Nano Tank Contest #2 Rules and Guidelines

[christyf5]

First off I'd like to thank JDigital for coming up with all these rules so I could just cut and paste them and modify them to my liking

Ok so I've been reading through the categories thread and this is what I've come up with.

Now remembering that: size doesn't matter, its what you do with it. Here are the categories.

1. Custom tank with limited budget. Budget for this will be $500.

2. Custom tank with unlimited budget.

3. Stock tank 10 gallons or less with limited budget. Budget for this will be $500

4. Stock tank 10 gallons or less with unlimited budget.



Tanks whether custom or stock are limited to 20 gallons volume. For custom tanks, don' t build a 20 gallon tank with a 5 gallon overflow chamber, it is to be 20 gallons total. Sumps are restricted to make up a total volume of 40gallons (not water volume, but tank volume itself). Therefore if you use a 5 gallon tank you can have a 35 gallon sump if you so wish, etc.

For Limited Budget Categories:

Not covered in budget (i.e. considered "free")

- Contest Display Tank
- Building supplies (eggcrate, stand/canopy materials, plumbing, acrylic/glass scraps, etc)
- Sand
- Live Rock
- Water and salt
- Food
- Supplements
- Accessories less than $15 (mag floats, tongs, thermometers, etc)



GENERAL GUIDELINES & RULES:

- All used equipment utilized in contest will be deducted from your budget at 75% of the lowest advertised price from J&L Aquatics.
For equipment purchased online, only deduct the actual price of the equipment from the budget, don't deduct shipping costs.

- All live stock can come from anywhere, CR Vendors, LFS, online, whatever. Please be honest people. Any purchases of livestock made online, from the LFS or fellow reefers will be the actual price paid (don't include shipping costs).


- Tank can be purchased locally and will not count against budget. (Sump tank will count against your budget, should you choose to incorporate one)

- stock tanks can be modded as much as you want, as long as you start with a STOCK tank and deduct costs from your budget.

- Budget is done on the honor system since we all know what its all worth (for most things).

- There is an entry fee of $20.00, which must be received by June 1st to lock you into the contest. These fees will be used for the prizes at the end of the contest. Entry fees are non-refundable. A late fee of $30 will be accepted from June 1st to June 14th for those who are on the fence. The tank thread will still apply for June 15th. There will be NO late entries to the contest as of June 15th.

- Contest begins June 1st, 2009 and ends December 1st, 2009.

In short, you've got 6 months to make a sweet tank whether it be on a limited or unlimited budget. For those on a limited budget lighting fixtures, filters, skimmers, and livestock all count towards budget, so manage wisely.


- Start a tank thread for your contest tank by June 15, so we can see it's progression as it goes along. It wouldn't hurt to put a link to your contest tank thread in your sig, but I don't know that we should require it. You don't have to start your tank thread immediately, as long as you do it by June 15. There may be a prize for best tank thread so keep yours up to date and be creative

The tank must have water and rock in it by July 15th. That gives you a month to plan for equipment, design etc if needed. As it is now you can already start planning which gives you plenty of time

No rock or livestock can be added or removed after October 15th.

- During the first TWO WEEKS of each month, post a FTS of your tank on your thread. If you don't update your tank thread you will not be included in the contest, barring major health/life crises which I hope to be PMed about.

- When we reach the end of the contest, I will start a thread showing all of the tanks and their specs, with an attached poll for ALL of Canreef to vote on the winners. A final tank photo will be required by December 1st as that is the end of the contest. If you have difficulties meeting this date, please PM christyf5 to let her know what is going on, I don't need the details but I do need to know you haven't flaked.

- The winners will receive a gift certificate to the Canreef sponsor/vendor of their choice, taken from the entry fees.

- Basically, we'll take all the $$ contributed for the entry fee and divide it up into 4 equal portions for the winning gift certificates. Categories for now will be the "best tank" from each group. Due to people dropping out of various categories we may go the same route as contest #1 and just go with "best tank" and "best theme" or something. That will be discussed after contest entries are submitted and we know how much interest there is in each category.


