# Store display tanks



## ReefABCs (Nov 10, 2012)

I was at the Big Als in Newmarket boxing day and was impressed with th sps growth and color in their display tank. I mentioned it to a passing employee . He said the person looking after it puts a lot of effort into it. 

I was thinking after it would be cool to have the best GTA store annual or semi annual display contest and maybe judged by the public and then by the participating stores themselves. Could be a great tour to take too. Anyway I guess I have too much time with this week off lol.


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## fesso clown (Nov 15, 2011)

ReefABCs said:


> I was at the Big Als in Newmarket boxing day and was impressed with th sps growth and color in their display tank. I mentioned it to a passing employee . He said the person looking after it puts a lot of effort into it.
> 
> I was thinking after it would be cool to have the best GTA store annual or semi annual display contest and maybe judged by the public and then by the participating stores themselves. Could be a great tour to take too. Anyway I guess I have too much time with this week off lol.


This is a great idea. Could be lots of fun. We could set up a poll thread after we discuss the possibilities of how score each tank and use this thread to nominate tanks.

We don't nessessary have to limit it to GTA but we may have to limit it to GTA sponsors? Maybe not. Do we include "basement operations" or just places with regular business hours. For example Bigshow, Thang, Fragbox, Fragcave....
Just trying to get a discussion going. We could have several catigories. We could have trophys and give them out at the BBQ.

Awesome idea!


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## fesso clown (Nov 15, 2011)

We could make a sculpture out of dead corals and frags as the Trophy! Hahaha


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## tom g (Jul 8, 2009)

*great idea*

we could set up a gta ballot box ... or a online poll ...it could be a great plug for the site as well if people had to come to site to vote ...


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## ReefABCs (Nov 10, 2012)

There is tons of opportunity here for both the store owners and the hobbiest 

I like the idea of including the smaller shops but it could be a separate one as well. 

Could even attract other brand sponsors to show off their hardware and other reef wares. Including a great learning experience by all.

Happy new year 
Lots of possibilities!


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## TBemba (Jan 11, 2010)

I think the contest would need an official photographer. Because let face the facts that some people can take wicked good pictures and have the expensive equipment while others have a cell phone and a shaky hand.


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## altcharacter (Jan 10, 2011)

Biggest problem is that everyone would have to compete with [email protected]'s tank and [email protected]'s tank...

No real competition here.

The thing is Dave and Alex are both owners and hobbyists while guys like BA's are just guys doing a job and are limited to what they can put into their tanks. Yeah their sps might look good but do they have a massive colony of sunset monti or red dragon in the tank?


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## fesso clown (Nov 15, 2011)

Maybe 2 catigories then 1 for full retail stores and 1 for what should we call the other guys? I don't want to deminish them at all by calling them basement operations but they are appointment type establishments and should be in a different catigory. maybe make the qualifier be that the store has to have regular hours and be open to the public? 

Best Retail Display Tank (open to all full stores sponsor or not)
And 
Best Hobbyist Retailor Display Tank. (Open to sponsors) 

The judging can be done by a poll thread and the tanks have to have been seen by the voters, we aren't voting on pictures. 

How does that sound?


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## ReefABCs (Nov 10, 2012)

All we need is a goal and vision with retail support.

How about something like this?

Vision.
To inspire, to learn, to share, and to enjoy the experience of the underwater beauty of our oceans in our homes or offices.

Goals,
Teach others the skills to be successful at keeping a living/thriving (Salt Water) reef aquarium, share knowledge on latest techniques, and create a network of enthusiasts.
Reward, Well that could be lots of things from a banner, to retailers advertising as the winner, Best GTA etc.etc…. Could be different categories as well like best growth, best overall display, best color, most original whatever…., newest successful techniques. 
Each contestant can list methods and equipment used, (I can see this as a huge selling opportunity) 

That’s it for me … tonight…I think I will wake up in the morning thinking to stop drinking wine.


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## altcharacter (Jan 10, 2011)

I was a mod on this forum for quite a bit of time and what you won't get is retail support. First and most importantly is the fact that this forum is owned by a corporation that cares about money so they would definitely be involved financially. This is the main reason you don't see any contests or competitions on here anymore. A few sponsors have told me the amount needed to pay for the membership is quite expensive and having to pay on top of that for a different sponsorship for a contest would be even more expensive.

Any contests or anything near that will be looked at by the owning company. This is why the reefer BBQ has always been independent and not controlled by the forum. The company that owns this forum has displayed interest in the BBQ but we aren't interested in participating.

Good luck though!


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## someguy (Sep 7, 2009)

Alt is right in that retail stores are typically limited in what they can and cant do with a tank and its equipment (speaking from experience)

That said I think it's a nice idea to highlight some of the tanks different stores have set up.


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## TBemba (Jan 11, 2010)

so you guys are saying have stores submit photos of their display tanks for a contest on this forum for free so that they get free advertising and they would put flyers in their stores telling customers about this website and GTA would get more traffic and hobbyists?

Sounds like a ingenious marketing plan to me


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## kookie_guy (Oct 15, 2014)

ReefABCs said:


> I was at the Big Als in Newmarket boxing day and was impressed with th sps growth and color in their display tank. I mentioned it to a passing employee . He said the person looking after it puts a lot of effort into it.


That would be Tim, and yes, he puts an insane amount of love and care into that tank. It's his baby.


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## fesso clown (Nov 15, 2011)

TBemba said:


> so you guys are saying have stores submit photos of their display tanks for a contest on this forum for free so that they get free advertising and they would put flyers in their stores telling customers about this website and GTA would get more traffic and hobbyists?
> 
> Sounds like a ingenious marketing plan to me


Not al all, but those are great ideas, for now i say we don't have to ask the stores to do anything or even be involved...I think we should just do a poll thread for each category and we the members vote on our favourite.... what's the point? A little fun and to highlight the nice display tanks around town. For example I have never been to the Big Al's that Reef ABC mentioned but I might go now to see what he's talking about.

I will start a list of nominations, these are just tanks I remember seeing, there are many more but I want others to get involved and nominate:

*Full retail display tanks:*
Sea U Marine 
Aquatic Kingdom (nano) 
Incredible Aquarium

*Hobby Retailers Display Tanks* (these have to be more or less fulltime sellers) 
GTA Reef - Thang
Fragcave
Fragbox (his display is brand new but I thought to put him in)

Let's assemble nominations in this thread and then when we've exhausted the pickings we can set up a couple of poll threads.

No need to have the stores or the GTAA admin involved in this at all as it's just for fun (for now) and there are no real stakes. Maybe we can approach the winner of each category to do a write-up of their system like the TOTM style.

How does this sound? I am just brainstorming here...

It would be great to get the name of the actual person who is responsible for each tank too.


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## notclear (Nov 5, 2011)

You may add Reefquarium and Reef Boutique. Also Bigshow.


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## Rappyfly (Feb 3, 2012)

Dont forget Canada Corals' 300G reef of the mist display.


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## Rookie2013 (Jan 17, 2013)

Sounds like a great idea with the potential of having a lot of fun for the hobbists...just for a change


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## ReefABCs (Nov 10, 2012)

Some poor pics I took on Boxing day at Big Als Newmarket. 
I agree it's about having fun. I was hoping some stores might read this and get inspired on there own to the something outside of this forum and we can then take pics to share, enjoy, and even vote for fun.


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## ReefABCs (Nov 10, 2012)

Trouble adding pics


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