SPS Growth Challenge - Anyone?
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_sludgefactory
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I know i guy that just got several big chunks of green slimer that he wants to dump cheap. He took them on trade for salt and doesn't really do sps. I'll email him and see what's up.
ca2or
Valuable Member
Because it would cost more....I would say make entry $20 and take remaining money for a prize....the prize will grow as the contest runs and than you can cut pieces for first...second...third.
Would also eliminate some inconsistencies if you picked up a stack of plastic rulers so we are all measuring with the same instruments.
Lastly you should also consider some are going to get branching bushes....others long sticks.....have to be able to determine overall growth.....have pics taken and posted to show progress....say once a month.....and measure height and width.
Also have to consider shipping.....maybe make entry $30 as some will pick up....others can do a bulk ship where members who are close can pick up....while others will require independant shipping....with coordination it can all fit. Chances are you will have a few from same areas that can have multiple frags shipped to one person and others could pick up from there.
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ca2or
Valuable Member
another coral to consider would be a birds nest....they are relatively cheap....easy to find large colonies of.......easy to keep and can be fast grower.....what's kind of cool is afterwards people might have some cool prizes and if nothing else you have a good size piece that you got for $30 and had fun growing that you can now sell or trade frags of....
With the birds nest we could probably snag a large enough colony from a member on here......plus you can cut a bunch of extra frags as just in casers for failures is shipping that if they go unused can be sold for prize money or given away
With the birds nest we could probably snag a large enough colony from a member on here......plus you can cut a bunch of extra frags as just in casers for failures is shipping that if they go unused can be sold for prize money or given away
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_sludgefactory
Valuable Member
Might be the best to judge by weight.
dre_jcsutton
Community Member
Good ideas, keep them coming.
One reason to keep all the frags from the same colony is that you can take any differences in colonies out of the equation and it levels the playing field a bit. Then its more of a apples-to-apples comparison between everyone.
Maybe we should just put it all to a poll when we've got maybe 20 people in. I should probably put a list together of interested reefers so we have a bead on how many are truly interested.
One reason to keep all the frags from the same colony is that you can take any differences in colonies out of the equation and it levels the playing field a bit. Then its more of a apples-to-apples comparison between everyone.
Maybe we should just put it all to a poll when we've got maybe 20 people in. I should probably put a list together of interested reefers so we have a bead on how many are truly interested.
Interesting idea guys.
I'll gladly donate a colony to the cause.
I have a few that are pest free and have been in my system for a while now so the survivability should be better. If I could get someone to cove the shipping charges I'll send it anywhere you guys want.
Might not be the prettiest acro in the world but adequate enough for experiments sake.
Let me know and i'll get it going.
I'll gladly donate a colony to the cause.
I have a few that are pest free and have been in my system for a while now so the survivability should be better. If I could get someone to cove the shipping charges I'll send it anywhere you guys want.
Might not be the prettiest acro in the world but adequate enough for experiments sake.
Let me know and i'll get it going.
Easy way to measure a change in volume for an irregular difficult to measure shape is a water displacement test. If the coral is able to be removed from the tank it can either be placed in a graduated measuring device before the contest starts and perhaps evey week. If access to properly graduated devices is difficult, everyone can use say the same size tuperware container and place a ruler in the container. Then you just measure the change in height of water when the coral or anything else is placed in the container. This type of measuring measures true change in size and not just change in height or width, especially for a very difficult to measure shape, and can be done very fast. I use this method often in tests or experiments I run for my research, typically when finding the density of a test specimen.
dre_jcsutton
Community Member
BRS has small graduated cups for like $4 if I remember correctly. If we go the displacement route, maybe they could donate enough for the contest. I think we should also go height as well, because its harder to fake. I'm not saying anyone here would cheat, but someone could easily drop in some extra water for their displacement picture. I think height would be the best option overall. But we could also use user votes, which could account for other lateral growth.
Thoughts?
Thoughts?
My only problem with measuring height, is everyones frag isn't simply going to just grow taller. Some people may experience more branching or bushing, it would not be right for these people to automatically get disqualified because of this growth. If you were to measure the change in volume, you have truly measured the growth in all directions. If everybody starts at maybe 250 ml then the displacements would be standardized. To keep people from cheating videos could be used instead of photos, I could think of ways to obscure height photos as well. Height and displacement could be used, pointing out consistencies in overall growth vs height. Weight difference is another good comparison metric but everybody would need relatively expensive scales.
Entry fees could cover the cost of a ruler, graduated cup and frag. The person organizing could gather all supplies and ship the frags in the graduated device, with a cheap ruler.
Entry fees could cover the cost of a ruler, graduated cup and frag. The person organizing could gather all supplies and ship the frags in the graduated device, with a cheap ruler.
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swannyson7
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Cool idea! I'd be up for it if you still need more people.
cdness
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I'd be up for it if you want another person. This is of course dependent on the cost to get in due to shipping... I like the idea of it being a captive grown colony that gets split up as well as I know they tend to have better survivability rates. I have yet to be impressed with the growth rates of maricultured corals.
For measuring the displacement idea is honestly the best way to do it for the most accurate results. Some people get long thin branches and others can get shorter stubby branches. Rulers are hard to get a good grasp of that. We attempted to do this local and didn't come up with a good way to really measure them. Another option would be weight as a gram scale is cheap at the local hardware store.
Regarding the honesty thing and cheating, this can come from anywhere and you just need to assume the people in the contest are going to be honest. Also with no official prize from the growth contest other than bragging rights, what's really the need to cheat?
For measuring the displacement idea is honestly the best way to do it for the most accurate results. Some people get long thin branches and others can get shorter stubby branches. Rulers are hard to get a good grasp of that. We attempted to do this local and didn't come up with a good way to really measure them. Another option would be weight as a gram scale is cheap at the local hardware store.
Regarding the honesty thing and cheating, this can come from anywhere and you just need to assume the people in the contest are going to be honest. Also with no official prize from the growth contest other than bragging rights, what's really the need to cheat?
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This would be awesome!
