Buildoff Rules

[gregt]

Purpose:
The main purpose of this contest is to encourage each other to share building techniques for nano tanks and to post construction threads.

Rules:

1. In order to maximize participation, size will not be limited but the total volume and display volume sizes will be taken into account during judging. The smaller the system the better the system will when judged. Clearly, a 500 galllon tank will score poorly in a nano reef competition. Also, the ability of the tank to sustain life long term is also a critical scoring point, so please, no dixie cup tanks.
2. Each contestant must post at least one update per month. The update must include descriptions and pictures of progress made. The more documentation of the tank's progress the better the system will score.
3. The contest will begin on Oct 1, 2005 and end on Jun 30, 2006 (Because you must post an update on your project every month, this means that initial entry, and therefore your initial update post MUST be posted by Oct 31, 2005)
4. Because the purpose of the contest is to stimulate build documentation, your entry must be a new setup, can not be an already established tank up and running now.
5. Any type of reef tank can be entered. Scoring will not be based on the type of coral kept. Only the health of the coral and the ability of the system to support that type of coral will count.
6. Surge tanks WILL count in the total water volume. Auto top off tanks will NOT count in the total water volume.
7. There will be no monetary limitations although creative solutions will be scored higher than expensive solutions. Remember, the purpose is to show your ingenuity at building a system, not your wealth.

Judging:

• Winners will be chosen by a combination of three elements. 1) 40% from voting of participants (no, you can't vote for your own tank ) 2) 20% from voting of general membership 3) 40% from voting of TRT staff.
• There will be multiple prizes and categories for prizes. This will be fleshed out as the contest goes along.
• Online forms will be created for the voting which will ask for scores in the key areas and remind people of the important things to be looking for.

Prizes and benefits will be posted in a seperate sticky thread in this forum.

To enter the contest click here and create your entry thread describing what you plan to do. Remember that the more detail the better. Diagrams and pictures are encouraged. Please include at a minimum the following information in your initial post:

• Basic description
• Size tank planned
• Total volume of planned system
• Planned organisms to inhabit the system

I'm very excited to see what this contest produces. Let's show everyone what TRT members are capable of. Good luck everyone.

Please keep your posts in this thread limited to questions about the rules. Other discussion about the contest should occur in the nano reef forum.

Thank you to the following vendors for sponsoring the contest:



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[gregt]

You will now notice that you cannot create a new thread. You are still allowed to post in your already started thread. This will prevent new entries after the start date, make it easier to track the progress of each entry.

Use your existing thread to make any updates to your project.

Good luck, and have fun!