Jestersix

How does a BAR Frag Swap Work?

Enderturtle

Enderturtle

Guest
BARcard
This thread will serve to explain how BAR Frag Swaps and Bonus Rounds work in general and save space in the frag swap event threads.

*Each frag swap event may have specific rules so read the frag swap thread too!*

See any major errors or have concerns? PM me.

What is a frag swap?
  • A frag swap is essentially timed coral trading. Every year BAR hosts at least two frag swaps, a members swap and a regional swap.
  • In short, people bring corals in plastic cups which are all placed on a table.
  • Every person receives a "picking group"
  • When your group is called you go up and look through all of the corals and choose the one you want.
  • Usually will have about 3 minutes to pick.
  • We welcome newbies and experienced reef keepers.
    • Any questions just ask. We're all here to have a good fun event.
  • This is not the place to trade unhealthy/ugly coral for nice corals.
    • This behavior discourages people from bringing nice corals which will end up devaluing the frag swap.
    • Tip: Bring the quality of coral you would like to receive.
  • GeneralPicture.jpg

How to Prepare for the Frag Swap
  • If cutting/fragging corals, do this well BEFORE the frag swap (usually at least 2 weeks before).
    • Corals are sensitive after being cut, having to transfer to a new tank may result in coral death.
  • Buying frags for use in the frag swap is acceptable. Our local fish store sponsors regularly sell premium coral frags.
  • Put the coral in a CLEAR plastic container with a lid.
  • The container must be labeled with:
    • Your Forum Username or Name
    • Coral Name (if no name, describe the best you can)
    • Aquarium light
    • You can add more information if you want.
    • These are what my labels looks like
    • containers.JPG (click picture to enlarge)
  • If your tank has pest species, it helps to let people know.

How Does the Frag Swap Usually Work?
  • Bring at least 3 different coral species frags.
    • Some people usually bring more. (I almost always bring 6 to 9 frags)
    • Once you meet your minimum 3 species requirement, you can bring duplicates.
      • Acceptable Example:
        • Green/Purple Tipped Frogspawn,
        • Yellow Frogspawn,
        • Red Hornet Zoanthids
      • Acceptable Example:
        • Green Frogspawn,
        • Yellow Frogspawn,
        • Red Hornet Zoanthids,
        • Green Frogspawn (frag from same coral)
      • Unacceptable Example
        • Red Hornet Zoanthids
        • Red Hornet Zoanthids (REPEAT)
        • Green Hornet Zoanthids
  • 1) Sign in at the Registration table to receive a Picking Group
    • You will receive one letter from the alphabet.
    • Group A usually goes first and Z last, then it goes back towards A.
    • This is also where you get your free raffle ticket for the "door prizes".
  • 2) Bring your corals to the coral checkers
    • The coral checker volunteers will make sure your corals are not in the banned coral list and that they are healthy.
    • They will put your coral under Large Polyp Stony (LPS), Small Polyp Stony (SPS) or Soft Corals (No Skeleton)
  • 3) After everyone's registered, the first group will have 3 minutes to pick ONE coral.
    • The corals will be in plastic cups, so it helps to know coral names to know what the corals look like.
  • 4) The second group will be "On Deck", meaning stand in the designated waiting area because your group will enter as soon as the timer is up.
  • How many corals do I go home with?
    • Each round you get to pick one coral.
    • Because a lot of people bring more than 3 frags, we are able to have more picking rounds so you usually end up going home with more frags.
      • The 2014 Regional Frag Swap I brought 6 frags and went home with 9.
  • registration.JPG IMG_9852.jpg TimerGroupPicking.jpg

