New to Area

[builderguy]

Hello Everyone,

I'm new to the area - moved here from Michigan. Anyway, I'm looking to get back into the hobby and I was looking for advice on local LFS. I'm in Petaluma, but willing to drive a little for a great store. Also since I'm starting from scratch, I 'm trying to find great deals on stuff.

Here's what I'm thinking:

120g with dual overflows 48x24x24 size...glass or plexi?
30g sump/refugium
EV-180 skimmer with Iwaki 20 RLT run external
PFO Shimmer 2-175 metal halide with 2x96 PC actinic
appropriately sized UV sterilizer
Mag 1200 for return pump

So...I've obviously been doing a little homework...but open to suggestions.

[73ChargerFan]

Ceasars in Santa Rosa. In Cotati is North Bay Aquatics, take Hwy 116 / Gravenstein hwy. Kindo of expensive though.

[reefingagain]

check with Dmirza he has a 120 with those dimensions

[73ChargerFan]

Oh, you can get a lot of your equipment and maybe a tank in very good used condition here on rc and at craigslist.org.

[RonSF]

I live in San Rafael and still find that the drive to Tropical Paradise is worth the effort. I buy a few supplies online, and drive past Nippon Goldfish everyday in SF so I sometimes buy little stuff from them in a pinch, but TP has the others beat hands down in livestock. If the Richmond Bridge and Eastshore Freeway aren't backed up I can make it one way from my house in about 40 minutes. Weekend traffic has made it an hour drive on a couple of occasions, though.
I haven't been to Ceasars, but would compare North Bay Aquatics to Nippon. Both specialize in more expensive drygoods and brown coral, but occasionally have something nicer.
Welcome to the Bay Area. What kind of tank did you have before, and what are your plans for the next one?
-Ron

[builderguy]

I had an 85g reef tank. Glass with siphon overflow and a generic skimmer. VHO lighting.

Looking to go much nicer this time

[builderguy]

Just got back from Northbay Aquatics....they seemed pretty knowledgeable...but I'm looking for a better deal if I can get it on the equipment. If anybody knows anybody with equip comparable to my earlier post that is looking to sell...let me know.

[BoomerD]

DUH!! edited...

There are several good deals on the RC forums...there was just a 120 for sale here a week or so ago...
HERE IT IS (http://archive.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=370270)

[ivtec247]

Originally posted by builderguy
PFO Shimmer 2-175 metal halide with 2x96 PC actinic
[/B]

Just put the exact same light on my tank. Love it so far. Got mine from marinedepot.com They dont list it on the site, but they are a PFO retailer and can get it for you (cheaper than Premium Aquatics)

[builderguy]

thanks for the Marine Depot tip...I'll look into that

[73ChargerFan]

And Custom Aquatics
And Premium Aquatics
Online is the best way to purchase equipment and most dry goods. I purchase odds and ends, and frozen food locally. But you can't get tanks and stands online.

For tanks, the best selection I know of is All About Fish in Pleasant Hill, about a mile north of the Sun Valley Mall next to Kragens Auto Parts. Its worth the drive, IMO, if you're shopping for a new tank.

[racrumrine]

In the last month or so, the Pet Club in Corte Madera has really turned around. Before, they had toilet tanks.

They recently hired a guy that really seems to know what he's doing (he told me he had a shop before). I haven't bought anything yet; but, when I get the next tank, I might be tempted. He's even giving a guarantee. Given that you're in the North Bay, it might be worthwhile for you to check out.

Best of luck,

Roy

[RonSF]

That's a new one to me. Where in Corte Madera is Pet Club?
-Ron

[racrumrine]

Here is the website with the address for the Corte Madera store.

http://www.petclubstores.com/

At this time, they have the nicest tanks and livestock I have seen in Marin County. It's all thanks to this new employee they have.

Best of luck,

Roy

[TheMandarinFish]

Welcome to the area. Please come out to Tropical Paradise some time - it will blow you away.

No, really.

:)

I hope you make it to a club meeting. I think you'll enjoy...

[culdublvd]

I am in WIndsor about 25 mins north of you, and to tell you the truth the stores in Sonoma County pretty much suck..Caesars has aiptasia on all of their stuff. They charge over $100 for a 3-4" clam. They sell orange digitata for $35 for a same size piece that someone had given me. They do get nice fish in once in a while. And by the way when you were at North Bay Aquatics did you notice a tank holding a snake being held together by ducttape or had they fixed that problem finally? To tell you the truth I get most of my Livestock (i.e. fish) at Petco. They use the same wholesaler as Caesars, and they will order fish for you to pick up when they get their stuff in on Thursdays.

