increasing biodiversity in DSB
 

Is there a regularly meeting Edmonton reefers club? Either way do people ever exchange small portions of rock / substrate / sand to increase bio-diversity? I understand there might be some risk involved. But, if you have seen each others tanks over a few months and they are healthy why not?

welcome to canreef!

as far as i know, there is nothing formal at this time. generally we communicate on this board, and work things out here. however i am certainly in favour of some type of small meeting like what the calgary society does. perhaps someone would even consider hosting a meeting sometime in the future, as the edmonton board seems to be getting busier and busier, and the tank crawl dez organized last winter was lots of fun.

Even though I'm two hours out of town I wouldn't mind coming to monthly meetings if some informative talks were arranged. And what is this about "tank crawl"? Do tell.

Re: increasing biodiversity in DSB
 

I've been on this board for the last couple of months. We don't really have meetings as such, but we do post about who has what frags, who wants frags, etc. I've met a few of the Edmonton and Red Deer folks who have picked up frags and crabs from us. Have not yet had the pleasure of seeing other folks' tanks as yet :frown:

A tank crawl is where folks go from one reefer's house to another's to another's and so on, until everyone gets to see everyone else's tanks.

Some of us have websites. Mine is http://www.lostmymarblz.com/ You're welcome to view photos of our various reefs there.

Welcome aboard :smile:

monthly meetings
 

Beverly, I'd be willing to host a meeting at my place if anyone is interested. My reef isn't that exciting (40 gal nano and a 45 F.O.), I'm still more of a pond guy, but if you can come up with some ideas for topics or just want a general chit chat I'm good to go. The house is small, so I could only do 8 10 people. I could probably talk Dez into coming.

about exchanging sand
 

Beverly, thanks for the link. It's nice to see people provide such detailed information to help out others. I'll be trying your home made food recipe once the tank is set up.

About exchanging sand between aquariums, what I'm hearing is to be very careful. In fact it is not really advised unless you're just starting out. Two things have been pointed out.

- The existing colonies might choke off any new additions before they have a chance to establish.
- A pest under control in someone else's tank may not have any natural control or predators in your tanks and take over.

i am in on any meeting that goes down. if people are interested, we could do it on a weekend or friday night and turn it into a mini tank/LFS-crawl, then go for supper or something.

Re: monthly meetings
 

That would be good to see Dez outside work. Sometime on a morning or evening weekend in mid-June would be good for us. Where in the city are you located? We're in Oliver - west downtown.

And a 40 gal doesn't quite qualify as a nano, imo :rolleyes: Try 2.5 gal, or 7 gal. Now, those are nanos :cool:

I am up for a mettting (PS Welcome to the board). I think that this type of hobby is something that is best leart by hearing what others have done and what works (and did not work) for them. Plus I would love to see some tanks. Weekends or evenings work well for me, just give me the date and time and I am there.

PS I have a web site as well but there is not many fish pictures there right now but it is http://homepage.mac.com/trevors

I would be interested in meeting a few of the reefers here in Edmonton and see a few different setups.