Members Frag Swap vs Regional Frag Swap
  • Members Frag Swap is open to Supporting Members Only
    • No cost to enter.
    • Usually less people but it's our local members. So you'll see some friends and familiar faces.
  • Regional Frag Swap is open to Supporting Members and Anyone
    • Cost to enter will be higher for Non-members.
    • Supporting Members May or May not have to pay depending on the event.
      • If we require Members to pay for entrance, it's usually because the club has spend money on expensive raffle prizes to give away.
    • We will usually have vendors at the swap for selling stuff.
1437679797_star.png
Bonus Rounds
  • The bonus rounds have been designed to match neighboring reef club formats for their bonus rounds.
  • BAR is one of the last regional reef clubs in California to finally include bonus rounds into their frag swaps.
  • To summarize, the optional bonus round is a way to ensure people who bring quality corals are guaranteed to receive quality corals, but it benefits everyone else too.
  • If you are familiar with bonus rounds from other reef clubs, ours will be very similar.
  • The bonus round will be the first 2 rounds of frag swapping.
  • To participate in the bonus round you must bring at least 3 different rare or "high-end" corals approved by the BOD.
  • 3 Bonus Corals = 1 Bonus Round Ticket
  • 1 Ultra Coral = 1 Bonus Round Ticket
  • You can earn as many Bonus Round Tickets as you want.
    • Coral strains can be repeated at the most one time .
      • Acceptable Example:
        • Red dragon acropora frag 1 Inch Minimum
        • KH Sunburst Zoanthid 1P
        • KH Sunburst Zoanthid 1P
      • Acceptable Example:
        • Pink Lemonade 1 inch
        • Aqua Delight 1 inch
        • Utter Chaos 1 P
      • Unacceptable Example
        • KH Sunburst Zoanthid 1P
        • KH Sunburst Zoanthid 1P
        • KH Sunburst Zoanthid 1P (Repeated 3 times already)
  • Each 3 qualifying bonus round frags will get you 1 ticket.
    • Example
      • If you bring 9 qualifying bonus round frags you get 3 bonus round tickets.
  • One bonus round ticket = One coral pick from the bonus round.
    • You will get the chance to pick up leftover bonus round corals in the regular swap. (but so does everyone else ;))
  • Bonus Round Coral List Thread
    • THIS IS IMPORTANT. Do not bring your corals to the swap and make us decide on the spot whether or not they qualify for the bonus round.
      • This will slow everything down for everyone.
    • There will be a list of Corals for the bonus round. Bringing these corals qualify you for the bonus round
    • Have a nice coral that's not on the list? Post in the thread and we'll see if we can add it to the Bonus Coral List.
      • I encourage you to post and see if your coral qualifies, that way other people can also bring qualifying corals to the bonus rounds.
  • So how do Bonus Rounds work?
    • 1) Ask if your coral qualifies for the bonus round in the Bonus Round Coral List Thread. Also look at the bonus round coral list to see if you already have those corals.
    • 2) *At the registration table, let people know you are participating in the BONUS ROUND.*
    • 3) The person will inspect your corals and give you 1 or more bonus round tickets.
    • 4) All of the corals (bonus round and regular frag swap) are placed together on the appropriate group tables (LPS, SPS, SOFTIES)
    • 5) The first 2 rounds will be Bonus Rounds.
    • 6) For the first round all bonus round participants will use 1 ticket.
      • You will have 4 minutes to pick 1 coral.
        • Only 1 bonus round ticket may be redeemed for this round.
    • 8) For the second round all bonus round participants will use the rest of their tickets.
      • You will have 4 minutes to use all of your remaining bonus round tickets
        • If you don't have any bonus round tickets left (because you only brought 3 bonus frags), you do not do the second round.
        • If you have 2 tickets left (because you brought 9 qualifying bonus round frags), you grab 2 corals.
    • 9) The regular frag swap begins as usual.
      • NOTE: There are now leftover "bonus round corals" in the regular frag swap for everyone (including the bonus round participants) to pick up.
    • 10) If you participate in the bonus round you also continue participating in the regular frag swap.

Banned Corals
  • These are corals that cannot be used for Frag Swapping.
    • Reason: They grow like weeds and are not desired as a frag swap pick by most people.
  • You can bring them to put in the Free Stuff Table (people do want them sometimes)
    • At every frag swap there is a table of FREE aquarium stuff/corals that people bring.
  • ineligible_corals_v3.jpg


Bringing Corals Home and into your Aquarium
  • There are a number of pest species that will either kill corals or grow out of control in your tank.
  • Before putting any corals in your tank make sure you dip them to knock off any pest species.
    • Common coral dips include: Revive, Coral RX, Lugol's Iodine.
  • This is your chance to inspect your corals for any undesirable pest species.
  • I usually recommend getting the frags off of the frag plug if possible.
  • If this frag is covered in acropora eating flatworms, bryopsis, bubble algae, you have the option of throwing it in the trashcan.
  • This is your reef aquarium, you decide if you want to put that frag in there.
    • This is also true for any corals you buy from a store or website.
  • Don't know what's bad and what's good? Here are some links.
  • Advice: Treat the frag as if it was covered with all of the worst pest species.

Confused by all this?
Ask questions and don't worry it's really not that hard once you do it.
 
