Frag Grow Out Competition

So in California. there is a pretty cool thing going on that has got a lot of people excited and working together and getting involved. We did a frag grow out competition and are competing with frags of Miami hurricane chalice, single eyes. They were cut by a local store, and we paid around 10$ each, and the winner gets a pool pot of money. I think it would be a great thing to do here to get some involved. HERES HOW IT WOULD GO:

First, we decide on a good coral that grows and frags fairly so someone doesn't end up with an early lead, like a colony of birds nest, Maybe like a nice neon green or other color. Something not super easy to grow, but not too difficult like acros that don't do well in lower end tanks. Eventually, the club should be able to buy the colony,  and the profits should go into the next coral.

Second, we find a store to do the fragging for the club, who would order the colony, or buy the colony for the club. I would suggest a store in salt lake area so notherners and southerners can participate without having a 3 hour drive to do so. I would recommend Reef On as a convienient location.

The store would then cut the frags into equal and fair sizes, such as 1/4 in chunks of the branch. They would glue them to special marked plugs to make sure no one cuts their own colony up. And would then let them heal for a week or so to make sure they are fairly doing well and not bleaching.

We should have around 20-30 pieces, or even more to make it interesting and worth it. We would be able to buy a frag that we chose for $10 or $15, friends could also pick up pieces for others in case they cant make it.

We would then divide up the money as follows, $5, or half, would go to the club to fund the next coral to frag. The other half , or 5$ would go into a pot of money, That pot would be in the form of a gift card to the store who did the fragging, so they can recoup their costs and time, yet give the winner a great prize. We could even do 5$ to the club, 5$ to the pot, and 5$ to the store so its fair for all.

If all goes as planned, the winner could walk away with a $100-300 gift card to the store who frags! this would be fantastic for both the winner and the store. And as an added bonus, you get a pretty descent frag even if you don't win! and can sell it off after if you already have that coral. THE MORE PEOPLE THAT PARTICIPATE, THE BETTER!!

We would then do a post on Facebook or something easy so every week everyone posts a picture of their coral to check how it is doing and make sure all is fair. So far the club in California has had great success and had got people involved and interacting. It would also be interesting to compare notes on how corals did when they grew, like under what paramaters did they do best, or even worse.

The comp would go for about 3-4 months, and a group of random people would judge the winners when it is over. The frags would have to be brought to a meeting and all put into a tank where they can be judged on both growth but also color. If their is a growth tie, best color could win, as who likes a half bleached coral because it was grown under too intense lighting? This could happen for every other month or so, to keep corals coming, and keep people interested.

So this is my idea to the club to keep things going and try something new! we could do like 3-4 corals a year to make it fun, but not something that everyone has. Let us know what you think! Lets make this fun!