Any questions or concerns that cannot be addressed on this thread, PM christyf5.

On a final note, the goal of this contest is to HAVE FUN!! Remember, nanos are cute little tanks full of joy and excitement. When you're typing out a rant to another member because you don't like their opinion. Please step away from the computer and look at your joyous little nano first. The feeling of anxiousness and anger should subside and you'll be back in happyfunfishtankland before you know it!


To repeat JDIGITALS thoughts here: I've done the best I can to alter this contest for fit into our forum here on Canreef, but the fact is that not everyone will be happy with the contest rules as they've been established. If you don't think that you can participate under the established guidelines, then your time and $$ is probably best spent on a tank that you truly will enjoy and keep in the long run.
We want to keep this a positive and enjoyable experience for everyone, so...



Addendum A.1

If you purchase something at a steal of a deal from a Canreef.com vendors you do not have to deal with 'fair market value' etc. Example: Sponsor X regularly has 50% off or buy one get one specials that are available to Canreef.com members, so if you pay $10 and get 2 pieces that normally would cost $20, you only pay the $10. This is in hopes that some vendors will want to have specials aimed specifically at this contest.



OK hopefully that covers it, likely I've forgotten something or neglected something or generally made someone unhappy/tee'd off. If that has happened, then my job is done Just kidding. In general this is the way its going to be barring some fantastic ideas I've missed.

[christyf5]

[Rbacchiega]

where do we send the $20?

[christyf5]

oops forgot that part thanks for pointing it out!!!

I guess paypal is your best bet. Send it to seamonkey68@hotmail.com

[Chaloupa]

FANTASTIC new contest!!!! Love the rules, and guidelines...NICE!!! Thanks to Christy and JDigital for all the work!

[Gee]

I will have to get in on this one!!

[JDigital]

Originally Posted by Chaloupa

FANTASTIC new contest!!!! Love the rules, and guidelines...NICE!!! Thanks to Christy and JDigital for all the work!

Whoa whoa! I have ZERO part in the management and control of this contest... Once was enough.

So christy, Livestock is part of the budget for the limited budget tanks? Are you gonna go based on actual cost?

Also, other than Best Tank for each of the 4 categories, are there going to be prizes for anything else? "Best (insert whatever you think would be a cool idea)"

[Myka]

Originally Posted by christyf5

If you use something from your current tank it must have been in your tank for at least 6 months.

Oh I like the rules and categories you picked!!! Except the above rule. I was on the fence about joining the contest just because of space restrictions, but I wasn't expecting this rule here. This rule will keep me out as I am setting up a 90g right now and I was planning on just putting some of my current corals into the contest tank (and taking them out after the contest was over), but many of them I've had for less than 6 months or right around 6 months, and I can't afford buying extra livestock at this point. I imagine this will be a tough rule to police too. I will think about it though, and maybe I will do a pico or something like that...

[christyf5]

Well the reason I put that in was because of the pricing I chose for items from your tank. Its easy to say "oh I'll buy this for my big tank for $70" and then a week later put it in your nano and charge $35. I was thinking that corals that had been in there for awhile might be easier. But you're right, I suppose when you think about it, policing the whole thing might be a pain in the arse because no matter how hard you try to make rules steadfast, theres always a way around them.

The reason I tried to do it that way is because I want this nano to be a challenge. To me, setting up a nano for less than $500 is a challenge. I thought it might help the budgets by being able to frag things out of another tank.

I dunno, personally, making the budget bigger or separating it into equipment and livestock, each with massive budgets has no interest for me. The meat of this contest for me are the tanks with a budget. The unlimited tanks are all about the freedom of creativity while the budget tanks are about financial creativity

[JDigital]

I kinda gotta agree with Myka... that's a strange rule.. haha Some of the things in my tank, I don't even know how long they have been in there... I'd have to go through my own build thread to find out exactly when I added it.. haha!