The OFFICIAL 10 gal contest!

Hello all! At the beginning of the year, I noticed there were a LOT of 10 gallon tank builds going up. We all started an unofficial contest just for fun to keep track of all of the new mini tanks. As of today, I am making it an official contest! I am going to change the rules a little bit just so that more people can join in the fun. Here are the official contest rules:

-Your total tank volume must be between 5 and 12 gallons (this means that your tank + sump + filters = 5 to 12 gallons)
-Your tank must be started no later than January 1st, 2012 and must be started no later than May 31st, 2012
-For your tank to be officially started, your tank must have saltwater and at least 1 living organism in it
-Your tank must be sustainable (eg. no yellow tangs in your tank, you will be DQed)
-You must have your entire stocking finished by July 4th (so after the 4th you can't add anything else to your tank) (snails and hermit crabs are exempt from this rule)
-You must post a weekly update picture (I'll explain this in the next post)

These are the rules, I will take suggestions for changes to the rules and additions to the rules until midnight tonight. The judging criteria will be up tomorrow!

Happy reefing!

Really excited about this!

Sounds like some decent fair rules to me!
Excited to see what everyone throws on the table!

Yay!! But a few questions based on the rules: If we can't add anything else to our stocking list as of July 4th, when is the official close of the contest/judging? And I presume you mean that tanks couldn't have been started any earlier than Jan 1st 2012? And I think there should be a FOWLR category for those of us with coral-munching urchins LOL

May 31 to July 4 is only 5 weeks. I surely hope people dont try to cram sensitive animals in their tank that is clearly not mature (anemones for example). As one of the main focus points of this site is teaching patients, responsibility and to be an educated reef steward. Just sayin'.

+1 Salty. I don't see why we can't add stuff right up until the close of the contest.

Two questions: When is judging?
Do my Maroon Clowns disqualify me? A ten really isn't a suitable environment for them, but I can't move them to the 60 until I get the other fish in there.

Yay it's official!!! Do we start our own 10g contest threads so we can post our weekly pictures in the contest forum??? Or do we post the weekly pics here??

Ok to address some of the questions.

For the cutoff date for stocking, the Idea here is that the contest will end on September 1st. What I think will be cool with a final stocking date is that it forces people to not add things that can't be sustained in the tank. It also adds a level of difficulty since you have to keep what you put in the tank alive for those 2 months. I think it will make this different than other competitions. That being said, that is just my thought and I want this to be fun for everybody! So if you all hate this rule, we will get rid of it.

I know May 31st to July 4th is only 4 weeks BUT, you know about it now (May 1st) so that leaves 9 weeks to stock a tank. That should be plenty of time. Again, if you all want to move this date back to allow more time, let me know. (I figured it like this, 1 week to get your equipment, 2 weeks to cycle, then 3 weeks to add 2 fish, and then corals which don't stress your tank much.)

About having a FOWLR category, I think we will have a point awarded for best FOWLR and best reef tank (more on the points system to come)

Chichimom, your fish seem to be doing fine. I think you should be fine. Ultimately, it is up to the rest of the people in the competition. You are outside of the recommended tank size but not into the cruel side of things. I am more talking about putting like a blue hippo tang in a 10 gal.

Beeguiles, I would like everybody to post their pictures on their own 10 gal contest thread. Please name it Beeguile's 10 gal contest thread. More on this to come.

Ok so guys and girls, let me know what you think of the 2 rule changes I have above and we will see what everybody wants to do!

I will be posting more guidelines on judging hopefully tomorrow!

I'm still not entirely sold on the nothing added after date, at least for inverts. Fish-wise, i can certainly understand, as we want to see that the tank can be kept in balance and stable with a given bioload. But limits on corals could leave someone passing on a great deal because it would dq their tank.

If judging isn't until Sept, I too am not sold on the nothing added after July 4th date, especially for people who are starting their tanks in the next month. I'd worry that people will try to cram a lot into their tanks too early and lose stuff because the tank wasn't mature enough. I think by saying the tanks have to be started by May 31st prevents someone from starting a tank in August and stocking it with tons of stuff just for September, so I don't think you need to worry about that piece. And by disqualifying anyone who puts something in their tank that is unsustainable (eg. a yellow tang or anemone in a new tank) will also assure that people are stocking in a responsible manner. Also, for those of us on budgets, completing our stocking by July is going to be hard. I say get rid of the nothing added after date!

I agree that we should be able to ad things after July 4th. Fish makes sense but I think we should be able to add corals and inverts. I would hate to see something I like at the store and not get it bc of the contest. So maybe we can restrict it to no adding fish after July 4th. Can add corals and inverts right up till sept??

Ok sounds good guys, so let's do this, last day for adding FISH will be July 4th UNLESS you are competing FOWLR only. Corals can be added up to the judging date. Sound good?

Sounds good! So where do we start our 10g contest threads - in the contest forum or tank showcase forum? And what do we have to include in our contest threads?

Awesome!! I can't wait to start my thread.

i think we need to have a cut ff date for the corals too because someone could go buy a bunch of nice stuff a few days before judging, this fits into the throw a bunch of nice stuff in and therefor make it an uneven contest

I like the idea of a cutoff date as well reeftanker84 but I have a scoring method that will, I think, make that problem go away.

Stay tuned for more rules everybody. This is the last week of school for me (yay!) so I have lots and lots of projects that are taking rank over this one but I should have plenty of time next week to do it!

Perhaps a cut off date of a month before the end of the contest for adding any livestock? This will avoid last minute stock-ups while allowing the most opportunity for additions of all types. It will also ensure that people are able to keep things alive for at least a month.

R3verb said:

Corals can be added up to the judging date.

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R3verb said:

I like the idea of a cutoff date as well reeftanker84 but I have a scoring method that will, I think, make that problem go away.

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Samhain said:

Perhaps a cut off date of a month before the end of the contest for adding any livestock? This will avoid last minute stock-ups while allowing the most opportunity for additions of all types. It will also ensure that people are able to keep things alive for at least a month.

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Hmmm... Just my opinion, but Samhain is on the right track. You don't want to allow people to add corals right up to the judging date. It's very easy for me to go to my LFS, spend $150 on a bunch of nice corals, throw them in the tank, take a picture, and a week later they're all dead because I didn't know what I was doing. The ability to keep things alive is an important part of this hobby.

What about limiting the number of corals that could be added during the final month to something like 2 pieces? This would give those of us on a budget a chance to add just a little more to our tanks, but would prevent someone from going out and buying a whole bunch of stuff to put in the tank just for a final picture.