Gig 'em @ NDstructible Posted April 24, 2015 Share Posted April 24, 2015 I would like to respectfully request that ARC open up a forum section for SPS keepers. The husbandry requirements and topics that are/can be discussed are numerous and it would be very helpful to have those SPS-specific discussions in one area. We can talk about SPS specific parasites and pathogens, water chemistry for healthy SPS, share photos of our colorful SPS colonies and frags, and open the forum for all kinds of SPS-related dialogue. We have specialized sections on the forum that haven't been touched in nearly half a year! And yet so many members on this forum have SPS, have tried to keep SPS, or may want to keep SPS and a dedicated forum would be incredibly beneficial for the club as a whole. Anyone else think this would be an awesome idea?! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan H Posted April 24, 2015 Share Posted April 24, 2015 +1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bpb Posted April 24, 2015 Share Posted April 24, 2015 SPS Team ASSEMBLE!!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted April 24, 2015 Share Posted April 24, 2015 +10,000. Thanks for reminding me about the other discussion areas. I was about to post about my seahorses in my lagoon setup. [emoji14] 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gig 'em @ NDstructible Posted April 24, 2015 Author Share Posted April 24, 2015 +10,000. Thanks for reminding me about the other discussion areas. I was about to post about my seahorses in my lagoon setup. [emoji14] Sorry, Ty, that forum has too much traffic, it doesn't have any room for more of "Ty's random threads" 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
victoly Posted April 24, 2015 Share Posted April 24, 2015 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mFrame Posted April 24, 2015 Share Posted April 24, 2015 I would like to respectfully request that ARC open up a forum section for SPS keepers. The husbandry requirements and topics that are/can be discussed are numerous and it would be very helpful to have those SPS-specific discussions in one area. We can talk about SPS specific parasites and pathogens, water chemistry for healthy SPS, share photos of our colorful SPS colonies and frags, and open the forum for all kinds of SPS-related dialogue. We have specialized sections on the forum that haven't been touched in nearly half a year! And yet so many members on this forum have SPS, have tried to keep SPS, or may want to keep SPS and a dedicated forum would be incredibly beneficial for the club as a whole. Anyone else think this would be an awesome idea?! We've visited and discussed the topic before and there are reasons that we specifically have not organized that way in the past. Ultimately the site should be usable and make sense to the members, so it is up for discussion. The neglected "Resources" tab (ex. http://www.austinreefclub.com/page/FAQ/_/reef-chemistry/) at the top of the site was to serve a lot of the purposes you're asking for, but it really wasn't designed to be a discussion area as much as it's a wiki. The problem with wiki's is they must be maintained, so I get that what you're asking for is a more interactive discussion area. As you mentioned, we have specialized forums that haven't been touched in a while, which is specifically why they are in their own areas. If they were in a common forum then people looking specifically for that content would have to wade through the general forums and not easily find the info they're looking for. While there are many general questions that make it into "Reefkeeping", the vast majority of real discussion there is about topics that pertain to both SPS and LPS. Separating the two into separate forums tends to promote a lot of duplication. It also leads to confusion when people post content (the mods and I spend a lot of time moving stuff around to its "proper" place already). For example, you mention having an SPS photo section. If we go that route we would have multiple photo sections rather than having one where everything is gathered. We currently have the Photo Gallery, Photo Contest, Photography Discussions, threads in various forums dedicated to Full Tank Shots (FTS), Tank Videos, etc. (and yes, I want to clean that up). The fragmentation of content doesn't bother experienced members, but to new members it can be confusing. It makes me hesitate to create a new forum with it's own separate photos. It makes sense to have "Parasites and Pathogens" and "Water Chemistry" forums. I feel there is enough overlap between SPS and LPS that they should be in combined forums. That said I'm willing to create separate ones for now and see what happens. If over time I see that there really isn't a solid distinction between the two there is always the ability to merge them back together. I'll work on implementing those forums and also cleaning up the photos, then we'll go from there. Sound good? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mFrame Posted April 24, 2015 Share Posted April 24, 2015 Alright, I've done a little clean up and reorganization. Feedback appreciated: SPS specific discussion Parasites and Pathogens Water Chemistry Photo sections combined into "A Picture's worth a thousand words..." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gig 'em @ NDstructible Posted April 24, 2015 Author Share Posted April 24, 2015 I think you have very good reasoning behind not having an SPS section. What I had in mind was just a "Hard Coral" or "SPS" section where it was a general area to post questions about diseases, coral husbandry, post cool pics and videos of SPS colonies and tank, and any other forums that pertain specifically to hard corals. I didn't mean have an "SPS photo", "SPS disease", "SPS chemistry" section, just a general hard coral area where all of these threads can be together. I don't tend to travel to the photography section to see what new photos have been posted, but if I see photos of SPS have been posted in the SPS section, I would much more inclined to participate in that thread. I like the way RC has their forum structured where there is an "SPS Keepers" area where people post questions, discuss AEFW and other diseases, show off their corals, ask questions about SPS species, etc. I think this is how the ARC "Reef Keeping" section is treated now, but it would be nice for us SPS heads to have a place to go to for just stony corals. I hope I am communicating more clearly what I was envisioning. And I encourage anyone else who has a better idea to chime in! I would like to respectfully request that ARC open up a forum section for SPS keepers. The husbandry requirements and topics that are/can be discussed are numerous and it would be very helpful to have those SPS-specific discussions in one area. We can talk about SPS specific parasites and pathogens, water chemistry for healthy SPS, share photos of our colorful SPS colonies and frags, and open the forum for all kinds of SPS-related dialogue. We have specialized sections on the forum that haven't been touched in nearly half a year! And yet so many members on this forum have