donor

Fact Sheet

Please view the full rules and guidelines available on the CDP Forum at: www.slashclub.org . You must be a current SLASH member and logged on in order to view the Forum.

The Basics:

 CDP is a frag sharing program available to paid card carrying SLASH members only

 All transactions are tracked within the CDP Forum on www.slashclub.org

 Transactions can be made anytime between SLASH members including at the CDP tank during Frag Swaps

 There are currently over 150 different corals listed as part of the CDP on the slashclub.org site

How the Points Work:

 Every new member starts with five points

 Each point represents one frag

 Take a frag lose a point, give a frag gain a point

 Give a new (original) coral frag not currently in the program and gain two points

 Give and take as many frags as you wish as long as you have points

Do:

 Post your available corals and CDP transactions within the appropriate thread on the CDP Forum

 Share any information that will help others grow and propagate your donated coral

 Use the program to create a “coral refugium” of your favorite corals. If you unfortunately lose one of your donated corals in the future you’ll have first dibs on a replacement.

Don’t:

 Sell or trade a CDP coral until you put at least three frags of the same coral back into the program

 Receive a CDP coral unless you fully understand and can maintain its requirements for growth and propagation. Ask the donor if you’re unsure.

 Cheat the system = Don’t be that “guy” (or gal I suppose)

Happy Fragging!

Members Only: The CDP is for paid, card-carrying, SLASH Members Only. Both the Donor and the Recipient must be current SLASH Members or it is not a valid CDP transaction. In order to verify this all posting of available or recent transactions of CDP frags will be done in the CDP Subforum, located within the Members Only Forum on the SLASH club website (http://www.slashclub.org/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=57). To increase traffic and transactions we fully support advertising your available CDP corals on ReefCentral, the SLASH Facebook Group, or whatever. Just make sure (and this is critical) that you verify all recipients’ SLASH membership is current by checking their membership card and date. Any CDP transaction with non-members or non-current members are invalid and will not receive points. Also, all transactions must be posted in their respective CDP threads on the slashclub.org site. Utilizing the CDP Subforum plus checking for current membership cards upon the time of transaction will prevent non-members from taking advantage of the program, which has been a problem in the past. Member’s should not receive or donate CDP corals for non-members or anyone other than themselves. Many of the program’s benefits rely on the accurate tracking of each transaction. Please note that just because a user name is included on the Point Tracking Sheet does not necessarily mean that user is a current SLASH member, their membership maybe expired. Check Cards!!!

 

CDP Frag/Coral Definition: The term frag or coral is used a lot in these rules. However, the CDP is not limited to just corals. Any reef organism which can be reproduced and shared by average hobbyist can be made part in the CDP. This includes but is not limited to: anemones, snails, sponges, and decorative algae. Fish are not included as they cannot be reproduced by the average hobbyist. Micro organisms (pods, bristle worms, “live sand”, etc) are also not included as they are far too common and indicative of any healthy system. If you have any questions about what can or can’t be donated, please PM the CDP Manager.

 

Coral Health at Time of Transaction: All frags should be heathy and growing at the time of transaction. Fresh fragging/cutting is ok for most SPS species. However, corals which require proper healing time should allotted such before transactions take place. All soft corals should be firmly attached to a hardened substrate. All corals should display actual growth in the donor’s tank before entering the CDP. Please do not donate recently acquired corals or “chop shops”. You will not recieve points for transferring a knowingly unhealthy coral to another member to try and save it. However, the recipient may name you the original donor (awarding you 2 points) when/if the coral has recovered enough to pass on to others.

 

CDP Point Allotment: In order to reward generous donors and limit members taking advantage to their generosity, certain rules will be set in place and enforced. The CDP Allotment Tracking Sheet tracks member’s “points.” One point equals one CDP frag. Every member’s CDP Allotment will be tracked by the CDP Manager in an external database and posted/updated into the CDP Allotment “sticky” located in the CDP Subforum.

 

-Every member new to the program will start with five points in their CDP Allotment. Meaning a new member can receive a maximum of five frags before having to donate something back into the program.

 

-For every frag donated that is already a part of the program, one point will be added to the donor’s allotment

 

-For every original coral donated into the program, two points will be added to donor’s allotment. Only one “2-point allotment” can be received for a particular coral. Any other frags of the same coral donated either by the original donor or another member will provide the donor one point. In the case of two very similar corals, the CDP Manager will decide if a coral is different enough to be consider original and new to the CDP.

