Brooklyn Aquarium Society...

[150reef]

has anyone gone to thier monthly meeting\auctions that are held @ the NY Aquarium? If so ,how are the meetings\auctions\guest speakers?

The reason I ask is that I was at my local Petland to pick up a 30 gallon tank over the weekend to make my sump and I began talking to this employee who seemed knowledgeable. He then gave me a flyer and asked me to attend and spread the word of these meetings\auctions. The flyer indicates that the next meeting\auctions and guest speaker (Robert Hudson of Aquabotanic.com) will be held on Sept. 14th at 7:30pm and from what Marty said is that the auction will be held the last two hours from app. 10pm to midnight. There is a $5 cover charge for non-members, but if you mention Marty's name, they will waive the $5 cover charge. Marty said that drygoods, tank setups, fish, plants, coral etc... can be had for a fraction of retail cost. Some of the LFS, members, wholesalers donate to this auction and the society keeps the proceeds to make these events happen. Think I will give it a try to see what its all about. If you ever think of returning fish to a LFS and expect nothing in return, you may want to think of donating to this society, from what I was told is that they also accept drygoods, tanks etc... As it currently stands the society will keep all proceeds, but Marty indicated that they may in the future have 50/50, where the donator and society split the proceeds.You can see Marty at Petlands on Avenue U, in the Home Depot shopping center, which is a block away from the Kings Plaza Mall.

 

[Deanos]

BAS

 

[KathyC]

This is very typical of aquarium clubs. I'm with the Nassau County Aquarium Society and we also have monthly meetings and speakers and auctions where members & manufacturers..donate to the auction. We have been doing the 50/50 split with members all along. We are primarily a FW club though every now & then a SW item comes up (usually hard goods). We do not require a fee to attend our meeting and anyone is welcome to come for a visit, but if you choose to join the fee is $20 per year and you are entitled to the free door prize drawing, our annual Holiday party, Summer BBQ and other benefits.

It is my understanding that the Brooklyn club frequently has SW items available at their meetings but it is not as much as it was in the past.

As a side note...the 4 local Aquarium clubs are holding our first annual convention this year and it will be a mix of both FW & SW.
It is being organized by the following clubs, Nassau County Aquarium Society, Brooklyn A.S., Greater City A.S (Queens), and The Long Island Aquarium Society. Atlantis Marine World is also a major participant.

Here is a link to the info on the convention:
http://www.afishconvention.org/index.php

 

[fritz]

For us BAS is VERY hit and miss. Martin Moe gave a presentation last year that was pretty fantastic. He went in depth on his adventures breeding salt water fish and all of his "Eurekas!"

A few other speakers have also given some great presentations but from year to year there's either one or two speakers of interest to us, if you're lucky. The typical meeting involves people going bonkers over red mushrooms and buying four 10 inch triggers at the auction for their "large" 55 gallon tank. Ask Chris loismustdie what he thought of the Sig event that he hosted at his home for BAS.

 

[Pseudo]

BAS sucks ... Sorry

 

[150reef]

BAS sucks ... Sorry

Any real reason why they suck?

 

[150reef]

This is very typical of aquarium clubs. I'm with the Nassau County Aquarium Society and we also have monthly meetings and speakers and auctions where members & manufacturers..donate to the auction. We have been doing the 50/50 split with members all along. We are primarily a FW club though every now & then a SW item comes up (usually hard goods). We do not require a fee to attend our meeting and anyone is welcome to come for a visit, but if you choose to join the fee is $20 per year and you are entitled to the free door prize drawing, our annual Holiday party, Summer BBQ and other benefits.

It is my understanding that the Brooklyn club frequently has SW items available at their meetings but it is not as much as it was in the past.

As a side note...the 4 local Aquarium clubs are holding our first annual convention this year and it will be a mix of both FW & SW.


It is being organized by the following clubs, Nassau County Aquarium Society, Brooklyn A.S., Greater City A.S (Queens), and The Long Island Aquarium Society. Atlantis Marine World is also a major participant.

Here is a link to the info on the convention:
http://www.afishconvention.org/index.php

Thanks for the info. Kathy, will check that out.

 

[Pseudo]

Yes there are...

1. Uneducated reefers at the saltwater meetings.
2. Auctions are bogus.
3. Even the informative meetings are hampered with opinionated people on personal preferences that have nothing to do with the betterment of reefing.
4. It has become a more political place than I ever want in a hobby.
5. so on and so on..

I can keep going if you want me too. I have always said that people have to choose what they want to do for themselves. Dont take my experiences as gospel on what you may get out of the BAS!! It may be a great experience for you. I used to enjoy it very much and looked foward to going but now I find it a waste of my time.

Kasei

 

[fritz]

Don't listen to Kasei, he is the current president of the Brooklyn Aquarium Society and is trying to keep us all out.

Seriously though if you've ever seen "The Freedom Filter" all you need to know about BAS is they voted it the greatest thing in reefkeeping for 2006. I kid you not. I think their website even carries the endorsement.


EDIT!!!