[TheMandarinFish]

But PetCo is soooooo very bad.

:(

[Jpizzle]

it's not petco- it's petclub... a smaller chain. I live in Marin county, where corte madera is... and even while their "fish" section is improving that place is still a joke. I would maaaybe buy a tank from there but never any livestock.

[culdublvd]

Yeah I know Petco is very bad, but it's not gonna go away, and I might as well get my fish for about 2/3 price of Caesars. I figured someone would say something about me shopping at Petco.:)

[jedininja]

Yeah, I ageee that the northbay doesnt have much in terms of good LFS. I am actually in the process of planning to open up a primarily reef store somewhere in the northbay. Just in the planning stages though and if it goes through, it wont be for a year or so. My GF lives in Sonoma so I was thinking I might do somethere there or maybe even closer to the 101 like Novato. What do you guys think?

[mk820]

Petco sucks. We bought fish for our freshwater tank there and they were sick. Needless to say most of established fish died and the Petco icky's lived. We won't buy there again.

[sfsuphysics]

Originally posted by Jpizzle
it's not petco- it's petclub... a smaller chain. I live in Marin county, where corte madera is... and even while their "fish" section is improving that place is still a joke. I would maaaybe buy a tank from there but never any livestock.

Yah I bought a couple percs from petclub once, (they were a 'steal" at $7.99), tossed them in the QT tank, they were both gasping quite a bunch and hiding *sigh*, next day 1 was dead the other was hanging on by a string, returned them (they only have a 24 hour policy on saltwater luckily I was still there) looked in the tank with the other percs they had, all but one were also dead. They said "must of been a bad batch" yah.. must of.

[RonSF]

Originally posted by jedininja
Yeah, I ageee that the northbay doesnt have much in terms of good LFS. I am actually in the process of planning to open up a primarily reef store somewhere in the northbay. Just in the planning stages though and if it goes through, it wont be for a year or so. My GF lives in Sonoma so I was thinking I might do somethere there or maybe even closer to the 101 like Novato. What do you guys think? If you open in southern Sonoma county or Marin you will have at least one customer.:)
-Ron

[fishman89]

if you open one in novato i will be living in there. i live in novato and and need a hgh quality lfs store bc petco sucks and doesnt sell reefs. please do. if you need people to work in it to. i am pretty new but learning more every day i can stock a work cash register. i know i am jumping but that would be awesome like a dream come true

[wakskat]

I work in Novato and live in Larkspur and I would definately appreciate a good reef selection at a store closer than the east bay. If anyone in Marin wants to trade some frags or just check out my tank let me know.


Mark

[jedininja]

oops

[racrumrine]

A year later, I still think the Pet Club (not PetCo) in Corte Madera is the best store in Marin.

The corals and inverts selection is minimal; but, he has a fairly wide selection of saltwater fish species.

The prices on the dry goods are pretty reasonable too. Almost every week, something in the Fish Department is on sale. Recently, I picked up an AquaClear (Hagen) 802 Powerhead for only a couple of bucks more than the best online price I could find.

Best of luck,

Roy

[bookfish]

Boomer's selling one on the MARS forum.

[Jpizzle]

Originally posted by racrumrine
A year later, I still think the Pet Club (not PetCo) in Corte Madera is the best store in Marin.

The corals and inverts selection is minimal; but, he has a fairly wide selection of saltwater fish species.

The prices on the dry goods are pretty reasonable too. Almost every week, something in the Fish Department is on sale. Recently, I picked up an AquaClear (Hagen) 802 Powerhead for only a couple of bucks more than the best online price I could find.

Best of luck,

Roy

true it is the best store in marin.. and that's so sad..

Whenever I want/need to buy livestock I just go to one of the places in the east bay. Aquascene, Aquatic gallery or Atlantis being my favs.

jedininja: that would be sweet if you opened up a store here. I know it's probably a distant dream but I'd shop there too. Hell I'd bug you to hire me as an employee.

I don't know how well a store would do out here. Not as many reefers (that I know of) out here.. most of em seem located in SF, east bay, SJ area. Perhaps a store in marin would attract people down from santa rosa or possibly sac?

I assume that most rish people in marin who have tanks hire someone to maintain it for them. That might be a good addition should you decide to open up a store out here. A maintenance company would probably do well.