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FIRST TIME EVER! - [BAR / NVR] Zoa Grow-out Contest

:eek: Yes you heard it folks! For the first time in California reef club history we will be holding a club vs club zoanthid grow-out contest.

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Our sister club, Northern Valley Reefers has agreed to have a friendly zoa grow-out with us the Bay Area Reefers!

As the new BAR Vice President.
I am looking forward to 2016 and I see huge improvements and fun events for this club on the horizon. I am so excited and honored to grow out some zoas with one of the finest reef club in Northern California, NVR!

About the Northern Valley Reefers
If you are from the San Joaquin County area or near it, you should definitely be a part of the Northern Valley Reefers! They hold exciting monthly events and fun contests. Every year during the NVR Open/Regional Frag Swap, a couple of us bay area folks drive to stockton to participate in their frag swap and NVR does definitely throw one of the best frag swaps around.

http://nvreefers.org/

Much of the improvements/event ideas I made in 2015 were based off of advice from NVR's President and events/contests that they run.

Hunting for Nice Zoas
I'll be on the prowl for some very nice zoa colonies to start off this epic zoa grow-out contest. So if you (vendor or hobbyist) have a super nice colony of zoas you want to donate/sell for this epic grow-out, send me a private message.


Expected Start Date: February or April 2016. Depending on how busy I am.
 
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Those NVR guys/gals LOVE growing high end zoas so be sure to bring your best! :D

This is going to be fun! Chalices are cool and all but zoas and acans are definitely the best all around grow-out corals.
 
Sounds cool! I have a question because I have not grown zoas much. Anybody know about the palytoxin in zoas? (No, I have not searched at all so feel free to tell me to start there.) I know all corals engage in allelopathy but for a school tank I decided it might be wise to not house palythoa and protopalythoa because there is no need to risk it when there are plenty of other coral options. Of course we will not be boiling any coral or rock and can wear gloves and goggles when fragging, but I need to minimize unnecessary risk. Any opinions out there?
 
This is Keith the NVR President, we really look forward to doing this combined event. I firmly believe all the clubs should work more closely and do fun events together since all that makes us different is our location in California. I look forward to seeing a hard fought battle for the Zoa Master of Northern California :)
 
Sounds cool! I have a question because I have not grown zoas much. Anybody know about the palytoxin in zoas? (No, I have not searched at all so feel free to tell me to start there.) I know all corals engage in allelopathy but for a school tank I decided it might be wise to not house palythoa and protopalythoa because there is no need to risk it when there are plenty of other coral options. Of course we will not be boiling any coral or rock and can wear gloves and goggles when fragging, but I need to minimize unnecessary risk. Any opinions out there?

I would stay away from brown and green button polyps, they are seriously toxic. However most of the zoa's are not dangerous unless you take them out of the water and cut them. The button polyps are dangerous even cutting them in water, made myself sick that way once. As long as you wear gloves and goggles to protect your eyes I would think you would be good with zoas, I recommend Sunny D's as I cut them up all the time with no issues.
 
This is so cool! Makes me wish I lived in the Bay Area and was a BAR member :) - or that MARS does something like this in the future!

Move to the bay area! You too, can enjoy the financial and time consuming burdens of the bay area housing/traffic crises. Oh well at least we have nice reef stores :p

Jokes aside, this club vs club grow out contest is the first of its kind that I know of. This one is kind of a test run. If this contest is successful, MARS will probably start their own contest very soon.
 
Move to the bay area! You too, can enjoy the financial and time consuming burdens of the bay area housing/traffic crises. Oh well at least we have nice reef stores :p

Jokes aside, this club vs club grow out contest is the first of its kind that I know of. This one is kind of a test run. If this contest is successful, MARS will probably start their own contest very soon.
Can I piggyback on the fact that I grew up in Danville and my parents still live there? Their house counts, right? :p

And yes, this is super cool. MARS would more than likely be interested if you guys decide to do another!
 
To keep it more interesting, I hope we can find a zoa or paly that's a little more rare than Sunny D's.

Maybe a zoa like Leprechauns, Blue Hornets or Darth Maul provided we can find a colony large enough to split up.
 
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