Local accessibility to reef-related items

[Len]

I'm writing something up and am curious how accessible reef-related items (livestock to supply) is in your local area. Experiences with your local suppliers? Range and quality of products? etc. Any info would be appreciated.

 

[fungia]

i have lots of lfs around me so some are good and some are bad. livestock selection is pretty good i guess since i can get what i want almost all the time. equpment is a little harder, some lfs only sell certain brands and i can get some of the special reef keeping stuff that i can find online. prices are not that bad here and some are very close to mail order prices. i buy at lfs unless i cant find it or it is too expensive but i prefer the convenenice. i also like to see my corals and fish in person before i buy them. i guess i am lucky to have lots of stores to pick from.

 

[ChrisRD]

Up until recently, availability here has been extremely poor. For many years there has just been one place locally, but they are terrible. I won't even go in the place anymore.

Fairly recently a local doctor started up a basement coral/clam farm - supposed to be nice, although I haven't been yet.

Other options are 60+ miles away. Reef Splendor is about 50 miles away, but they do not do walk-in retail. The good shops are 100 miles or more (NYC area/NJ/CT). Sortof a "desert" of reefkeeping around here...LOL

 

[Anonymous]

4 LFS that have decent to good products within 1 hour drive. That many more with terrible conditions. Not counting the Chains. Chains don't count as they have no knowlege at all about anything.

What I do not see is Reef Ready tanks. Almost all All Glass.

 

[LA-Lawman]

I live 1hr away from LAX my Local LFS stock a whole variety of livestock. and is able to care for them they have tanks that they can medicate and treat.

Hard good are little different. if i want a Euro-reef or an AquaC skimmer. i am better off ordering online. My LFS can get them but the mark-up is too high. I support them when i can. but being on somesort of budget is a must in my household.


hth

 

[Anonymous]

all I have to say is thank God for the computer.
_________________
Mercedes T2

 

[Len]

bump

 

[Syris]

Not much here on the coast of NH.
Never been too InlandReef here in Nashua but plan too (about 40 min away). They look great from there website and there new location is going to be bigger.
Other than that there is one other about 25 min from me in Salem,NH. Good selection of drygoods and live with at least one knowledgeable person in the sw section. But there prices scare the crap out of me 8O
So I mostly order online. Which for drygoods is ok but for live I would love to "see" what Im buying

 

[Anonymous]

My local store's marine department rocks...I mean it's the best within an hour's radius, if not the best in the state. 900+ gallons of fish selection, 450+ gallons of coral selection, and everything is clean and neat. They get tons of quality stuff (common and rare), have excellent service, and the marine department manager is extremely knowledgeable, not to mention a very personable, funny and handsome fellow...

...oh wait, that's me.



Peace,

Chip

 

[ChrisRD]

Not much here on the coast of NH.

Syris, have you been to Little Shop of Pets in Portsmouth?

 

[baseman]

I am patiently waiting for the new Inland Reef store to open. I have purchased a few things at the store in Salem, but no livestock. I was in there recently and one tank had about 7 or 8 dead fish in it. Doesn't give me a warm and fuzzy feeling.

Chris - I haven't been to Little Shop of Pets in Portsmouth. Where is it?

 

[Syris]

ChrisRD,

Yeah I been there, I dont think much of their livestock though (small selection and almost all softies: Im into SPS)(fish are not that healthy looking to me either). Their drygoods are OK. I usually only go there for URI VHO bulbs (online prices for em without the shipping 8) )
JMO

 

[Modo]

Here in the DFW area we have quite a few shops that I would say are decent and a couple are even top notch (some support DFWMAS with meetings, etc). Plus, we have The Marine Center here that will deliver for a "$10 Box Fee" that has really good fish, inverts, etc. I know you can't buy direct, but it's kinda cool that we have Oceanic HQ here, too. I missed it but DFWMAS even had a meeting there once.

For Dry Goods, I am a DIY junky and alot of the off the wall things I need can be found locally. I'm in and took Fergy's Acrylic classes and alot of those goods are local as well.

But, I do shop online for competitive pricing on goods. I still am not comfortable about ordering fish sight unseen. So, that's always a LFS purchase for me.

 

[Anonymous]

We're loaded wih stores in the San Fransisco bay area. 30+ in 100 square miles. Outa all them, I'd say 5 are quality dealers in both livestock and drygoods. Lighting still is hard to come by, most stores want your 1st born and your right arm.

 

[Anonymous]

I live in the Boston area and I find it difficult to find what I want. When I do find it it's overpriced and if it's livestock it's not healthy.

I haven't traveled too far out of the area to for my supplies so there might be some gems out there I don't know about.

Ace

 

[ChrisRD]

Ace,

Coral Reef Aquarium down in Seekonk, MA is worth the ride. Jeremy is a great guy and his livestock is very healthy.

Inland Reef is out of action at the moment setting up a new store, but I'm sure the new place will be great too (Nashua, NH).

Inland and Coral Reef are both sponsors of the board as well.

 

[Anonymous]

Ace,

Coral Reef Aquarium down in Seekonk, MA is worth the ride. Jeremy is a great guy and his livestock is very healthy.

Inland Reef is out of action at the moment setting up a new store, but I'm sure the new place will be great too (Nashua, NH).

Inland and Coral Reef are both sponsors of the board as well.

Thanks for the info. I wish the stores around here were nice. Sometimes I want to hop in the car and see what they have and I usually decide against it because the quality is so low.

I think it's time for a road trip.

Ace

 

[ChrisRD]

Chris - I haven't been to Little Shop of Pets in Portsmouth. Where is it?

Sorry I didn't notice this before...

It's a mile or two South of the big traffic circle when you get off of I-95 on Route 1 or 1-A (can't remember offhand). It's in a plaza on the right as you're headed South. I think there's a WalMart in that plaza.

2454 Lafayette Road
Portsmouth, NH 03801
603-433-7387

As Syris mentioned, it's nothing great - just a shop to check out if you're bored...

 

[ChrisRD]

ChrisRD,

Yeah I been there, I dont think much of their livestock though

Agreed - nothing to write home about. If you want to see a real shop go to Inland or Coral Reef.

 

[camp6]

for everyone in North VA, check out The Reef Tank, in Burke. excellent place, and the guys there really know their ****. also I like Wallys, huge place for salt, or FW. only one guy there really is knowledgable, but the other guys will always ask him advice before giving you bad advice. 3rdly I like centreville aquarium, not to much on corals usually, but most of the time a great selection of fish.