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June 26, 2021 - Member's Frag Swap

RSVP required- Will you be attending?


  • Total voters
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sfsuphysics

Supporting Member
After a long hiatus Bay Area Reefers are finally getting back to "normal" events and we are starting with a favorite, the annual member's frag swap!
This post may get edited to update information and/or provide various additional links as information becomes available.

Location : Seven Stills - 100 Hooper Street, San Francisco
Here's a map of where the place is, the actual location is half way down the block.
Date : June 26th, 2021
Time : 11am - 1pm+ (depends how long people take to pick!), Registration starts at 10:15am do note this is an earlier than usual time.

Food will be provide as well as some libations for members over the age of 21

Requirements
1. Must register for the event, a simple post here stating you're coming is fine, must be done three days before the event
2. Be a supporting member, there is no entry fee
3. Bring a minimum of 3 separate coral frags, none from the "banned" list, and properly contained (see below)
4. Check in before 11am, if you come after we will check you in but may have lost a picking round, and you don't get to make it up with an extra pick.
5. Those who are fully vaccinated may go without a mask at the venue, no proof is needed.

Volunteers are appreciated to help run the event, signup here
Bonus/Ultra coral information below and here
A list of raffle items can be seen here.

Schedule
10am-11am setup
10:15-11am registration and running corals to tables
11am-1pm start swapping!
Do note this is a bit earlier than what is normally done, this due to not interfering with the business that is hosting us

Location
One of owners of Seven Stills has graciously allowed us to use their facility to hold this swap. We do realize that some might want this a bit closer or centrally located and we did seek out other venues however the reality is every other location that we inquired about still were under pandemic protocols, meaning they were not able to give us a date and frag swaps are not really a last minute "pop up" type of event, but Tim was able to give us an assurance to use his facilities so we are grateful for him for this.

Seven Stills is a pub/brewery and we're assuming they're going to be open for business so if you're hungry, or want a cold libation this will be available.

San Francisco is San Francisco though, parking may not be the easiest thing to do as large parking lots with plentiful free parking isn't a thing in the city. There is street parking in the area though some of which is free and possibly the early nature of the event will make this probable. However please do check parking restrictions on signs just to verify that your parking spot is ok. There are UCSF public parking lots on the other side of the freeway that are a short distance away, freeway is overhead so you don't have to run across the freeway :) Right now I can only tell you what Google maps shows me, not sure how updated it is I will update this post when I find more information out


How the swap works
For those who have swapped before, it is largely unchanged

For those who have never swapped THIS is a great reference and saves me from having to retype all of it, the first post is the most relevant additional posts may not be relevant to this swap. And if you have any questions the day of the event there are volunteers who are "Frag Police" or "Frag Wranglers" who can help you with information about what round it is, or to give you a reminder of what to do, or possibly to answer any coral questions you may have.

Bonus/Ultra Corals
These are corals that have at some time been considered "extra special", "rare", or possibly just a desire to get more of a certain coral spread about the club. This is a preliminary list for Zoas/Palys, SPS, LPS & other soft corals. Do note that this list is in no way set in stone, as it's pushing 2 years old and some nicer corals have come out since then, there will be a separate post that pops up to answer questions or have consideration for other corals, also the overall number of polyps and or size that is required may change slightly.

There will be 2 bonus rounds before the swap proper, bonus round 1 you can use a bonus ticket to grab whatever you want, all bonus/ultra corals will have a colored dot on the container lid to make it easier to pick out they will however not be separated from the other corals and still be sorted according to type, i.e. an ultra zoa will be on the zoa table, bonus acros will be on the sps/sticks table, etc. the second bonus round you can grab as many corals as you have tickets. Do note number of bonus rounds and overall rules may change based on total numbers of people, again we don't want to crowd a small area.

1 ultra coral = 1 bonus ticket
3 bonus corals = 1 bonus ticket
You may use up to 3 of the same coral as consideration for bonus tickets, and you must still have the requirement of 3 different corals to be in the swap this includes the bonus rounds however your bonus corals can be used as part of the 3 different corals requirement.


Valid frags

  • Corals MUST be in clear plastic containers, that includes lids and sides, so no styrofoam. Plastic bags will not be allowed.
  • Corals MUST be labeled with at the very least a description (e.g. name and/or color + coral type), your name, and the approximate lighting level they are under, while you don't need exact PAR numbers having the fixture that is used + tank depth is much more useful just saying "low" "medium" or "high"
  • These corals are not eligible for swapping
  • Corals should be healthy and relatively pest free, while you should assume everything has pests if your frag plug has aiptasia on it it will not be accepted, nor corals that look to be dying.
  • Frag sizes you should use will vary, bonus corals have a specified minimum, but I like to say "what kind of frag would you like to see" and use that as a guideline for how much/how big.
  • There's always a debate about mounted versus unmounted corals, and that probably will never get settled, as a result no requirement either way.
  • Things like anemones are ok if they're of a desirable nature i.e. bubble tips, maxi-mini carpets, NOT aiptasia.
  • Sponges are not valid frags and neither is any type of macroalgae.
  • However there will be a "freebee table" that things can be put on, if you think a new person may want a piece colt coral, or some of that chaeto you harvested, feel free to bring it it just won't count towards your 3 different frags.
 
Last edited:
Looking forward to seeing everyone again!

Added a poll for everyone to RSVP. For this event we are requiring this as we come out of COVID restrictions for space/capacity planning.
 
Ideas? Sure.
$20

$25
 
Is there a favorite small plastic container people gravitate to?


I found these, but don't think I need 100. Maybe I do for next year though.

Also, do people worry or have a solution for temp control on the small volumes of water in the plastic containers?

I use 16 oz deli containers and usually get them from Smart and Final. Sometimes members split a package of 50 from there.

image.jpg
 
Is there a favorite small plastic container people gravitate to?


I found these, but don't think I need 100. Maybe I do for next year though.

Also, do people worry or have a solution for temp control on the small volumes of water in the plastic containers?

You can find those with caps at that size, and even larger cups, at your local Smart&Final if there's one around you. The round labels pairs well with them.
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I was thinking of attending this event. Only problem is my tank only has two coral. One Kryptonite and one green pally and my lfs does not have anything I think is nice for trading. I may have to wait for awhile before attending one of these events. Any idea's?
 
The First Street brand deli cups from Smart & Final are the best. I’ve tried a bunch of different ones.

Printing or writing on a label on the top is great. Covering the whole top isn’t optimal because then people can’t see the frag without lifting every single cup off the table one at a time. It works fine for Eric’s frags because his were always top quality so you almost don’t need to see the actual frag. In general though everyone wants to see the frag from the top.

Also I don’t think all the extra info is very helpful. All I really care about is member name and coral name. Listing the lighting is on the books to do, but has never actually helped me. I’m not going to avoid a frag just because they use a different lighting brand than I do.
 
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