How did you hear about GIRS?

Nick at Pet's Playhouse.

 

(Member/Friend) Aaron J.

 

For talking to a member-wolfman at Petco.

 

Heard about girs through the reef central forum.

 

nick at pets playhouse

 

I found it off of the Reef Central Website.

 

I was a founding member...

 

Posted By Travis on 06/03/2009 01:18 PM
I was a founding member...
So you know the secret handshake then?
Just kidding!

 

I heard about GIRS a couple years ago at an EIAA meeting in Cedar Rapids. They came and introduced themselves and talked about GIRS a little. I don't remember who it was. The topic of the night at the EIAA meeting was "starting a saltwater tank", given by Bill Bolls from Fish Shack / Manchester.

 

Posted By CyberJester on 06/03/2009 01:22 PM

Posted By Travis on 06/03/2009 01:18 PM
I was a founding member...
So you know the secret handshake then?
Just kidding!
No, they came up with that later...

 

Posted By Travis on 06/03/2009 01:18 PM
I was a founding member... Just curious:
Founding member of Greater Iowa Reef Society with Allen (coralfreak) and others on Reef Central in Sept 2003, the actual club with the first meeting Oct 5 2003 , or the original website www.greateriowareefsociety.com which is now gone and has been replaced by this one?
What do you post under on Reef Central?  Is this possibly Atticus?
Thanks!
-Eric

 

Posted By jbrunken on 06/03/2009 08:46 PM
The reason we changed from .com to .org was because Allen lost his userid and password for the original domain registrar and we were unable to make any DNS changes, so we ended up just regstiering a new one.
-JB
Speaking of Allen - I was thinking about him after my last post and wondering how long he'll be out of the hobby...last I knew he tore down his in-wall for the cube that's been passed around.  I also see bullet post once in a while but haven't seen a re-birth of any tanks from him.
Kinda weird thinking back to the 2003 era and everyone that posted, their tanks, and how some have gotten away from the hobby.  I'll sometimes go back through the RC archives and poke around...used to spend a ton of time online.
-Eric

 

Posted By llebcire on 06/03/2009 07:59 PM

Posted By Travis on 06/03/2009 01:18 PM
I was a founding member... Just curious:
Founding member of Greater Iowa Reef Society with Allen (coralfreak) and others on Reef Central in Sept 2003, the actual club with the first meeting Oct 5 2003 , or the original website www.greateriowareefsociety.com which is now gone and has been replaced by this one?
What do you post under on Reef Central?  Is this possibly Atticus?
Thanks!
-Eric
Shhh...  I don't want my RC groupies following me here... j/k
Yes this is Atticus and yes I do mean from before Allen even.  Just as a quick history lesson.  Janna (JSM) from Altoona actually set up the first EVER Iowa reef tank tour to my knowledge.  I attended after meeting her and another clownfish breeder in DesMoines on RC.  At the time we also had a very limited RC club that I believe was called Iowa Reef Club... Catchy and original I know. 
Janna and I talked about making the club more formal and somehow she ran into Allen.  Once Allen was onboard it was a pretty quick jump from a tank tour to the Greater Iowa Reef Society (Name change when we went Non-profit) and our first meeting, which was held in Altoona.  We had a pretty close group and the first BOD was formed at that meeting with about 20 people in attendance at Janna's store (The Reef Connection).
Then we started to grow.  Different areas really took off and we started to offer meetings in IC and DSM.  It wasn't long before visions for the club and money got in the way and we lost a few great people due to hurt feelings from misunderstandings and strong individuals moving out of state.
Couple more years with similar growing pains and now we are here.  Everyone here has made this one hell of a club.  I hope to see it continue to grow like it has been and I encourage any of the new members reading this to be active and get involved.  You only get out of the club, what you are willing to put in.

 

Shhh...  I don't want my RC groupies following me here... j/k
Yes this is Atticus and yes I do mean from before Allen even.  Just as a quick history lesson.  Janna (JSM) from Altoona actually set up the first EVER Iowa reef tank tour to my knowledge.  I attended after meeting her and another clownfish breeder in DesMoines on RC.  At the time we also had a very limited RC club that I believe was called Iowa Reef Club... Catchy and original I know. 
Janna and I talked about making the club more formal and somehow she ran into Allen.  Once Allen was onboard it was a pretty quick jump from a tank tour to the Greater Iowa Reef Society (Name change when we went Non-profit) and our first meeting, which was held in Altoona.  We had a pretty close group and the first BOD was formed at that meeting with about 20 people in attendance at Janna's store (The Reef Connection).
Then we started to grow.  Different areas really took off and we started to offer meetings in IC and DSM.  It wasn't long before visions for the club and money got in the way and we lost a few great people due to hurt feelings from misunderstandings and strong individuals moving out of state.
Couple more years with similar growing pains and now we are here.  Everyone here has made this one hell of a club.  I hope to see it continue to grow like it has been and I encourage any of the new members reading this to be active and get involved.  You only get out of the club, what you are willing to put in.
Thanks Travis!
I didn't realize that Janna was so instrumental in the beginnings of the club.  I met her in February during a tank teardown in Ankeny, she was someone that was a long time friend of hers but not active online.  We chatted for a while and she never mentioned that she had been involved with GIRS or that she had a retail location.
The original GIRS.com site never really flourished and never seemed to compete with the GIRS on RC until recently.  I've noticed the posting volume has diminished on RC while these forums have picked up and taken over, but it's been several  years in the making and slowly getting there.  There's only a handful of individuals that I recognize here from RC which certainly has a lot to do with that trend...my roots are still deep within RC, although not so much in the GIRS section of RC any more.
There have been some strong individuals that have moved on over the years and took with them great tanks, personality and a wealth of information.
The only constant in life is change!!
-Eric

 

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Eric,

Was that the 700 gallon in a huge house with a bannana tree in the 2 story greenhouse? If so that was our final stop on the very first tour. Sweet house and tangs.

 

Posted By Travis on 06/04/2009 11:16 AM
Eric,
Was that the 700 gallon in a huge house with a bannana tree in the 2 story greenhouse? If so that was our final stop on the very first tour. Sweet house and tangs.
Why...yes it was!
700g acrylic display with another couple hundred gallons in the sump room...nice guy that claimed to have never been able to have luck with hard corals - the gentleman that helped him that day was from the DSM zoo.
Tangs were too big for my tank - really nice purple tang that he lot go for $100 - probably 8" in size.  I picked up rock for myself and someone else from GIRS that day.
I will say then, Travis, that you are one of the "elder" contributing members of GIRS going back to 2002.
Congratulations, old man.
-Eric

 

Bret at petland told me about it a while ago. Then today I met Joe (I think its) Tissell?? Sorry if I spelled it wrong but he was at Seascapes

 

No problem Donavan, the name is Joel Tesdall. Let us know if we can help you out with anything. You have found the 24/7 source for your reef tank questions.