 

-Points are given once a transaction is complete and the Donor posts the name of the Recipient(s). If two donors are donating the same coral, two points will not be given to the first member to post a thread on the coral but the first member to complete a transaction and post the name of the Recipient(s). Likewise, the first donor to complete a transaction and post the name of the Recipient(s) will be named the Original Donor even if he/she was not the first to post availability of a new CDP coral. New corals donated prior to October 1st, 2011 recieved Five points. These “Legacy Originals” and points are still valid.

 

-All Donors should check CDP (Points) allotment sheet before completing a transaction to insure the Recipient won’t go into negative points.

 

Below is an example of the CDP (Points) Allotment Tracking Sticky. Understand that in reality “CDPcheater” would be cutoff before ever reaching a negative allotment.

 

For those that like math the equation for points is simple: Points = 5 + 2(# of originals donated) + 5(# of Legacy Originals) + # of CDP corals donated – # of CDP corals recieved

 

Member Handle / Originals Donated / Legacy Originals / CDP Donated / CDP Received / Points

 

altruisticreefer / 2 / 1 / 3 / 0 / 15

averagemember / 1 / 0 / 3 / 6 / 4

newmember / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 5

CDPcheater / 0 / 0 / 0 / 8 / -3

 

 

Donor Coral Tracking Threads: Each new coral will receive it own thread. We understand that this maybe a little time consuming at first but is vital to creating a long lasting and organized program which can efficiently track the proliferation of donated corals.

 

If you have a frag to donate:

 

– First, ensure that you’ve maintained the coral in your system long enough to display substantial growth and have acquired the necessary knowledge to comment on the best conditions for its success

 

– Search the Coral Quick Find List and ensure your coral does not already exist within the program. If it does, post your availablity in that thread and include a picture of your mother colony. If it doesn’t…

 

-Create a new thread titled with the name of the coral. Try and be detailed in the name. There can be several different variations on one coral species i.e. Zoanthids and Acropora.

 

– If you know who or where you originally received the coral from please post this information as it is helpful in establishing lineages and distinguishing between relatively similar corals

 

-Provide a description of of the best conditions on which your coral will thrive and/or colors best, and any other information you would like to provide. It is also very helpful to provide instructions or links on how to properly propagate (frag) your particular coral.

 

Post a picture of the mother colony of your coral in your system. This is a requirement for any new thread. Supplemental pictures of sample frags are helpful but will not replace the required mother colony picture. This will not only assist future recipients but will also help the manager determine if your coral is a new one to the program or would be more appropriately placed in a currently available Donor Coral Tracking Thread. No points will be exchanged for a transaction until a picture is provided.

 

-Using this information the CDP Manager or Forum Moderation will edit your post (if necessary) to create an updatable Tracking Post which will track who has received your frag and its proliferation through the club.

 

-If your donating a coral you believe is already part of the program whether acquired from the original donor or not please place it in the appropriate currently available Tracking Thread. If you believe its the same (or nearly so) but was not acquired from one of the previous CDP donors of that coral then you must post a picture of your mother colony in your system. These mother colony pictures will a help identify minor variations between different lineages of the same CDP coral. Please do not get upset if your thread is moved, edited, or deleted. This will only be done to keep the forum neat and organized.

 

-Only Donor Coral Tracking Threads are allowed within the CDP Subforum. All others will be deleted. Any questions or issues concerning the CDP should be addressed in the CDP Questions, Comments, and Concerns sticky located in the CDP Subforum or with the CDP Manager via private message.

 

-Donors are responsible for providing a new post within their appropriate Tracking Thread once a transaction is completed. The CDP Manager will then update the Allotment Sheet sticky and the updatable Tracking Post.

 

-We understand that the donation of frags is not always pre-planned process and sometimes club members frag corals for others after various events such as Pizza Nights. Don’t worry, please post your Donor Coral and who received it as soon as possible and we’ll track it. However, assure the recipient is a SLASH member and he/she understands how the program works or the transaction won’t apply.

 

-You do not have to make the donor coral available to everyone upfront. If your providing a coral to another member, you are not trading or selling, and you both agree to the terms of the CDP, that coral can be a Donor Coral.