SPS, have tried to keep SPS, or may want to keep SPS and a dedicated forum would be incredibly beneficial for the club as a whole. Anyone else think this would be an awesome idea?! We've visited and discussed the topic before and there are reasons that we specifically have not organized that way in the past. Ultimately the site should be usable and make sense to the members, so it is up for discussion. The neglected "Resources" tab (ex. http://www.austinreefclub.com/page/FAQ/_/reef-chemistry/) at the top of the site was to serve a lot of the purposes you're asking for, but it really wasn't designed to be a discussion area as much as it's a wiki. The problem with wiki's is they must be maintained, so I get that what you're asking for is a more interactive discussion area. As you mentioned, we have specialized forums that haven't been touched in a while, which is specifically why they are in their own areas. If they were in a common forum then people looking specifically for that content would have to wade through the general forums and not easily find the info they're looking for. While there are many general questions that make it into "Reefkeeping", the vast majority of real discussion there is about topics that pertain to both SPS and LPS. Separating the two into separate forums tends to promote a lot of duplication. It also leads to confusion when people post content (the mods and I spend a lot of time moving stuff around to its "proper" place already). For example, you mention having an SPS photo section. If we go that route we would have multiple photo sections rather than having one where everything is gathered. We currently have the Photo Gallery, Photo Contest, Photography Discussions, threads in various forums dedicated to Full Tank Shots (FTS), Tank Videos, etc. (and yes, I want to clean that up). The fragmentation of content doesn't bother experienced members, but to new members it can be confusing. It makes me hesitate to create a new forum with it's own separate photos. It makes sense to have "Parasites and Pathogens" and "Water Chemistry" forums. I feel there is enough overlap between SPS and LPS that they should be in combined forums. That said I'm willing to create separate ones for now and see what happens. If over time I see that there really isn't a solid distinction between the two there is always the ability to merge them back together. I'll work on implementing those forums and also cleaning up the photos, then we'll go from there. Sound good? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mFrame Posted April 24, 2015 Share Posted April 24, 2015 I think you have very good reasoning behind not having an SPS section. What I had in mind was just a "Hard Coral" or "SPS" section where it was a general area to post questions about diseases, coral husbandry, post cool pics and videos of SPS colonies and tank, and any other forums that pertain specifically to hard corals. I didn't mean have an "SPS photo", "SPS disease", "SPS chemistry" section, just a general hard coral area where all of these threads can be together. I don't tend to travel to the photography section to see what new photos have been posted, but if I see photos of SPS have been posted in the SPS section, I would much more inclined to participate in that thread. I like the way RC has their forum structured where there is an "SPS Keepers" area where people post questions, discuss AEFW and other diseases, show off their corals, ask questions about SPS species, etc. I think this is how the ARC "Reef Keeping" section is treated now, but it would be nice for us SPS heads to have a place to go to for just stony corals. I hope I am communicating more clearly what I was envisioning. And I encourage anyone else who has a better idea to chime in! I think our posts crossed, check out what I've added. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sascha D. Posted April 24, 2015 Share Posted April 24, 2015 I didn't even realize that we had a Resources tab. I joined 3 years ago and I've never seen any of that content. I post all of my pictures in my build thread. I didn't think the gallery was used anymore. Is there any crossover? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mFrame Posted April 24, 2015 Share Posted April 24, 2015 I didn't even realize that we had a Resources tab. I joined 3 years ago and I've never seen any of that content. I post all of my pictures in my build thread. I didn't think the gallery was used anymore. Is there any crossover? Yes, many users still post their content to their own gallery and then link from there. I've now made public links to many of our galleries under the new section on the main page under "A Picture's worth"..., scroll down to see them. It gathers them all into one spot and makes it easier to view them than using the Gallery button at the top of the site. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sascha D. Posted April 24, 2015 Share Posted April 24, 2015 Is there going to be a moderator for those photo forums to organize the picture by type when or if it is posted in the wrong place? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mFrame Posted April 24, 2015 Share Posted April 24, 2015 Is there going to be a moderator for those photo forums to organize the picture by type when or if it is posted in the wrong place? Right now the categories are broad enough that I don't see that being a problem (fish, corals, inverts, etc), but if you see something glaringly wrong you notify a mod and we'll fix it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timfish Posted April 24, 2015 Share Posted April 24, 2015 To quote Eric Borneman "Unfortunately, there is no real scientific correlation between polyp size, where corals occur on the ref, and how they should be maintained in captivity." 1 He goes on to point out many of the so called "small polyped branching corals are not only more photoadaptive than other corals, but are more capapble of alternating between autorophy and heterotrophy giving them a more flexable nature." I really appreciate how ORA does not use the designations "SPS" and "LPS" but the actual genus and where possible the species name as well. Continueing to use terms that have no validity when determining the husbandry requirements of a species I feel only adds to the confusion of aquarists especially when trying to determine why an animal is not doing well. When research shows acropora species grow faster with phosphates and an imbalance with having phosphates to low in relation to nitrates can cause an acro to be very sensitive to changes in temperature or photosensitive but so called "SPS" gurus will jump on phosphates as being to high becasue it's not some magically low number the solution of reducing phosphates even more is only exacerbating the problem. Far better in my opinion to set up a wiki that lists by species what many different aquarists are keeping their corals at with growth rates and long term histories. 1) Aquarium Corals, Selection, Husbandry and Natural History, pg 211 and 212 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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