Who do we have to bribe to tell us who the judges are so we can bribe the judges....

Anyone want to teach me how to plumb a tank?

as of right now no, its like this... if there are four of us who sign then prob not ,if a large group of us sign up then i can almost guarantee it, theres something im trying to get in the works so alot of people signing up would def help the cause:)

if it was local calgary id supply the prize but since its open to all canada ill try to come up wth something different:P

Bragging rights. ;)

well as of right now im the only person who knows the judges...the judges dont even know the judges yet lol , im thinking once the contest officially starts i will cut communication with them unless someone has a family emergency or pms me with a problem, in whiich case ill pm all 5 judges right away.

and vice versa if a problem comes up with them.


in case anyones inerested reading this i am looking for more judges still, ive already had some volunteers, dont be shy:)

I'll say you can't have teams if you have a rule stating no borrowing. Those two don't mix as you can borrow anything you want if you add team members....

Honestly I think you have too many rules and dates. I don't see why you can't allow borrowing and if people want to work together then let them. And what's will all the dates? Why can't people add rock/livestock from the start? You can't even add rock until 45 days after the contest starts... And then another 15 days after that before livestock is added... Seems to me the first two months are going to be pretty lame, interest will likely drop, I know mine has already :neutral: Remember it's a nano tank, most people set these things up over a weekend if that. Sure if people want to go slow that's good too but forcing everyone to follow the same timeline doesn't usually work for everyone.

If people are looking for a prize I can contribute.

ok im all ears , copy and paste the rules with the dates you think would work best and we can see what everyone thinks, ive had a few people say theyd like to start right away:P


the idea of the lenth is to determine how well over time your nano does if its a 2 week contest then there will not be much to judge on but the looks it self.

the month and a half in the beginning is for the reason of planning ,saving and getting what you need, if someone wishes to fly right through it they need only document everything and post the appropriate pics on the dates.

there are actually only a few dates where pics are mandatory, if not people will stop posting or only post once a month with like 50 pics:P


its basically a 6 mth journal, the judges will watch it and follow your posts, pics and updates on everything that happens.

im kinda against the teams myself, if you need help with something sure but a flat out team, not officially.....i think silent teams will happen anyways :)

Lots will happen that people wont post. Or will refuse to admit. Hey if I killed every fish off in the tank, I would replace them and not say a thing :P Cant dock points off what what we dont know!

I like the dates as they are. Make people do it properly and slowly so everyones fairly even. So the tanks are all maturing at the same time. Letting it cycle in the nano as it all begins. Just like starting our very first marine tank ever all the odd stuff that you notice when theres nothing in the tank but rock to look at.

nov1rst/2012- official fill date:
on this date your tank should be filled with water , all plumbing done and be a running system. no livestock or rock is to be in your tank at this time. a pic of the tank running with water and the plumbing are to be provided.
nov15th/2012-rock and design placment:
by this date your little tank needs to have rock in it and sand (if using sand) , no corals fis or inverts are to be in your tank at this time just rock. a fulltank shot of your layout and structure are to be provided.
dec1rst2012-livestock additions-
if you were smart you started adding rock right after the filldate, so thats a month and now you can add livestock if you feel your tank can do so. a record of what livestock you choose needs to be noted .
jan3rd/2013- livestock additions and updates:

Your off on the dates..you say no rock can be added until nov 15, but then for dec 1 you say if you were smart you added rock right after the fill date ( nov1) which is clearly against da rulz. So on Dec 1, the rock has been in 2 weeks, not 30 daze.

I like the idea of month updates, maybe semi-monthly would work as well if people are willing. Realistically the more updates the better and judges can use that to gauge planning. If people want to spend two months planning a 10 gallon, that's awesome but I think most will need less than a few days to plan it out.

IMO Dates:

Start date: - Build thread has to be started by this day displaying empty tank or a tank in the process of being built, basically something showing the tank isn't full of water yet.

Threads must be updated at least twice monthly with pictures added at least once a month.

End Date: Tanks are judged accordingly

That's all you need, but that's just how I see it.

They way I read the date regarding the rock was that it had to be in by that date: you could put it in much earlier (the day after you filled the tank, for example).

I may be wrong, though.

I'm confused about adding sand. I would normally do that before I filled the tank, but it looks like that can't be done until after the tank is filled. So, I'd have to fill, then drain, add sand, and refill to prevent a crazy sandstorm.