 

Below is an example of a Tracking Post which will be created/updated by the CDP Manager based on info a Donor posts for each new CDP thread

 

Frag Name: Yellow Scroll Coral

Original Donor: CDPsupporter

 

 

Donor Notes:

Moderate grower, needs moderate to high light and lots of random flow. Will get algae growth between plates if flow isn’t sufficient. Make sure you can maintain Ca and Alk. Original Donor keep under 250 watt 14k DE and VHO Actinics, moderate to strong flow. Frags easy, just break or cut off a piece and use superglue gel to attach to a piece of LR or frag plug.

 

Recipients / Donor / Date Received /      Status

 

someweirdguy / CDPsupporter / 7DEC08        / Growing

whome / CDPsupporter / 7DEC08 / Growing

yeahigotafrag / whome / 15JUN09 / Growing

coralkiller / whome / 15JUN09 / Dead 17JUN09

 

CDP Frag Dies: Just because a coral is free does not mean that its is worthless. Both Donors and Recipients should verify that the needs of the coral can be met by the Recipient. However, if the Recipient should lose a CDP frag, it should be reported in the appropriate Donor Coral Tracking Thread and necessary changes to the recipient’s system should be made before seeking further CDP frags. If a member continues to obtain and kill CDP frags without making changes recommended by the CDP members or the Original Donor, CDP privileges could be temporarily or permanently lost at the discretion of the CDP Manager. The death of a CDP frag needs to be reported in a timely manner.

 

Selling and Trading: Selling or trading as well as attempting to sell or trade a CDP coral before putting at least three frags of the same coral back into the Program is strictly prohibited. Violators will be temporarily or permanently banned from the program at the sole discretion of the CDP Manager. Understand that two members may swap donor corals and it won’t be considered a trade as long as both parties agree that each frag is part or will be part of the CDP and thus all CDP rules apply. You may not include CDP frags as part of a “package deal” or “freebies” included for purchasing other items. You may give CDP corals away as long the transaction is kept completely separate from any monetary transaction or trade. CDP corals should never a be brought to a Local Fish Store (LFS) for cash or credit until the three frag minimum is met.

 

A list of banned or suspended members and date and length of each suspension will be “stickied” for everyone to see on the CDP Subforum.

 

Unwanted CDP Corals and Tank Teardowns: If a member grows out a CDP coral but is having difficultly finding three new recipients or decides to tear down a tank in a hurry the Selling and Trading Rule still applies. If your unsure or lost track of what corals you’ve received from the CDP, send the CDP Manager a PM asking for your list. If the recipient is unable or unwilling to provide three frags into the program, then the whole coral may be donated into the program. The recipient should contact the CDP Manager in advance if there is any issue with adhering to this rule. Please be advised “giving” the CDP Corals away as part of a package sale could be construed as a violation of the CDP rules. If the coral is sold or traded the violator may be permanently banned from the CDP.

 

One of the easiest ways to properly give back large amounts of CDP corals is to bring them to the CDP Tank at one of SLASH’s Biannual Frag Swaps. At the swap, SLASH’s CDP Team will first attempt to find a home for your coral(s) via the CDP route, if this fails the corals will be placed in the Club’s raffle.

 

If bringing the corals to the swap is not an option here are the steps we recommend:

 

1.) Repost in each coral’s tracking thread offering up the coral and state your situation and deadline for pick up (if any). Post your situation on RC and point to people towards the CDP Forum but don’t mention any specifics to avoid invalid CDP transactions with non-members.

 

2.) If you get no takers via the CDP, by your stated deadline, try offering them up for free, to members and non-members alike by posting specifics the club’s RC board. If successful, provide an update in the coral(s) tracking thread

 

3.) If the first two step fail, properly dispose of the coral at your discretion, and provide an update in the coral(s) tracking thread

 

Best Place to Make a CDP Transaction: We don’t want to discourage any member from having other members over to their home and providing them with CDP frags. We understand sometimes that’s the easiest considering various personal schedules. However, if possible, SLASH functions such as Pizza Nights and Frag Swaps are the best place to make these transactions. This encourages participation in the club and provides the donor a few extra eyes to verify who’s receiving a CDP frag in case a future issue arrises with the recipient.

 

Priority of Recipients: The priority of who will receive a donor coral is completely up to the donor. If a donor posts an available coral, he/she may give it to the first person to post a reply, the member with the most points, the newest member, or the member with the coolest hair. Priority criteria is completely up to the donor and the donor only. However, in the case of a “tank crash” or loss of a CDP coral by a previous Donor, former Recipients should respectively provide replacement frags for any CDP coral the prior Donor may have lost once the Donor’s tank is ready again to receive them. We also highly encourage the use of caveats by the Donor when making less common (primo) corals available, such as requiring a recipient have a minimum number of points. This will encourage more donations by all involved and reward the generous with first access to the nicest pieces.