Last edited:
Ok I'm bumping this since I'm apparently master of the frag pits, where the viciousness in all come out, a place that makes the gladiatorial arenas of ancient Rome look like a Sunday tea party with your little girl! But mostly because I wanted to read up on how the bonus rounds work and to verify with the master of ceremonies on what I'll be doing.
1) So you need to bring a minimum of 3 corals, and this is including if you bring an ultra coral? I ask because it says ultra = 1 ticket, but am I fair to assume that if you only bring a single ultra coral you don't get any tickets for the simple fact that you did not bring at least 3 to participate?
1b) Follow up, although I'm fairly certain I know the answer, the bonus participation requires 3 "high end" (either bonus or ultra corals) just to participate in that portion of the swap, so you can't have an ultra coral then a red mushroom & blue mushroom. Also I'm assuming bonus round entry also qualifies for rest of swap entry as well?
(and all of this should be checked with someone who knows the corals in question and given the tickets as appropriate, and then handed off to coral wranglers, don't want people to say "I had X number of bonus corals where's my ticket" if they just drop them off and go away)

2) Might need an extra set(s) of hands/eyes for the bonus rounds simply to collect tickets from people as they leave.

3) And this is more of a mild correction, BAR is not one of the last clubs to do bonus rounds, we were one of, if not the, first club, we just got away from doing it as time went on and people continued to bring high end stuff. So if anything BAR is re introducing the bonus round :)
 
Hi Mike,


I will be briefing bod/volunteers on how bonus rounds work at the frag swap just as a reminder.

But I'll answer your questions here too.

1A) 1 Ultra Coral = 3 Bonus Corals. So 1 ultra coral meets the minimum to come swap frags for the rest of the swap.
1B) I will be registering all bonus round corals and giving out bonus round tickets. Once coral checkers get them, just bring them to the appropriate tables.

2) We will have 2 coral checkers. As they leave the bonus round, they have to give you 1 bonus round ticket for each coral they take during the bonus round.
Guy walking out with 3 bonus corals during the 2nd bonus round? He should have 3 bonus round tickets to give you.​

3) Nice to know we tried it in the past. I was talking to Karson at AC today who said we did try it before but ran into issues with people lying about the corals they had. I will be policing mislabeled corals as much as possible. With the direction the club was going and the club's previous reputation, bonus rounds are essential to bringing coral collectors back to this club. Since we did a good job making the club unappealing to them.
  • If you look at almost every other reef club, bonus rounds are a staple. They happen all the time.
    • There will be the occasional person who either accidentally mislabel or straight up lies about their High End identification of the coral.
      • This is where the username/name comes into play. If you lie or mislabel your coral. The person can call you out on this identification.
        • And I will make your mislabeling known to the rest of the club or the club you came from in a NICE WAY of course.
          • Their reputation within the reefing community is at stake. Honor system comes to mind.
          • Give the person the benefit of the doubt. People make mistakes.
        • Also I'll be bringing my blue LED flashlight, if you're bringing a "Jawbreaker Mushroom" and you show me a Blue Discosoma. No you're out buddy.
  • For the next members swap, I'll let the club decide if they want bonus rounds via a Poll.

Glad to see some input. As usual, feel free to ask if you have questions!
 
Last edited:
so in the past I have brought the deli containers a in your pictures , only I would write my name and stuff that you request on the actual lid , is this still acceptable or do I need to write on side of container ( I always thought it was easier to read what is in container from top a view) ?

Also one thing I always see at all the swaps is people bringing things in all kinds of containers that are not see thru (styro cups with lids , dark colored containers , small containers with non see thru tops ,etc..etc ) . May I suggest an announcement posted on this forum and posted at entrance of swap . Possibly provide containers and labels for sale .
Seems unavoidable but when you get a rush of people registering and checking in their corals there are always those that come unprepared , needing to label containers or finding leaks in their containers . Maybe having a table set to the side so those who need more time to get situated can do it there and not hold up the line for those who are ready.
 
We're not gonna enforce where you label (top vs sides). It must be in a clear container. NO STYROFOAM, NO BLACK CUPS, NO ZIPLOCK BAGS.

Acceptable Example:16-oz-microwavable-translucent-plastic-deli-container-with-lid-240-case.jpg 未标题-15.jpg test.png

You don't have to use printout labels. You can write on the container OR put some scotch tape for label.

As long as you have the minimum
1) Username/Name
2) Coral Name or Coral Description
3) Lights used.
4) Add more if you want to be helpful.
examples: easy, hard, expert, club affillitation, high flow, low flow, fast growing, etc.​

Good idea we'll have an extra table for people who need help setting up their containers, so they don't slow down the registration line.

If you come unprepared and didn't read the rules and if we run out of extra cups for you. Sorry you're out of luck.


No matter how much red/bold text we use or if its in giant font. Someone always manages to show up with a coral in an unlabeled container. It WILL happen. But we'll try our best to make the corrections fast and get people registered and ready to go.

