What is SLASH? Plus, the Benefits of Membership

[Reeferhead]

What/Who is SLASH?

St. Louis Area Saltwater Hobbyists (SLASH) is a social club with members from all walks of life who share a common interest in saltwater/reef tanks. We meet casually about once a month (Pizza Nights) at a local fish store then head to a nearby eatery for some tasty food and beverages. If a member in the area is feeling particularly hospitable, they will then open up their home for a tank viewing and more socializing afterward. Twice a year we host a frag swap that is open to all which draws vendors and attendees from multiple states to buy, sell and trade livestock and dry goods.

The majority of SLASH communication is done right here on our Reef Central Club Forum so its easily accessible by members and nonmembers alike. Don't be shy, feel free to start a thread and introduce yourself!

Also, be sure to "like" our Facebook Page and follow us there as well!


Benefits of Membership:

Local Fish Store Discounts
With a current SLASH membership card many of the area’s LFSs will honor a club discount. At the time of posting (subject to change at anytime):

Aquatic Treasures (Collinsville, IL) – 10% off all livestock purchases
Gateway Aquatics (St Louis, MO) - 10% off all livestock purchases over $50
Marine Solutions (St. Charles, MO) – 10% off all purchases
Saltwater Island (Ballwin, MO) - 10% off all purchases excluding tanks

SLASHClub.org Access
Though the majority of SLASH's general discussions are done in this forum, all of the club’s "member’s only" programs are managed on our club’s website: www.slashclub.org.

FYI, If you’re not a current paid member or not logged in to the club website many of site’s forums will appear missing or empty.

Coral Donor Program (CDP)
The SLASH Coral Donor Program (CDP) allows members to receive frags from other members for no cost with the condition that they in turn pass along frags to other members once the coral has grown out. The CDP is completely voluntary so this is where it helps to be a little social and make it out to events and get to know a few folks. There are well over a 200 different corals available to SLASH members through the CDP and the list continues to grow.

The CDP is managed on a members only section of our club website at www.slashclub.org. However, the full rules and a more thorough description of the program is available at the following ReefCentral thread:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh....php?t=2469953

Helpful Equipment Loan Program (HELP)
The Helpful Equipment Loan Program (HELP) is designed to help our valued club members by providing access to extremely useful but relatively expensive equipment that is typically not utilized often enough by the average hobbyist to warrant individual purchase. Full rules available on the HELP forum. This program not only allows access to really cool gear but also provides support and training in its use. This program is intended to grow over time, adding additional equipment to the club’s inventory as interest and our budget increases.

At the time of posting the following equipment is available to SLASH members:

PAR Meter (for measuring light intensity)
Diamond Holesaw Set (for drilling holes in glass)
Dwyer Airflow Meter (for measuring skimmer air pull)
Wet Band Saw (for cutting stony corals)
Professional Quality Suction Cup Handles (for moving large tanks)
Large Fish Trap (self explanatory)
Phosphate Photometer (for accurately measuring inorganic phosphate)

Other Members Only Activities:
We routinely conduct other activities that involve prizes such as raffles, poker runs, and coral growing contests. Some of these activities welcome non-members to participate but typically only supporting SLASH members are allowed to win prizes.

How to Become a Member?

Club dues are $20 a year for single membership and $30 a year for a family membership. New member dues and all renewals may be paid in person at a club event. Come on out and join us sometime, non-members are always welcome to any of our events and there is no commitment to join.

For those interested in joining SLASH, we have a membership form. If you would like to avoid sitting around filling out the form at an event, you may download the form here: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/52284356/SLA...pplication.pdf and fill it out at home then print it and bring it with you. The form can be opened with Acrobat Reader or any other free .pdf reader.

For an additional $5 we also have a online membership registration option available utilizing Paypal. Please go to http://www.slashclub.org/JoinNow/ for more info.*

If you have any questions feel free to post them here or send a private message to Smoothdog or Reeferhead

Take Care and Happy Reefing!

[Reeferhead]

SLASH Mission Statement

The Saint Louis Area Saltwater Hobbyists (SLASH) are a group of enthusiasts who are dedicated to the concept that clubs can be fun, informative and helpful, as well as being a great conduit for meeting new friends.

We promote and urge the practices of conservation, proper husbandry technique, ecological responsibility and friendship.

Our creed is group participation at every level and every member will be heard. We will make every effort to prove to all members that their opinions are a highly valued and very necessary asset that will help to shape the future of our club.

That sounds simple enough but what does it really mean?

Without the aspect of friendship, a hobby is just a hobby and a club is just a club. Turning fellow club members into friends brings a whole new dimension and level of enjoyment to the club experience. This can also make positive changes in our personal lives too. Who among us has too many friends?

Every club promotes conservation, proper husbandry and ecological responsibility. But, how many care enough to include friendship in the mix?

We will have many polls and/or surveys. We urge you to speak your mind in detail and tell us what it will take to create a club that you would enjoy and recommend to others. Without your opinions this club will become little more than what we hope you want.

What is SLASH and where are we going? Simply put, SLASH is you and we are going wherever you wish to take us.

