Paying it forward. What a great thing to do!

joekool

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These days we have fellow reefers that have been in the hobby for many years and those of us like me that have been doing it for a few years and some just starting out. Although I have kept saltwater for 6 years I only had aggressive tanks. For the last two years I have been building my mixed reef and learning along the way sometimes the hard way. I have met many great hobbyists one in particular is Todd (TJ'S reef) here on the forum. We have become friends I would like to think sense joining this forum. We talk about our tanks and share ideas. Todd has been great with helping me make decisions on lighting mods, tank equipment etc.

Being that I have a large tank items to fill this tank don't come cheap and with retailers selling 1" frags for $250 or single corals way above that its hard to get anywhere. I for refuse to pay ridicules prices for corals. If you want to pay over inflated prices they will keep charging those prices. Not only that these retailers get nice small colonies and frag the poo out of them most don't make it very long once in your tank.

So anyways to the point. Todd being the most excellent fellow reefer took it upon himself to grow out nice size frags most small colonies and make the effort to send them to me. There is not to many people out there that would bother to take the time to do this with out some monetary gain. Not only did he send me corals but two other fellow r2r reefers. Todd this was a very nice thing to do. It was very much appreciated.

If we all would be willing to pay it forward. Share the coral wealth. Trade or barter. we would not only help each other out we could do it at little to no cost. We could say no to lying high dollars and inact our own cross country or local trade of corals. I for one are not wealthy. I do make a good living but you know how life goes.

Lets all try to do some paying it forward. If someone helps you out, you help someone else out. I know I have received plenty of help and try to pay it forward to whom ever I can.

Todd thank you, thank you, thank you! I wish there was more guys out there like you. I will be defiantly paying it forward.

Todd sent me by the way ORA PINK BIRDSNEST, ORA GREEN STYLOPHORA, Hyacinth BIRDSNEST. ORA Montipora spongodes.
I will add photos later in week to my tank thread. Letting them relax FedEx was not so gentle with my box and I had to glue some broken corals back together.

Most of all it cost less than $30 to send hundreds of dollars in corals. :rockon:

Hope this sparks a trend. I have already given away tank equipment to a guy just starting out. Everyone try to trade barter or help out your fellow reefers so we can all have beautiful tanks a great friends.

Thank you Todd my family thanks you too.
Also thanks for being a cool guy!

Sorry for the wording I just re read it but you get the point.
 
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mfief

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This is a great way to help each other out. There are a couple of guys near me that have reefs as well. Often times we give each other the first frag we can cut. It's fun and saves us all some money
 

Fieryfrog

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+1 to the above thought. With the price some LFS want for frags, everyone sharing the beauty is a great way of keeping this "hobby" going.
 

Ryan2428

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+ 1 for sure on paying it forward in this hobbie for sure and in day to day life aswell
 

coral-craving

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Completely agree!

It's posts like this that make me realize I chose the right forum to join. I'm new to the hobby (and by new I mean I just set up my tank last Tursday) and figured I would join a good forum so I could learn from others who have knowledge and experience and they are willing to share (unlike most of the guys at my LFS). I'm hoping to learn a lot and create something that will inspire other to want to join the hobby. If/when I get to a point where I have the opportunity to pay if forward you better believe that I will! Thanks for the awesome post and I look forward to seeing more things like this happening.
 

stunkenwagon

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I agree trade is a great way to go about things but also agree with high prices on quality rare pieces as in a roundabout way slows down the raping of our ocean's!
 

TJ's Reef

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I like this a lot and was thinking on something similar. This was the very first time for me to ship out Corals, and was mostly a success though was 0 for 3 on shipping my fresh cut/unhealed Rose Milli which was a shame as they were huge frags as frags go these days. Tried something I though might work....... wrong. So after talking with Chris (skinz78) earlier today will make some adjustments on future shipments. Maybe pick out a couple more R2R members in the next month or so to receive a SPS starter pack..... hmmmmm


Thanks Joe for the kind words my friend, hopefully all but the Milli will recover from the FedEx World Cup practice delivery. I'll make some fresh frags of the Milli and let heal for a few weeks as now have some open sand bed to keep them in.

