The President's Pen:

Next Wave is here! For months, you've heard me talking about it. There is a small banner on our message board, David created a beautiful banner for our website which was also used on the flyer you've seen at your LFS hopefully, and I've spent quite a bit of time trying to get the word out to neighboring clubs so they too can attend. If you've not made up your mind yet, now's the time to make the commitment to attend. For $35 (non-DFWMAS members pay $45) you'll enjoy a full day on March 26th, filled with great speakers, a hot meal, and the opportunity to win some great prizes in the raffle.

Coburn's Catering is providing a hot meal at lunchtime. Steve Tyree is doing an SPS fragging demonstration, and you'll have the opporunity to meet more people that love this hobby like you do. The knowledge you'll walk away with will not only help you with your own aquarium(s), but you'll be able to help others. Please make arrangements now to be on time Saturday morning at 9am.

This event doesn't come cheaply, and frankly it hasn't happened in a few years due to a lack of interest by the club members. We are paying to fly in four speakers, and that includes their hotel rooms, dining, and incidental expenses. We also are paying the caterer to have food and drinks there. Our club has over 240 active members, and every single one of them will benefit from this conference, no matter how much or how little experience they have. Take advantage of this fantastic opportunity to hear what these published authors have to say - in person! - and spend a little time asking them those questions you've always had. If you had to buy only one book, typically one costs $40 right? Next Wave will give you volumes of information and even fill your belly for $35. You might even win a new Oceanic tank in the raffle. Your money will be well-spent, I promise you.

It's not too late to reserve your seat now. Sign up with this page now! Every person must wear their name tag at Next Wave. If you are found not wearing one, you will be asked to pay the entry fee immediately or you will have to leave.

We hope you have a great time! See you there. :)

Marc Levenson
President DFWMAS

The raffle prizes at Next Wave were donated by the following sponsors. We are thankful for their support!

Oceanic - 58g tank

Premium Aquatics - (3) $25 gift certificate

Drs Foster & Smith - $25 gift certificate

Champion Lighting - Tsunami Auto Top-off switch; Blue LED moonlight

OceansMotions - Super Squirt 4-way; 2 revolutions; Mag Float Glass Scraper

Clams and SPS corals

(2) MACNA XIV DVDs (13 disks)

More vendors have promised items, though they've not arrived as of this time.

Raffle tickets are $1 each  •  $2 each for the 58g aquarium. (No free tickets)

 

The 2005 Calendars will be available at Next Wave for $8 each. When checking in at the desk, they will be available for purchase.

Each month features an image taken by one of the DFWMAS members which everyone will enjoy. Get one for your home, and maybe one more for your office. These make nice gifts too!

Message Board News:

A FAQ page has been compiled to assist you in using the message board and more. Please use it.

Renewing your membership: Just click on the link for "memberships" on the FAQ page, select your payment option, and your status will be updated. If you are new to the club, you can join now with the same link.

Our entire website and message board will be moving to a new hosting service soon. Please help ease the transition by deleting older PMs. We look forward to some of the new features our site will have, and you can bet that Greg will take his webmaster duties seriously. If you run into problems, remember that DFWMAS has a forum on ReefCentral in the clubs area that can be used to contact other members if necessary. 

Featured Tank This Month

This newsletter, we will feature the West Fort Worth Tank Tour. About 25 people braved the rain for a full day of tank viewing. It was a lot of fun, and it ended with a BBQ at Marc's house.

Cappy's 200g

Todd & Mitzi's 180g

Larry's 200g

Scott's 180g

Cathy's 140g

Marc's 280g

For all the pictures and details about the tour, check out this page.

Would you like your tank featured in our newsletter? If so, please let me know. What we need is some basic information about your setup, and a few pictures. I have visited a number of member's homes to take pictures, but many of you are quite skilled in photography and you could email me the images and related information if this proves more convenient.

Please contact Marc if you want to have your tank featured in a future newsletter.

What is the purpose of MASNA? - by Marc Levenson

That was my question recently. I've heard of MASNA over the past couple of years, but couldn't grasp what it did. If you look at our site, there is a logo that links you to MASNA.org. What does this mean for the hobbyist? Why should a club become involved? What's the big deal? And what do they do with the money contributed? These were some of my thoughts.

MASNA is a non-for-profit organization that came-to-be almost two decades ago. Over the years, it has helped many hobbyists form new clubs in their own area. This can be very confusing, and even frustrating, but MASNA helps provide guidelines that will get things rolling. Every club in the United States should be a member of MASNA, because it is the umbrella organization that represents the hobbyist in congressional hearings. All of us love that we can go to our local fish store or online vendor and purchase livestock from all over the earth. However, as more people become more environmentally aware, they ask for accountability on the part of the wholesalers, the distributors, and even the very divers that collect corals and fish on a daily basis.

Each club pays $50 a year to be a member of MASNA. Each individual member pays $20. What does that money go to? No-one on the Board of Directors is paid for their efforts, but they do get together once a year for a brunch. If you were asked to help people all year long and your payment would be a breakfast, would you feel recompensed? MASNA members work behind the scenes to help the hobby, doing so out of love for the very creatures we keep in our aquariums.

So where does the money go? Part of it is used to send a representative to attend the U.S. Coral Task Force. This also permits a representative to fully investigate various bills that go before congress to make sure the hobby continues to be protected. MASNA fully supports ethical treatment of animals and wants to stop illegal capture of wildlife with dragging nets or cyanide poisoning.

More importantly, this organization needs as many hobbyists as possible to become members of MASNA because there is strength in numbers. If you were told that 100 people are upset about animal mistreatment, would you be concerned? Would a member of congress? However, if you knew that 138 clubs across the United States representing 138,000 members were crying out, that would get someone's attention.

MASNA chooses which club will host MACNA each year. I have attended three in a row, and continue to believe every hobbyist should do what they have to to be able to attend this event annually. MACNA (Marine Aquarium Conference of North America) allows people from across the nation as well as around the world to gather together for a few days to discuss advances in the hobby, sharing ideas and improving their husbandry skills. Multiple sessions provide well-researched discussions on lighting, filtration, feeding, breeding, coral-propagation and more. Plus attendees have the opportunity to speak to the speakers (often authors of the books you own) about your particular needs. Between sessions, hobbyists are able to wander through the vendors’ booths to pre-order new products or purchase livestock for their tanks. For more on this topic, read this article.

Many people today send money to their favorite charities, never really knowing where the funds are going. MASNA has their numbers available for members to review right from the website. Monthly meetings occur online on the first Wednesday of the month, at 7pm Eastern. Feel free to attend to see the latest developments. Your joining MASNA for $20 will make the difference in promoting the hobby at a national level, and making your voices heard where they count most. DFWMAS is a member of MASNA, and we renew annually. MASNA needs more funding to be able to do more, and your participation is needed.

If you'd like to join MASNA, applications will be available at Next Wave.

Next Meeting:

Our next meeting will be on April 13, 2005. This is a Wednesday evening meeting, from 7pm to 9pm. Our host is the Dallas Aquarium in Fair Park. We look forward to seeing all of you there. Have you missed some of the recent meetings? Click here to get caught up.