A question for you Des Moines folks.

I would also like to know the answer to this question...I am from Des Moines but it seems like there is 1 out of ever 6-7 people on this sight that are from Des Moines and everyone else is somewhere else...

 

I am fairly new to this board and have noticed the same thing fairly early on as a member of this board, I would like to be a 'contributing' member but wish there was more going on... I hope to get more involved when the winter rolls around but more 'stuff' going on would also be great! I am here to learn since I am fairly new to saltwater, its much easier talking to locals, going and seeing vs. a forum that has members scattered all over the world.

 

Oh and one more thing, I have learned a great deal from going and talking with other members here and there and seeing. It has been a big help so thanks to those who have helped me!

 

I know the flood of june set me back quite a bit , I'm trying to get everything done in my basement. Hopefully in the cooler months ahead we will have more get togethers, and drink soda.

 

the lack of interest is killin me, back in the day we called you posers. kinda upset that last month i cleaned my whole house/ tank and arranged for child care. went to the meeting (3 other members) every one went home early, no tank tours no diy. great food not so great meeting. now this month I want to host but not a single reply. UPSETTING.....

 

That is something to think about!

 

I know for me summer and fall are a tough schedule but I look forward being able to participate more in mid October after football coaching season is over.  My tank is almost to the stage it wouldn't be embarassing to show others although I just added another 120 lb of rock this week so it's a little rough and bare.  Hopefully I land on a deal for lights soon so I can really start doing things. 

 

 

 

I'm curious about this as well.  I just joined recently.  Didn't even know about the local club until I went to the Coral conference in Rhinelander this summer - and the first frag tank I came to was Ryan Scholl's from Des Moines.  What a surprise!
For me, weekends are probably not the best times, and especially Sunday afternoons - family stuff - though that's mainly driven by the fact that we have an exchange student living with us this year.  A weekday evening would work better for me.
How does our local club organize meetings?  How do the other clubs do it? 

 

OK, then lets put it together. Lets get some steam up before fall fest. I will get a hold of Ryan and see what we can put together. Dave (billbigsbe1) has offered to host an event so lets get a tank tour going. I said I would back up Ryan when he was elected so I will stand behind my word.
What would people like to do/see besides a tank tour? And who is willing to be on the tour? I will volunteer to be on the tour as one tour did make it all the way up to my place in Boone last year. I have my 240 setup with fish in it now and od course a fully stocked 90 reef. a pretty neat automated system as well with DIY auto water changes, Kalk reactor and Skimmer.
So .... who is in? I will start another thread when the time is right.

 

I think where most of the local frustration lies is that Ryan and myself and a few others have organized events. The turnout has been pretty much the same for every event (same people) and that is if anyone shows up at all.
To be honest, I have nearly given up on this. I have hosted 2 events and the first one was pretty much the same small group of people (not that I mind because i like that small group). The second one was announced well in advance and 2 people showed up that don't live in my house. So that was rather frustrating.

The local "big" meeting Ryan Holl set up at The Tavern was attended by 3 folks of the normal group and 2 others. 6 people showed up total.

I know I get frustrated when I go through the trouble to plan events and noone shows up. I am still working on the food I bought for my last event I hosted because from the folks posting up that they would attend, we should have have 4 or 5 times the people who were actually here.

A perfect example is Dave did post up that he was willing to host an event and there was ZERO response.

I try to attend every event that we have planned locally with the ONLY exception this year being the DIY party Wayne hosted.

That being said, recently I have been utterly swamped with work and helping a friend get her house ready to sell after having a large tree fall on her garage during the big wind storm at the end of July. I also know that there are some personal issues with another member that I can see why they are taking precedence.

The LFS store thing is a non issue. We all know that the local stores blow and we work around it with group buys from online sources.

Another thing that has always kind of irked me is the seeming segregation of the clubs individual areas. While I understand that local areas tend to attract reefers from those areas, the seperatism also seems to alienate other areas of the club.
Fact is, locally, I feel 100% comfortable calling up a member to ask them if I can stop by and take a look at something. On the other hand, last weekend, I was in the other 3 areas of the club and in no way felt comfortable posting up that I was going to be in the area and asking if I could stop by and see some tanks. I kind of feel like we are the proverbial red headed step child of the club that is only welcome when it is convenient (no offense to red heads or step children meant).

People are always welcome to stop by and check out my tank if I am home but I don't get that same vibe outside of the small group locally...

 

OK Ryan I understand. What about setting up something new? Lets move on, fall winter and spring seem to have better turn out. I am one of the people that could not make it to anything this summer. But last winter and spring we had good turn out so lets get it going again. Even the monthlies went well, I wasn't able to attend but it sounded like the DIY at Waynes went well.
Also, I have been to many other area tanks and have felt very welcome. Of course I was usually buying corals. /DesktopModules/ActiveForums/themes/_default/emoticons/biggrin.gif
I am waiting to hear from Ryan #1 then I (we) will start a new thread to get something going.

 

I know for me summer are very difficult because of the job... I would like to attend some of these 'meetings' this winter. I am very new GIRS so not sure how it all works, I sent a PM to a ryan with a few questions that I have about GIRS. I am definatly interested in getting involved and coming to the meetings/get togethers as I have tons to learn.

That said I would like to thank all the member who I have visited, purchased things from and learned even more from.

 

Before I forget, everyone please collect your unwanted reef supplies/ and or livestock for next months meeting. I plan on giving a bunch of stuff to Des Moines Central Campus Marine Biology lab. In the last couple of years they have lost 2 of there 800+ gallon tanks. They have a very minimal budget, and in the land of corn and cows, the budget is often overlooked. lets keep the kids interested! If you cant make the meeting and have a donation please pm me and I will pick up and deliver. For monitary donations contact Karen Stiles @ central campus. Thanks Dave

 

When I first joined it seemed there was a lot of activity in my area. If any of you remember HOC, he was the VP of the club and he lived in west does moines and just down the road from me. He had a huge tank and even his own LFS in his basement. We also had Dan, who lived in Waukee, he had a similar setup as HOC. Well, HOC moved to the east coast and Dan apparently has gotten out of the hobby.

I myself have lost interest due to the fact that my tank is overgrown with nuisance corals (bland mushrooms) I can't get rid of without replacing all my live rock. I'd have to completely tear down the tank to remove all vestiges of mushroom and aptasia. So right now I can't really buy new coral because it will be grown over by the nuisance stuff. So until I move to a different house I will have to stick with this 75 tank. When if I am able to get a new tank or redo my current one I will probably start attending meetings again but I don't think I will attend many meetings more than an hour away just because I don't like long road trips.

 

Something that would be helpful for me as a new member would be to have a better understanding of who the members are - especially in the local area.  I've gone to the Member directory, but unless I don't know how to read it (quite possible), I really can't tell much.  I think it would be really good to at least know people's names (not just user id), city (Can we do anything to require people's location?), size/type of tanks that they have, and years of experience in the hobby.  Maybe that could help in getting others involved./DesktopModules/ActiveForums/themes/_default/emoticons/blush.gif