I found it:

Your product has been awarded the Brooklyn Aquarium Society HOBBYIST TESTED & RECOMMENDED Seal of Approval.
You may freely use it in the promotion of the awarded product, in advertising, packaging and point of purchase to let consumers know your product has been tested by experienced hobbyist and received the Brooklyn Aquariums Society's Seal of Approval.
This Seal announces that your product has been hobbyist tested and recommended, and it will perform as stated, when used as directed, or the manufacturer will refund the full purchase price. No other guarantee is implied.
-BROOKLYN AQUARIUM SOCIETY




http://www.freedomaquarium.com/site/product-features.cfm

Funny in the same year I voted this to be the biggest piece of crap I had seen.

 

[150reef]

Yes there are...

1. Uneducated reefers at the saltwater meetings.
2. Auctions are bogus.
3. Even the informative meetings are hampered with opinionated people on personal preferences that have nothing to do with the betterment of reefing.
4. It has become a more political place than I ever want in a hobby.
5. so on and so on..

I can keep going if you want me too. I have always said that people have to choose what they want to do for themselves. Dont take my experiences as gospel on what you may get out of the BAS!! It may be a great experience for you. I used to enjoy it very much and looked foward to going but now I find it a waste of my time.

Kasei

Thanks for sharing your experience Kasei, your opinions of BAS is what I was exactly looking for. Trust me, I wont take your opinions of BAS as gospel. Just want to get good honest experiences\opinions from MR members and then make a decision as to go or not. Really dont want to waste my time either. Maybe I'll check it out on the 14th, maybe not.

On your positive experiences, if any, had you come across any nice\quality\healthy\non-healthy saltwater livestock, fish, zoa, shrooms, corals etc..@ these meetings?

 

[150reef]

Don't listen to Kasei, he is the current president of the Brooklyn Aquarium Society and is trying to keep us all out.

Seriously though if you've ever seen "The Freedom Filter" all you need to know about BAS is they voted it the greatest thing in reefkeeping for 2006. I kid you not. I think their website even carries the endorsement.


EDIT!!!


I found it:

Your product has been awarded the Brooklyn Aquarium Society HOBBYIST TESTED & RECOMMENDED Seal of Approval.
You may freely use it in the promotion of the awarded product, in advertising, packaging and point of purchase to let consumers know your product has been tested by experienced hobbyist and received the Brooklyn Aquariums Society's Seal of Approval.
This Seal announces that your product has been hobbyist tested and recommended, and it will perform as stated, when used as directed, or the manufacturer will refund the full purchase price. No other guarantee is implied.
-BROOKLYN AQUARIUM SOCIETY




http://www.freedomaquarium.com/site/product-features.cfm

Funny in the same year I voted this to be the biggest piece of crap I had seen.

LOL, never seen or heard of that filter, just the name alone would have scared me away

 

[Pseudo]

Yes I have had some great experiences there. I met Greg Schiemer and received frags from him which got me started in the sps hobby. I met alot of the MR members there some of which I personally introduced into the saltwater hobby.

Yes I did get some healthy fish (never buy clams there), alot of shrooms and the occassional odd and end. All in all I would give the BAS a 50% rating.

Kasei

 

[150reef]

Yes I have had some great experiences there. I met Greg Schiemer and received frags from him which got me started in the sps hobby. I met alot of the MR members there some of which I personally introduced into the saltwater hobby.

Yes I did get some healthy fish (never buy clams there), alot of shrooms and the occassional odd and end. All in all I would give the BAS a 50% rating.

Kasei

Thanks again Kasei, I'm not really looking to do reef at this point. So I'm not expecting to find corals or the hard to find items. But with setting up a 150, I want to do some ZOA's and shrooms only in my FOWLR (can I call it a FOWLR, if I have shrooms and zoa's along with fish or is it a reef, hmmm?) But if I can come across dry goods, zoas, healthy fish and shrooms through another avenue other then LFS, MR, RC, on-line then maybe I'll give BAS a try?

 

[fritz]

Yes I have had some great experiences there. In fact it is the best! Everyone should join! I love BAS! BAS is my sh1t!

Kasei

I told you he was the current president.

Seriously just like Kasei said you can catch some great presentations but the rest is not worth the trip. There isn't a lot of reef knowledge to go around there. The auctions while you can get some GREAT deals, you are buying fish that have been in a bag for 7 or 8 hours. There is nothing to be had in terms of corals but I've seen 10 inch Clown Triggers go for $10, damsels for $1, a yellow tang or two for $5.

 

[crox99]

10 inch Clown Triggers go for $10

I did see that fish but it was sick. I got my first pigmy angel there and it was sold to me as a lemonpeel but after I got home I found out it was a Heraldi one!!

 

[KathyC]

Just as a note:

The President of the BAS is Joe Graffagnino and he is a really nice fellow who has an enormous amount of knowledge in fishkeeping and is very generous in sharing that knowledge with others.

I just received notification that one of the NYC Firefighters who lost their lives in the Deutsch Bank fire last week is Joe's son Joseph.

I would personally appreciate it if we could let this thread slide off the front page for now.

 

[Pseudo]

Done and very sorry to hear that.

Kasei