that make it worthwhile. Hopefully next year’s will be even biggger and better.
Nice set-up!!! I love in-wall tanks, especially when 2 sides are visible. Let us know what you need / what we can do to helo you get rolling.
:Welcome) to DRC Scott. Man if I had my tank up and looking like that I’d be having corals and fish in it already, stop the procrastinating! :
: Either way that set up looks really nice. Please post lots of pics and if you need any help please let us know. How about a tank build thread?
Thanks Guys! Looks like I’ll be starting a Tank Build thread this weekend 
Its gonna be a long process, at this point all I’ve got (in terms of equipment) is a tank and a limited budget. Gonna be doing alot of this the DIY path.
:Welcome) Scott!! If you need any help on diy projects let me know. Here is what I’ve done DIY:
Stand
re-silicone tank
wave maker
aquarium controller
algea turf scrubber
LED control (in the process, my boards just shipped from singapore on Mon.)
I haven’t made base rock before, but I could probably help you with an automated water changer for the cycling. Since it will be nice out all you should need is a tub, sprinkler valve, relay, pump, and some timers.
Back to the issue at hand. I agree that this wasn’t a well attended swap. I’ve been to about 5-7 swaps in my time and this is the first one I’ve been to where vendors where competing with hobbyist. Hobbyist provide better quality livestock (conditioned to captivity) at a lower price. Bigger frags too!! It’s hard for vendors to compete with that.
My hands down favorite swaps are the bring-a-frag-take-a-frag swaps. These are 100% hobbyist and are a lot of fun. There is usually a raffle and used equiptment auction. Lets face it, we probably all have a closet full of stuff we aren’t using anymore. It’s a good way to unload your old stuff and for newbies to upgrade their equiptment and coral. It kind of sucks for the people only looking for high-end frags, but the newbies make out well and that’s what it all about. Just my .02
Scott… the tank, and the room, …from what i can tell in the picture… are awesome :
:
its gonna look great with life in it!
Well I’ve heard from some vendors that were very happy with the turn out and the day they had. Not every event is going to be a spectacular showcase of livestock, equipment, people, and supplies. We learn the most from our failures in life, and we know where we stumbled, and where we cleared the hurdles with feet spare.
We will see what next year brings.
I’m closing this thread - both because there’s minimal value to it anymore, and I want to force Scott to start his build thread ;D
