Scale Chart

[Questin]

Is there such a thing as scale for zoanthids? I ask this because sometimes I can not tell just how large of a zoanthid is being talked about. I understand that different species represent their size, but I don't know the names and those might bring more confusion to the matter. Is there something like this out there?

 

[Who Dah?]

Hey, that's pretty neat!

I don't know of one, but that's not to say there cannot be.

That is a pretty big jump between 'H' and 'C'. What is that scale used for and what do the letters represent?

Cya,
-Who Dah?

 

[Questin]

When a polyp is open the circle represents that polyps full size, it is the Diameter of that polyp.

For example, People Eaters are one of the larger polyps, and fit closest to the H, so all People Eaters would be H scale. The C scale would be for large polyps like the Nuclear Greens. Sun Polyps are the largest, so they would be apart of the A Scale (I know its not in that graphic).

I did not try to make a graphic that was completely accurate because I figured there was something out there like this already. The letters I picked for the scale mean nothing. I just took what I remember from toy trains and how they are categorized. Z being the smallest scale toy trains they make.

I think you get the idea, if someone was to tell me they have some H scale polyps they want to trade, I at least have an idea of the size. There have been a few times when I ordered some Zoanthids online, and when they come in, they were T scale, and I was expecting something in the H scale range.

This is not something that is to be exact, just a general size of that type of polyp. I understand that my OPE might be smaller in Diameter then my buddys OPEs because of different flow and lighting, but they would always be catagorized into the same scale (the max a polyp could be is the scale it should be put into).

 

[Christel Mei]

Some types of Polyps will double in size under higher power lighting.

 

[reef-lover]

great idea...

 

[Who Dah?]

Some types of Polyps will double in size under higher power lighting.

That is an excellent point. We require lighting specifications which would help to coorelate this. Of course there are so many other factors...

 

[reef-nut]

Thats a good idea. There are a lot of zoanthids out there that are tiny, but you would not know unless you have seen them. Someone needs to make a chart and every zoanthid for sale should have the size listed.

 

[Questin]

Add the smallest diameter to the largest maybe? If the smallest is T scale, and the largest is H scale, call it a TH scale so you would understand under low intensity light and high intensity light sizes for the polyp. Everyone knows their light setup, so they should understand where in such a scale their lights would put those zoanthids.

If I saw a zoanthid for sale like this:

Crazy Green Eyes
Scale TH
Price $30

I would very easily understand the size

 

[MarvinsReef]

awesome idea... I think this will help us if we can agree on some guidelines...

 

[Questin]

Well, we need to come up with sizes, have a chart someplace that is permanent and point everyone to that chart. Have each size represented by a letter (numbers would not work IMO because you would get mixed up if its a scale that covers a range of sizes.) And then what part of the body would the scale cover? I would say just the oral disc, not the skirt.

This place has so many sponsors that I think it would be easy to get them to all use the same scale, and it would gain power from there.

 

[LiveRock27]

Once a Scale is agreed on could we have it put as a sticky under the Trading and Selling forums?

 

[coralfarm123]

Won't these be skewed depending on your screen size.

 

[coral88]

The size should be in mm or cm as a reference for the size of the circle. So as not to have them change size over time. Or at least have a 1inch by what ever inch frame around the scale. If the frame comes up more or less than 1 inch on your screen you know the size is off.

 

[Questin]

How would this work as a foundation of sizes?

This would be for the Oral Disc only, it would not include the skirt of a zoanthid.

 

[Who Dah?]

We could add it to ZoaID.com and even request this info during the submission process. Perhaps even get ahold of previous submitters and request information from previous requests as well.

 

[Who Dah?]

Oh, Questin, I would suggest adding a 7mm to the chart as well. I have a lot of palys would be 'T-P' range.

Another suggestion: since the letters were chosen by random, how about having 8 entries and labeling from smallest to largest 'Z-O-A-N-T-H-I-D'? This way, when people said, it's a size 'N', they are going to kind of have a notion of the size right off the bat?


If that sounds nifty, I'd suggest adding 7mm and 12mm plus whatever else.

I do like the sizes coorelating to mm's BTW! That 1" scale marking on this current monitor displays as about 3/4". So the mm sizing is nifty. There's no debating the mm size!

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

Great stuff and great idea Whodah! We'll add it to the zoa discussion and sell/trade once you get this all ironed out.

 

[Questin]

The lettering is somewhat random, but what I did was pick a letter then move up 6 spots from there. When I got to "U" I made it "T" so that bad translation would not have confussion over it be "U" or "V".

We should get some more input on sizes thou. I know I personally have the 3mm size as well as the 39mm, Whodah has a lot in a 7mm size. What about all the others, are the spot on or do we need a little more tweaking first? The 25mm one I picked because after rounding off it is 1inch.

 

[Questin]

This is just a different layout to see how it looks with one new size

 

[Questin]

To know the size of a zoanthid polyp by a letter since no one out there tells you the size of the polyps. If you told me you had Z scale polyps for sale, I would know that I am buying the smallest zoanthids out there before I purchased them instead of waiting until they showed up to find out I got some super small zoanthids and I was expecting larger.

You might want to go back and read the thread a little to get the idea of what this is about. Its not about measuring polyps, its about classifying the polyp size.

Also, lets say you have zoanthids that have a polyp that fits between 9mm and 15mm. Instead of trying to figure out if it is a scale of M or a scale of I you would have a zoanthid of scale MI catagorizing it as between those two scales