 

Prior CDP: We understand that many frags have already been provided to members via a old CDP or under just pain good faith. Unfortunately, It would be very difficult to try and track down, verify, backdate, and provide credit to prior donators. What we ask is that if you received a donor coral in the past from someone within the club and are now ready to donate a frag of the same coral back into the CDP, please mention the original donor’s name and he/she will receive credit for it and two points if its a coral new to the program

 

Frag Swap CDP Tank: A very simple way to donate corals to the CDP is to bring them to a SLASH Frag Swap and donate them to the CDP Tank. The swap’s staff will record your donation and handle the posting of any potential transaction(s) made on your behalf. Any coral not claimed at the CDP tank by a SLASH member or reclaimed by the donor before the start of the swap’s raffle will be donated to the raffle. Corals donated to the raffle will not provide the donor any CDP points. However, if the donor still needs to meet his/her 3-frag obligation for a particular CDP coral, donating frags of that coral to the raffle will count towards satisfying the obligation.

 

Donating to the St Louis Zoo and Science Center:

You may donate CDP corals to the STL Zoo (STL_Zoo) and STL Science Center (SLSC) and receive points for your transactions.

 

All CDP rules still apply with a few important modifications.

 

1.) The Zoo and Science Center will not be required to donate back to the CDP and will not be penalized for acquiring negative points. To keep things simple their points will be tracked just like any other member but in essence the Zoo and SLSC’s points never run out.

 

2.) Only 1 point will be given for any coral donated to the Zoo or SLSC. If you donate a coral to the Zoo or SLSC that is not already part of the CDP (Original Coral), that transaction will gain you just one point and the next transaction of that coral to a standard SLASH member will award the donor 2 points and Original Donor status.

 

3.) The recipient (STL_Zoo or SLSC) must confirm each transaction in the appropriate coral tracking thread or be verified by the CDP Manager before any points are awarded.

 

We have created .org user accounts to represent the Zoo and Science Center. We have also assigned representatives to run these accounts, select corals as they see fit, and complete transactions for the Zoo and SLSC. All CDP corals donated to the Zoo or Science Center must be completed through the assigned representative.

 

St. Louis Zoo

slashclub.org username: STL_Zoo

Representative and RC username: Byh20

 

St Louis Science Center

slashclub.org username: SLSC

Representative and RC username: Ebius

 

Responsibilities:

 

Recipient’s Responsibilities:

-will not sell or trade a frag of a received coral until at least three frags of the same coral has been donated back into the Program. All corals have varying growth rates under different conditions, therefor there is no time limit on meeting the three frag minimum.

-will insure that all necessary requirements (lighting, water quality, flow, etc) are met for the the donated coral to thrive and grow prior to receiving

-will research the proper technique to frag the donated coral

-will advise within the appropriate Tracking Thread if the coral takes a turn for the worst or dies

 

Donor’s Responsibilities:

-will provide the necessary information in the case of new CDP corals

-will provide handles of members and dates of who received a CDP coral

-will insure that the recipient can maintain all necessary requirements (lighting, water quality, flow, etc) for the donated coral to thrive and grow

 

CDP Manager’s Responsibilities:

-maintain CDP Subform, keep organized, delete/edit/move posts and threads when needed

-update and edit Donor Coral Tracking Posts and Allotment Sheets

-distinguish new/original corals from corals that are already part of the program

-investigate violators and temporarily or permanently ban CDP members as needed

 

SLASH Top Donor Award: In order to further encourage participation in this program we provide an award to the “Best Donor” at every Spring Frag Swap. This winner is determined by a calculation of their donations accrued over a given year. Each winner recieves a framed certificate to hang above their tank as well as some other reef related prize. 2nd and 3rd runnerups receive cool prizes as well.

 

Summary: We hope this revised program will help increase participation in the CDP and eliminate some of the prior issues. Although a little more work than just posting a thread in RC stating, “Donor Corals Available”, we believe these changes will make this program one of the most attractive features of the club. Fragging coral is very easy and the rewards of sharing and making friends is endless. SLASH hopes you will participate in the Coral Donor Program and gain/share some wonderful corals. Happy Fragging!