....more specifically, Olympia/Tumwater/Lacey area. But of course, everyone else as well.

Hey guys. Ive been lurking these forums for a couple years, made a handful of posts. Always appreciated good advice, so thanks for all that. But today I have come with slightly different intentions. Yesterday I was at a LFS, a new one actually that just opened, here in Olympia / Lacey Washington.

After asking if they had Mg sups, they gave me a free bottle of Brightwell Aquatics Magnesion, and said "Come back in a couple weeks and let us know if we should start stocking it.." And handed it to me at no charge. I was immediately thinking "I will be coming back here for sure." Long story short, I got to talking with the owners about the hobby and they asked if I would be interested in helping form some sort of local club where us geeks can:
Trade Information
Trade, buy, sell used equipment
Swap fish
and if anything, network with other nearby fish-geeks.

We were talking about setting up possible swap meets in the future, charge $10/table and you can try to pawn whatever fish-related stuff you want to others. I know I have a garage full of used crap I'd love to trade for a new piece of 'something' that I would use. Like a bigger skimmer or a calc reactor (Christmas is coming up).

Monthly or bi-monthly meetings. We would probably just get together and plan for some member to speak about some fish or something. Example, I might talk about why I think the dragon wrasse is so awesome and why you should have one too, for like 20 minutes or something. Next meeting the other guy might talk about his mating pair or Frontosa Cichlids, etc. And then we all BS and meet eachother and go grab a beer or whatever and talk about what interests us the most, and what our other friends hate hearing about (the losers that don't 'get it'), aquariums and the things inside.

If you want any more info, PM me here (I may take a while to get back), or send me an email directly. olympiadigital [at] gmail [dot] com. And I will get back to you by that day or the following for sure.

Like I said, this whole idea is in its infancy, but in order to make it work, we will need to find some people willing to pitch in ideas, or just know that we may have a handful of people that might show up at a meeting. So if you want to get involved, hit me up, and I will pass you on to the store owners and we can figure some more stuff out. Currently we only have the Seattle Aq Society (1 hour north), which I believeonly does saltwater. And the next closest is in Portland, OR (2 hours south). We are a growing area, and with the amount of LFSs that are always around and growing in popularity, we know there are enough people, and we deserve our own thing. I'm not driving to Seattle to see if I can swap a H.O.T. Magnum for a lionfish. But if I can do that in town, you're dang right I would participate.

So if you live anywhere between Castlerock and Tacoma, or anywhere on the Olympic Peninsula, consider this please. Thanks a ton if you read this whole thing.

I live in Puyallup and just wanted to let you know that what you are talking about already exsists. Check out the PSAS.org and reeffrontiers.com. RF is a forum made up of people from all over WA State. We are already having a frag swap on sept 19th. If you want more info let me know, ill talk your ear off.

Wheres the frag swap gonna be at? And yea there are a lot of WA people on Reef Frontiers.

Also the classified section on reefrontiers is awesome, both for equipment and coral and fish

Thanks, but there's a couple things, one, psas.org takes me to something very un-fishy. Also, you'll have to point me in the right direction on RF. I've been on there very much, but I never seem to be able to find people from around here. Always more in your area and a ton in Spokane and whatnot. We'd ideally like to have it Oly-based. And do everything in Oly/Lacey. I can't seem to find anything about the frag swaps on RF , would you mind linking me? Because i'd still like to go. Got a big zoo rock I'd like to trade for whatever.

Wheres the frag swap on the 19th?

Kent, WA

Huh.
Got a link ?

Frag Swap thread

Classifieds

wish i lived there visited once it was beautiful!!

PSAS

Like I said you don't need to be a member to go, but an annual membership is $30 and you get discounts at all of the Sponsor LFS there is about 10. Well worth it.

My point exactly. That's about an hour north, and my ex girlfriend lives in Kent... and Lord knows I don't need to be in the same city.

So if anyone wants to work on something in Olympia/Tumwater/Lacey, let me know

Thanks guys

What kind of discounts. I don't shop over on the west side that often, but that does sound like a good deal.

trust me the drive will be worth it... discounts are 10% some are 15%

I don't doubt it would be awesome, don't get me wrong. But driving 1 hour (gas gets pricey in my Jeep) to save 10-15% would barely offset itself, it takes about $30-$40 for me to make that round trip. Not to mention I would probably be more browsing than spending hundreds of dollars. Maybe leave with a couple frags if that.

I take it you are not interested in helping us form a club in Olympia.

never said that I would love to help considering I live kind at the half way point. Just wanted to point you in the direction of some great resources and a wealth of knowledge. Send me more info about what you guys are doing and Ill definitely get involved

Thank you, and maybe I will see you at the swap in Kent. I'm waiting to see if my roommate wants to come with, if so I'm sure I'll go.