Cheers/Ho ho ho, Todd
 
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coral-craving

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Another thing that I wanted to mention in my previous post, that I think doing things like this will help solve, is the fact that since everything is so gosh darn expensive that it's preventing good people from being able to even try out this wonderful hobby. Start up costs are alone will break the bank, and then, if you're like me, and have to get "approval" from a spouse it makes it real hard to get them on board with your plans. I finally got my wife to somewhat agree to letting me get a tank after months of pleading, and I must say, she was less than enthused. And now that she's been staring at a tank filled with water and rock for the past week I would say she's even less enthused than she was (if that's possible). She just can't justify the amount of money that we spent and now I have to try and somehow motivate her to let me drop another couple hundred bucks on some live stock (wish me luck). If there were more people out there like this, that pay it forward, it would make it much easier for people who are borderline on taking the plunge into this hobby get on board. It's a wonderful hobby and should be experienced by more people. It allows people to feel some self gratification by succeeding and seeing the fruits of their labor and hard work pay off. Hope to see more of this kind of thing in the days to come... Does anyone know if there is a thread specifically for bartering/trading/donating on here?
 

Eric N

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Agreed

In the spirit of this thread, would anyone like to pay forward a nice red/yellow acro to me? :angel: J/k. I think I stocked about half the corals in a guys nano last month from frags I had laying around and I'm getting some cool ones in return as he keeps stocking. The pet store doesn't give that much for the frags anyway. The other perk is that if something goes wrong that person may (hopefully) help you out with restocking. Like in those cases where an urchin picks up a new sunset monti frag from the sandbed and drops it on your tabling acro and causes the entire acro to bleach in a few days even though it was touching one spot for less than 6 hours!
 

saltyphish

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Nice thread, prices are ridiculous at lfs. This certainly helps new to the hobby people. I will definitely do the same when able. My tank just started in feb. and have no coral stocked at the moment. Mainly just researching about the different corals and allowing my tank to stabilize. Also learning from my mistakes and need to upgrade my lighting before I go that route. But will definitely remember this thread.
 

Isoprene

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I have recently started trading with Polyp Pete and its going good so far, sending out our first boxes within a week or so. I will be asking others if they would like to trade as well, I have tons of sps that i can trade. Trading is the way to go
 

prsnlty

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I agree, we ALL need to pay it forward! I've been doing so myself. Mainly with equipment I no longer use or need, LPS and softies as I'm having trouble in the SPS department. I also try to help others with questions as much as I possibly can on this forum. Even what is simple things to well experienced people is not always simple, and the help means a lot to a new to the hobby person. So I offer what I can in advice from my experiences. I love the secret Santa idea as well! There are tons of reefers on this forum (and others) who have beautiful overgrown tanks that don't need the money. But we have to be careful. Some states say that even trading or giving away corals freely is now illegal. The Jerks! So do it on a PM level.

Todd is a great guy with a BEAUTIFUL reef and am honored when he stops by my new build and comments :) I have little money to get the best of everything too. I do a lot of DIY. Because of R2R I've learned how to drill glass (boy that was scary), make my own live rock and how to bring outside air into my low PH tank and raise it to perfect levels. Paying it forward is the way to go!

Joekool deserves some accolades as well for showing his appreciation to Todd in this way :D Because this is the way we should all be!

my .02 :rockon:
 

myownlife

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I love trading. I have only been in the hobby just over a year and just reached a point where I have a few things to trade. Sadly I feel I have been a little ripped off from some local vendors in trades because I did not know any better. I love the idea of paying it forward. Happy reefing
 
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joekool

joekool

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Thanks man. I appreciate that everyone appreciates this thread.
I like secret Santa idea too. I also think trading is great. Local of course is the easiest and shipping may hinder the trade or giving but can be done.

I have some thin branching frog spawn that I would like to trade for SPS of some sort. Hopefully someone in Florida would be great.
I would like to give some away if there is someone local starting out. Anyone live near north port
 

afamousjohnson

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Wish it wasnt so expensive to ship or I would be nationally trading on a day to day basis.lol

My entire 90g is packed full from 2 years of this. I rarely buy corals and have only bought a few handfuls.

Thats funny- skinz is who I practiced sending corals to on a u pay shipping = corals for free - so I could get the experience.

Think back to when you started - think of the smile that would hit your face everytime you got a new piece - now picture that smile when the new piece was free :)
 

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