Contest #2

[Myka]

Originally Posted by marie

How about a category for those of us that are not only complete DIY idiots but think all those fancy, shmancy gadgets are not needed. Just a tank, a heater, some kind of light, a powerhead or 2 and an unlimited livestock budget. No drilling, no sump, no skimmer, you have a month (or 2) to put the livestock in and then you have to keep it all alive for 6 months...

Isn't that what the last one was essentially?

[marie]

Originally Posted by Myka

Isn't that what the last one was essentially?

After all the fighting and bickering it was hard to tell what the last one was

but no I mean no budget on anything just a simple box of water, the key is once livestock is added the contest essentially starts and it is about who can keep everything alive and with visible growth for the full 6 months

[StirCrazy]

Originally Posted by marie

it is about who can keep everything alive and with visible growth for the full 6 months

so what happens after the 6 months, you just flush everything. you make it sound like your going to do as basic as you can to make it challenging to keep things alive for 6 months, I hope that isn't what you meant at all as that would be a very irresponsible way to run it.

I do agree that they are overboard on equipment, I wouldn't even have a category for equipment at all and get away with the equipment side of the budget. this would allow people to create there opinion of what is the best environment for there livestock.

Steve

[marie]

Originally Posted by StirCrazy

so what happens after the 6 months, you just flush everything. you make it sound like your going to do as basic as you can to make it challenging to keep things alive for 6 months, I hope that isn't what you meant at all as that would be a very irresponsible way to run it.
...
Steve

Well us DIY idiots gotta do what we gotta do ya know...but I wouldn't flush it, it would plug up the toilet. Maybe fertilize the garden... or I know I could feed it all to my dog... then I could show everyone the real meaning of "Barf"

[StirCrazy]

Originally Posted by marie

Well us DIY idiots gotta do what we gotta do ya know...but I wouldn't flush it, it would plug up the toilet. Maybe fertilize the garden... or I know I could feed it all to my dog... then I could show everyone the real meaning of "Barf"

no, no you mis understood, I wasn't saying that DIY is the way to go for this, I am saying that a budgit on hardware would give an unfair advantage for the guys that can DIY. that is why I suport having a live stock budget over a hardware. I would rather see people put some quality hardware on there tanks, than just rig some getto equipment up, this would increase the quality and longjevity of the system. In the same way I would also suport and unlimited sump size, I would rather see the extra water volume to create a more stable enviorment for the critters.

Lets face it if some one sets up a tiny tank they will get tired of the increased amount of maintenance after a while, daily dosing, or waterchanges, multiple evaporation top offs each day to keep salinity stable, ect.. more ware volume makes this a slower process, and a larger sump allows you to put equipment in the reduce work.

now if you wanted to buy a proflux you could do small and stable, but now your adding 8 or 900 to your hardware budget..

Steve

[Ron99]

My interest isn't in doing a tank just for the contest only to take it down later. I don't have space for that :-) I am wanting to do a pico for my desk anyhow and would enter that in the contest but it is something I would do anyhow and would want to do right. Budget or not, it doesn't really matter as I don't want to get into ridiculous spending on it anyhow.

You don't necessarily need a Profilux for top offs etc. A simpler ATO can be had for alot less money and it is not hard to DIY an ATO for alot less than an off the shelf one.

Just my 2 cents on the subject.

Overall, I think a more open contest would produce a wider variety of results and be more interesting. Set major criteria like max volume, possibly budgets for hardware and/or livestock etc. and see what people come up with. Variety is the spice of life after all.

[sphelps]

From some of the recent input another option could be total unlimited budget with a limited system volume. You get a total of six months, however the last three months are hands off, no livestock or hardware changes. The main challenge in the contest would be developing a sustainable system which is fair for both DIY'ers and purchasers. I think the total system volume would however have to be around 20 gallons or less though, once you start going bigger it gets too easy. The good thing about this is that some will think twice about expensive livestock as there's a bigger risk involved, removal of any livestock after the initial three months will result in immediate disqualification.

In the end you can't satisfy everyone, the person running this contest will have to step in with a final verdict.

[StirCrazy]

Originally Posted by Ron99

You don't necessarily need a Profilux for top offs etc. A simpler ATO can be had for alot less money and it is not hard to DIY an ATO for alot less than an off the shelf one.

wasn't talking about just top off, but for dosing all your nutrents also, a proflux with a 4 pump doser would give you a very constant and stable water chemistry.

Steve