Don't be that person!
 
Last edited:
Thanks for the clarification
#1 Glad you'll be handling this aspect, I was just curious about the bonus/ultra thing, I won't be participating in that aspect of the swap, while I might have 1 or 2 bonus corals no way I have 3. :)

#2 More help the better, people who aren't bonus might start chomping at the bit if it takes too long to collect tickets.

#3 Yeah we had different variations of the bonus round in the past, I don't think mislabeling was really the reason it went away. There was a golden age of frag swaps for a while where people just brought nice stuff, this was spear headed by a handful of members with really nice stuff anyways, however not many of those members still around. Heck we at one time had bonus round tickets for bringing 10 corals, unfortunately this is when frags got small and very common (pre-days of banned corals too!). Don't get me wrong I'm not criticizing bonus rounds, I think they're absolutely necessary, and super useful to the club as a whole since even those who don't have bonus tickets are virtually guaranteed to come away with these "bonus" corals. I'm just happy you found someone (yourself) who can deal with the headache of being the police for that part of it, things have definitely changed where it used to be Tyree and maybe a couple others who had proper "named" corals, now every frickin' minute color morph of a zoa seems to be some special coral to be named :D
 
So even though I'm not going to make this, figure it's as good a time to ask as any.

If I bring 1 ultra or 3 bonus coral, I get 1 bonus ticket + a round letter for regular swap.

What if I bring 1 ultra, 3 bonus and 3 reg. I'll get 2 bonus rd tickets but do I still only get 1 reg round letter or 3?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
@vincent
If you bring 1 ultra or 3 bonus round corals, you get 1 bonus round ticket AND you get a picking letter for the regular swap.

Im bringing like 9 bonus corals and like 4 regular corals.

The 9 bonus corals Im receiving 3 bonus tickets for. The 4 regular corals im bringing so that people can get nice frags and so that I save space in my tank.

We're trying to describe how this works over text, which might make it sound confusing. Its actually pretty simple to do in person
 
Last edited:
Vincent, you only get 1 letter for the regular rounds regardless of what and what type of corals you bring. All "bonus/ultra" type corals are dealt with in the 2 bonus rounds preceding the swap.

Think of it as it's two separate swaps, the bonus swap, and the regular swap, all of the corals go into the mix and the bonus people choose a number of corals based upon what they brought (bonus tickets), after that what's left over is the regular swap.

Now it might sound somewhat unfair but actually it's not, if people only brought ultra corals (and took ultra corals) then the swap would be the same as if there was no bonus rounds since every ultra gets taken by an ultra, now take the other case of no ultra only the bonus corals, well they need to bring 3 bonus corals to get 1 bonus ticket, so for every person with a ticket there's going to be 2 more corals that don't get picked. Now in general there will be a mix of ultra and bonus, so the real number is between 0 and 2 extra "premium" corals that make it to the regular picking rounds. So it's a win-win for those who don't have bonus corals to bring.
 
So only bonus round coral gives you 'bonus' rounds (namely the 1st 2 rounds if you have more than 1 bonus ticket). Even if you bring 15 reg coral, you get 1 picking letter.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Even if you bring 50 regular corals you get your picking letter.

Everyone gets a picking letter. That determines the order of picking. (except in the bonus rounds)


You might ask , why do people bring more than 3 regular frags?
because of generosity. Good karma and it feels nice to share the wealth if you can.

A LOT of people bring more than 3 frags even before existence of the bonus rounds. Because they want to spread their frags to other people.

If everyone brings more than 3 frags, everyone walks away with more than 3 frags.


Are we going to be swimming in Bounce Mushrooms and Dynamite Chalices at this frag swap? No. But don't be surprised if you find something really nice.
 
Coming soon my friend :)

The frag swap is still 3 weeks away but I'll have it up soon.

Remember, there is a suggestion period, where YOU can request to add to high-end coral list.
 
Wow this sounds like a lot of fun! Great concept, I gotta get moving with my tank setup so I can start growing corals and participate in one of these [emoji4]


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
jepoy said:
Wow this sounds like a lot of fun! Great concept, I gotta get moving with my tank setup so I can start growing corals and participate in one of these [emoji4]


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Get it set-up before the next one. My first couple of frag swaps with BAR I took three frags in and walked out with 12-18. They are great for new tanks!
 
Bruce Spiegelman said:
Get it set-up before the next one. My first couple of frag swaps with BAR I took three frags in and walked out with 12-18. They are great for new tanks!
Click to expand...

Thats the plan! I may not make it for the upcoming swap (which I believe is in a couple of weeks?), but I'm hoping for the one following.. whenever that is. :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top