I suspect I would become part of an "unofficial team" the second I grabbed hubby's drill or sawzall. :lol: (Of which I will require both . . . But, what's his is mine anyway :D)

nov1rst/2012- official fill date:
on this date your tank should be filled with water , all plumbing done and be a running system. no livestock or rock is to be in your tank at this time. a pic of the tank running with water and the plumbing are to be provided.


on this day you must provide pics of your tank filled with water, no liverock or livestock is to be in your tank at this time.

if you wish to add rock right after the fill date simply post the appropriate pics on the date required

nov15th/2012-rock and design placment:
by this date your little tank needs to have rock in it and sand (if using sand) , no corals fis or inverts are to be in your tank at this time just rock. a fulltank shot of your layout and structure are to be provided.

by this date your tank needs to have rock in it, if you are further ahead then this , post the appropriate pics on the dates required.

dec1rst2012-livestock additions-
if you were smart you started adding rock right after the filldate, so thats a month and now you can add livestock if you feel your tank can do so. a record of what livestock you choose needs to be noted .


im not going to peoples houses to check on everyones tanks so if your fast and want to get going take lots of pics and document, when the time comes make the posts needed. its 6mths for everyone anyway you want to time it, the dates are for judging purposes to see your tanks at different stages.

your reading it right, as for sand if you wish to do it prior i cant see a problem with that unless anyone else does , when i write the official rules and reg's ill note that for sure:)

I see your point, but that's really not fair for the contestants who are literally starting from scratch. I'm not going to enter, but for example I have enough tanks, enough live rock and more than enough corals to have a pretty wicked little tank up running and cycled in about an hour.. Which isn't the scope of this contest. Setting time frames equals up a lot of things.

thats the way i seen it too , i have fragtanks filled with coral, bins full of liverock i can whip together a killer small tank in minutes, then its just a pic contest:)

That's why we have judges... If someone wants to wait 5 moths then get around to filling up his nano with livestock, so what, obviously he won't win as it's judged based on panning, updates and sustainability. Same goes for someone who want to set it up over a weekend. The point is at the end of the day someone setup a nano tank the way they wanted to and people are going to see more tanks and more methods/approaches to setting them up.

Nothing stopping someone from doing this anyway, why not set it up over a weekend and take 1000 pictures in the process then take it down. Post pictures according to schedule. People will do what they want anyway so I just think you'll have a better contest if you just let them.

hummm, i could tinker with it a bit tonight when i get home and make it as a month to month guideline.

something rough like:

oct-contest start:

provide empty tank shots
provide equipment shots

nov - show off your creations-

livestock additions
rock


dec- pictures month-

show some pics
make a video
phot shop




etc etc etc, i can work with it a bit tonight if everyone thinks thats a bit easier:P

im aware people are going to set these up as fast as they like, people are going to replace dead livestock things like that.

theres just no way to stop it from happening, but the judges arnt going to know most of us personally, so if they feel your tank is rushed they may judge it that way , if they feel you didnt follow along they may judge that too, im in no way going to enforce the judges , they are gong to be left to come up with their own conclusions.

no matter how we look at it the judges are going to decide the winner, they WILL follow along and watch our builds, the small details may not matter to one judge and the next may be all about it, i have no say in what they determine:)

if a judge thinks someone replaced a fish its up to him to make a call on points, he has the final call ,judges arnt allowed to post or contact contestants so there will be no debate, just the judges call on whether or not he thinks your livestock made it or not:)

i dunno if spending hundreds of dollars on a new tank and dedicating so much time to maintaining an additional tank is worth just bragging rights

ok well what did you get for setting up your first tank??

i could also change it so instead of saying on this date provide pics ,i could change it to by this date provide pics??


so oct 1 rst the start , by the 15th you need to provide emty tank shot, by nov1rst you need to provide rock pics etc etc.

wouldnt be so mandatory and would leave people more freedom to choose their own post dates??

I still think you had the dates right in the first place.

I guess I will have to start gathering some macro rock and making it "live". Glad I got vehicle insurance out of the way already, now I actually have money for this :D and my new lights :D

thats another reason for a full month of sign up , to give people a chance to save money or buy/aquire the things they need.

as it stands right now ill leave the dates as planned unless i see some major reason to change them:)

i will leave the dates as they are at the most its only twice a month but i will chage it so it reads by a certain date not on a certain date:)

The "by ____" works, but for the start can we still have an "until" so nobody starts filling something up now? Like the start of a race, we all leave the tanks dry and can start filling them up on _____ then just keep up with the updates "by _____". Then at least its some what more fair if we have to wait to fill them.

regretfully my tank wont be easy simple. so i like the added thought process time just sayin:) even tho it may only be 10g ish spent 3 hours last night brain storming..btw my wife is a touch not happy with my decition to enter. but after in done ill be giving it away. so she is happy itwont be sticking around lol

same with me i was up untill 3am last night going through the fish room for extra supplies lol :)

will take that into consideration for sure:)

well you know me i dont like to see filtration/pumps at all...and i like my rockwalls lol but..... i want to change it up a bit this is for fun after all...nano drop off tank? lol j/k maybe

contest is officially posted and can be found as a sticky, links to the signup thread and rules/regulations are posted in the first post:)

goodluck gang!