[Reeferhead]

As many of you may have already noticed, we’ve made several changes to the website and message boards on www.slashclub.org in recent months. We removed many underutilized forums and cleaned up a lot of outdated information. The goal was to create more simplified site that’s easy to maintain with a focus on serving our “supporting” membership.

We expect all general club discussion to remain here on Reef Central where we receive the most exposure and are able to interact with other reef nutz around the world. However, all “members only” activities such as the CDP, HELP, officer elections, etc will continue on slashclub.org. We encourage folks to utilize the Members Only Forum anytime they wish to specifically target other “supporting” members with discussions or announcements such and advanced sales or special “members only” deals. Many folks like to give first grabs on stuff they're selling to members only and we support that gesture. The Members Only Forum is also a very nice place to go vent about certain things you just can’t get away with on RC.

We also revamped our Sponsor Forums. We have only left open forums for those sponsors who have specifically committed to using them regularly. We encourage everyone to support those who support us. Please take some time when you get a chance to check out our list of sponsors. Closed sponsor forums will link to the company’s website.

The Members Tank Forums are a great way to showcase your system and reef’n experience. If you request a forum you're given full moderator rights for it and can add, delete, and edit anything you wish. It really makes the site and SLASH standout to other reefers and public when they get a chance view all our awesome tanks. If you wish to create a forum for your own tank please contact Rams (RC) or ramtheory (slashclub.org) and he’ll hook you up.

Finally, I want to give a big thanks to Dennis (rams) for putting all this new website stuff together. It goes unnoticed by many but it’s a lot of work to keep everything with the site current and running smoothly. Great job Dennis!

[dmcnuttfamily]

How do I log into Slash? Just became a member today and don't have a password. Don't see a place that let's me make a new account to pick my password.

Thanks,

dmcnuttfamily

[Reeferhead]

Please be patient, we had a lot of signups today so it will take some time but we will create your account and email you a password in the few days.

[Idragslots]

...

[saltwatershark]

I'm a newbie in STL building a 610gallon mixed reef. I'd love to join SLASH. I'll check out the site this week!

[twiggyb]

Come out to a pizza night to really get to know us! Julys hasn't been set yet, but there should be one. If not, you don't wanna miss going to nooks place in August. Start a thread and show us some pics of that set up!
Oh, and welcome to the forums!

[saltwatershark]

Thank you so much! I will start a thread although I'm not sure where-- on reef central or is there a SLASH discussion board? By way of background I've just finished the filtration rack that holds a 240 gal sump/refugium/frag tank,, 29 acclimation tank, and 2 150 gallon salt/fresh reservoirs. I'll plumb it over the next month, reinforce the floors (tank upstairs) then build out the display tank (610 gallon). It's a long process but one I'm thoroughly enjoying! I've been planning it for over a year now, taking my time. Anyhow, thank you for the warm welcome and I'm looking forward to meeting the others.

Regards,
Steve Morgan

[twiggyb]

You're welcome! Just start a thread in this section for the locals, and one in the general or large tanks forum for others outside of St. Louis. At the top of this thread click where it says St. Louis Area Saltwater Hobbyists (SLASH), then click on the button that says new thread somewhere in the upper left area.

[JxMetal]

I need to renew my membership..........I think I'm 5 years overdue. I won't be at pizza night though, unfortunately.

[Koddie Doo]

Originally Posted by JxMetal

I need to renew my membership..........I think I'm 5 years overdue. I won't be at pizza night though, unfortunately.

working out a test on paypal soon.... at least that what I have heard....

[JxMetal]

What if I don't use the internet?

[Koddie Doo]

$5.00... Ok you see which way you are pointed right..Ok you see that place, where it says "rib tips"???? na, you don't want to go that way...Go all the way down about half a block and you will see a Torino with no wheels, now inside that Torino is my cousin, Jack.Now you tell him you my boy and you lost, he'll make sure you pay the right person, cause you don't want to know from me, this isn't even my club. I am from the west side of Chicago, i am here on vacation.

[Pife]

Originally Posted by Koddie Doo

$5.00... Ok you see which way you are pointed right..Ok you see that place, where it says "rib tips"???? na, you don't want to go that way...Go all the way down about half a block and you will see a Torino with no wheels, now inside that Torino is my cousin, Jack.Now you tell him you my boy and you lost, he'll make sure you pay the right person, cause you don't want to know from me, this isn't even my club. I am from the west side of Chicago, i am here on vacation.

lol

Have you Pm'ed any of the officers or wrote anything on the club website?

[JxMetal]

Originally Posted by Koddie Doo

$5.00... Ok you see which way you are pointed right..Ok you see that place, where it says "rib tips"???? na, you don't want to go that way...Go all the way down about half a block and you will see a Torino with no wheels, now inside that Torino is my cousin, Jack.Now you tell him you my boy and you lost, he'll make sure you pay the right person, cause you don't want to know from me, this isn't even my club. I am from the west side of Chicago, i am here on vacation.

Wat?

[rackman]

What it is, bro. We're from out of town.

[ChallengedOne]

Seems cool I recently moved to the area I'll check out the website.

[Ryan2428]

All good info on slash here

[Nanook]

That opening post says it all