I hope everyone is well and staying safe+healthy!
I was wondering if it would be possible to start up a club bank for live sand and/or rock.
It would look something like this: A rubbermaid stock tank, couple heaters, couple powerbeads. If we wanted to get really fancy, an ATO, an auto feeder and/or a dosing pump of ammonia. Throw in dry rock and sand and let it cure. Bacteria wise, I figure it could go one of two ways. We could go the clean and reliable route of Dr. Tims, Microbacter7, and some coralline algae starter (My preference). Or, we could go old school and have many club members bring in cups of live sand from their tanks to get a lot of biodiversity (and pests).
Someone would need to host the container in their garage or something. We'd need a system to distribute the startup costs (I think under $1000) and figure out a way to account for who makes use of it and how much.
Option A: Open a dedicated account. Club members loan money to the account until we have reached the startup cost. Start up the system and basically run it as a business- We could get a deal on sand and dry rock buying in bulk, and then we a set a reasonable price by weight for sand and rock. That money goes back to the account to refund members' startup loans. After paying off startup costs, all profits could go to the general club coffers.
Option B: Like option A, but rather than pay a specified price for sand and rock, you get what you put in dry. So if you want 40lbs of live sand, you take it and put back in 40lbs of new dry sand.
Benefits:
1) Save money. Buying and shipping in bulk, we could probably get a discount on dry sand and rock. further savings when you consider individual reefers don't have to pay extra for live sand and bacteria products.
2) Source of clean, mature rock. Even if you wanted to, there aren't many places anymore where you can get this. Add in the fact that this will be local so the rock won't be sitting dry on a truck or plane while its shipped from far away. Picture two years from now: the ability to get mature and clean live rock for any tank you want to start at a reasonable cost is a great membership benefit.
3) Quicker cycling of new tanks.
4) Makes quarantining a whole lot easier!!!
5) Safety for tank disasters. If something happens and your livestock is in danger, you can quickly access the bank (outside of business hours) and use the media to set up an emergency holding system.
6) revenue stream for BAR
7) fosters unity?
I was wondering if it would be possible to start up a club bank for live sand and/or rock.
It would look something like this: A rubbermaid stock tank, couple heaters, couple powerbeads. If we wanted to get really fancy, an ATO, an auto feeder and/or a dosing pump of ammonia. Throw in dry rock and sand and let it cure. Bacteria wise, I figure it could go one of two ways. We could go the clean and reliable route of Dr. Tims, Microbacter7, and some coralline algae starter (My preference). Or, we could go old school and have many club members bring in cups of live sand from their tanks to get a lot of biodiversity (and pests).
Someone would need to host the container in their garage or something. We'd need a system to distribute the startup costs (I think under $1000) and figure out a way to account for who makes use of it and how much.
Option A: Open a dedicated account. Club members loan money to the account until we have reached the startup cost. Start up the system and basically run it as a business- We could get a deal on sand and dry rock buying in bulk, and then we a set a reasonable price by weight for sand and rock. That money goes back to the account to refund members' startup loans. After paying off startup costs, all profits could go to the general club coffers.
Option B: Like option A, but rather than pay a specified price for sand and rock, you get what you put in dry. So if you want 40lbs of live sand, you take it and put back in 40lbs of new dry sand.
Benefits:
1) Save money. Buying and shipping in bulk, we could probably get a discount on dry sand and rock. further savings when you consider individual reefers don't have to pay extra for live sand and bacteria products.
2) Source of clean, mature rock. Even if you wanted to, there aren't many places anymore where you can get this. Add in the fact that this will be local so the rock won't be sitting dry on a truck or plane while its shipped from far away. Picture two years from now: the ability to get mature and clean live rock for any tank you want to start at a reasonable cost is a great membership benefit.
3) Quicker cycling of new tanks.
4) Makes quarantining a whole lot easier!!!
5) Safety for tank disasters. If something happens and your livestock is in danger, you can quickly access the bank (outside of business hours) and use the media to set up an emergency holding system.
6) revenue stream for BAR
7) fosters unity?