No action in saltwater ?? And classifieds

[az]

Perhaps OVAS didn't get the memo that you paid more

http://ovas.ca/ovas/sponsors/aqua-valley

I hope they look into paypal transaction history and fix this.

goodfind Jet no wonder I still get asked for ovas discounts.

[bandit]

Haha lol, this is getting off topic . I don't fully agree with the economy to blame people didn't just shutdown there tanks. Yes it would tighten up the wallets less people would enter the hobby but there is still more hobbyists then before.   In 2008 they had 599 surfers in one day today we had 27??

You would think the for trade section would be full of members trying to save a buck.

[az]

Haha lol, this is getting off topic . I don't fully agree with the economy to blame people didn't just shutdown there tanks. Yes it would tighten up the wallets less people would enter the hobby but there is still more hobbyists then before.   In 2008 they had 599 surfers in one day today we had 27??

You would think the for trade section would be full of members trying to save a buck.

unfortunately they do shut down some even switched to fw 

[JetJumper]

unfortunately they do shut down some even switched to fw 

New Business opportunity for Az.. Freshwater   haha

[Coral beauty]

I've been a member of this forum for 6 years and I've never had one of the sponsors you mentioned refuse a discount on the items you've mentioned. If you are experiencing this at a store that advertises the discount on OVAS you need to email the corporate relations chair.

putting it to a test upgrading my tank to a120.
have a friend with membership will update the result friday.

[Coral beauty]

I think this is why people might be confused then, because OVAS states there is a discount.

http://ovas.ca/ovas/sponsors/aqua-valley

good find Jet!!!

[sas]

   In 2008 they had 599 surfers in one day today we had 27??

This statistic is false, there was a glitch in the system I believe is how it was explained to me. We've never had 599 online.

[Darth]

I say again check the other classified sites out there and search for coral, saltwater you will find maybe 3-4 ads so it is not just here

[exv152]

I think if a sw sponsor is saying they've seen a decline in clients due to a weaker local economy, I would be inclined to believe them more than the average person. They're directly vested in the sw hobby, and have a lot to gain or lose if they don't make it their business to be informed.

That said, I think there's a new niche in the hobby that's been slowly gaining momentum both locally and abroad, and is a bit cheaper than sw - planted tanks. Maybe that's where they're going...

[Nerine]

It wasn't a glitch...599 people in one day - that was when it was counting spiders/bots. crrazzy

it'd be cool if there were 600 people on in one day hahahahahaha but can you imagine ??

[sas]

It wasn't a glitch...599 people in one day - that was when it was counting spiders/bots. crrazzy

it'd be cool if there were 600 people on in one day hahahahahaha but can you imagine ??

Thanks Nerine for verifying this , I knew it was something silly .

[percula99]

I think if a sw sponsor is saying they've seen a decline in clients due to a weaker local economy, I would be inclined to believe them more than the average person. They're directly vested in the sw hobby, and have a lot to gain or lose if they don't make it their business to be informed.

I doubt if MarineScape will post in this thread, but as I mentioned before I spoke with them last week. I was told they had been concerned about a downswing in customers, but over the last year they have seen an upswing in new customers. They said business was good and looking up.

[bandit]

I was there yesterday and it was packed.

[sylros]

I hope they look into paypal transaction history and fix this.

goodfind Jet no wonder I still get asked for ovas discounts.

Hi there,
It's been fixed AZ! Hopefully you won't be bugged as much any more!

[bandit]

Well just discovered aylmer salty's and have sold a bunch of frags on Facebook so, it's not slow everywhere just on here. I hope ovas does something to fix this downtime. I have heard a lot of excuses and stipulations but, would like for a mod to speak up on what they can do or what we an do to save the site.

[az]

Hi there,
It's been fixed AZ! Hopefully you won't be bugged as much any more!

awsome thanks.

[fish]

Let me preface this with respectfully...

I just looked at the General Freshwater Discussion forum. It takes 6 pages to go back one full year. Saltwater slightly better in fact - 7 pages of posts to go back one year. You could read a year's worth of content in about an hour. Not alot of content.

The economy is slowing - sure - but there's still people in the stores every time I go - an they are there to spend money so things are happening. I totally rebuilt my 120 over Christmas. I have a build thread about it - but not here. I was just at a paying OVAS member's house tonight to look at some gear he had for sale and he just did a spectacular job putting together a 180 - no build thread - and there was a lot I could learn from what he did.

I joined that facebook group from across the river at the recommendation of some folks on this site to see what was going on there today. More active than here and there are only 147 members. I think I saw somewhere in this thread that OVAS was proud that there were 125 paying members. Ummm.... I realize you need to raise funds to make this go but does not reaching out to everyone who cares about aquariums add more value to your sponsors than collecting a whopping $2500? I don't know what the sponsors pay but you aren't likely to give them their money's worth or be able to extract more money if nobody comes to the site.

I don't think saltwater is dead or even close to dying in Ottawa. I think that there are many, many people in the hobby but they just don't care about OVAS. Frankly I am one of them. However, I think one unified forum for saltwater would be the best thing that we could have and I'd say this is the place that has the best chance of making it happen at the moment. The fragmentation is just making all the sites light on content and not particularly interesting. My guess is if something dramatic isn't done that this forum won't see another year. Again, just the opinion of somebody who isn't really relevant to OVAS so please don't take offence. I would love to have a strong local forum to participate in. I used to go to the MASOs back in the AC days (that's where I met Az years ago in fact), and it would be great to have a place to find people to swap frags with locally and just to have a community of like-minded hobbyists to share with and to lean on when things go wrong. The kindness of local OVAS participants have saved me huge on one occasion. You can't get that any other way.

Making the classifieds free - one small part of fixing the problem. Lightening up the policies perhaps another. i don't know what needs fixing but in my humble opinion it's broken and something needs to be done to save this site - freshwater and saltwater. I would love to care. I really would. My plea to those that work hard to make this site go - please lighten up - let people in and let them have full access to everything. This site is worth saving.

Again respectfully.

[fish]

Well just discovered aylmer salty's and have sold a bunch of frags on Facebook so, it's not slow everywhere just on here. I hope ovas does something to fix this downtime. I have heard a lot of excuses and stipulations but, would like for a mod to speak up on what they can do or what we an do to save the site.

What bandit said - next time I'll try not to be so wordy:-) A place to swap/sell frags - that's worth something...

[Coral beauty]

What bandit said - next time I'll try not to be so wordy:-) A place to swap/sell frags - that's worth something...

I  believe he sold 4-5 frags on his first day.

[percula99]

My coral ad has been up for a week now and had 159 views. Only one person has contacted me asking a question, and has not contacted me again after I replied to his question. Bandit goes elsewhere and sells 4-5 corals in one day. 

If the mods are reading this, and we know they are, I hope you are paying attention. You have heard the comments about relaxing the regulations and inforcing a "payer only can post" approach. If traffic on this site is down as suggested then it is incumbent upon you to act to rectify the problem and restore OVAS to the site of choice it used to be.