Reefsplendor

[Melbourne]

Hi,

Went there today with the family to check out the buyers club. Ended up joining, had a good selection of corals. I ended up picking up some smaller mounted frags, prices ranged from $10-$15 depending on the frag. Picked up a variety of polyps / mushrooms / SPS. Also went through their live rock rubble tank and picked out a few nice pieces for propagating stuff on. Worth the trip and nice folks to boot.

-Mike

[Tomzpc]

Several of us in the club have signed up with more on the way.
To me it's worth it just to go in and look around a few times a year! ;P

[reefer44]

i am lucky enough to have them about 15 minutes away from my new house (well hopefully my house :) ).......how are the prices on acros other than frags....and were the corals high quality or just all right

Brad

[greenman]

I have been in the place and i will say its the biggest in the area...
How are the prices ???

[masterswimmer]

The prices on corals are the same as regular retail. I found a LOT of aptasia in his tanks. His fish prices are incredible though. Ultra competetive. I didn't join. A lot of the guys in our club did join. They saw the value there, I didn't. The only thing I did see of value was the selection.

I'll probably get blasted by my fellow club members...........go for it guys..............

Russ

[foxstop]

Russ,

Everyone is entitled to their opinon without getting blasted.

My perspective on this was that I was getting to pick the livestock myself instead of someone going their and picking it for me (ala LFS). In a sense I do my own cherry picking instead of having someone do it for me and then telling me it's a rare or special peice. It's nice to have that opportunity.
Considering the volume that RS does I would be surprised to find every tank without a trouble spot or two, but overall if you look closely I think you will find some very nice things. I have also found Dan to be be very forthcoming in telling me what's coming in and in steering me away from over priced stuff (like the Bali Deepwater acros) and from poor quality livestock.
RS and TW are by far my favorite places to frequent for livestock. Bruce has been great too and one can only look at what he did for Ross during his emergency as reason enough to shop at TW. Of course the great service doesn't hurt either!

The great thing is I went from having virtually no place to shop for reef items to two great places to shop!

My only problem is I'm starting to run out of room in my tank! (and on my credit card:D)
Had to make room for those flatworms I got from the last frag at our last meeting :(

Take care.

Brian

[masterswimmer]

Hey Brian,
Sorry to hear about those flatworms. Have you gotten rid of them yet? Hopefully they didn't become too widespread for ya.

Post some pix of your tank. Sounds magnificent.

Russ

[Tomzpc]

I think that the coral prices are a little better than regular retail, but not by much. Fish prices seem like a better deal so far. In my trips there I haven't seen a lot of aiptasia like Russ did, but then again, even if I did that wouldn't have any effect on anything but live rock purchases for me. The selection blows away what any single LFS can carry. Also, if you spend enough (forget how much off the top of my head) then you get your initial $50 back. Personally, to me it's a no-brainer if you're within an hour's drive.

[Melbourne]

Hi,

The prices are certainly better than some but not all LFS's in the area. The main thing is selection, and they have good turn-over on their stock. I like the fact I can pick and choose what I want, spending $500 on my tanks is easy, remember they also sell drygoods. For folks on a budget, I've gotten quite a few small hardy mushrooms/polyps/sponges/tunicates on the liverock rubble I bought from them. They do have Aiptasia in their tanks but no different then some of the rock I've purchased from LFS's or mail-order.

HTH,
-Mike

For folks in Putnam/Westchester - check out Animal Kingdom on route 6, they have a 20 % off coral and SW fish sale going on right now. I picked up a 3-4" leather on a 1/2 lb piece of LR for $8.97. They had a quite a few nice Gonipora for the folks that feel up for the challenge.

[foxstop]

The Flatworms seem to be under control. I did the recommended treatment and most stuff came through just fine. I don't think I lost any livestock.
I picked up a six line wrasse too on the off chance that it might eat some. Hit and miss I know, but I wanted one in the tank since I have a few clams in there.

RS did get a shipment of fish in this week so I may make the trip over this afternoon.

Brian

[greenman]

I have to agree the fish prices are The best I've seen. But the corals are on par with LFS.... I wasn't impressed with the stock of sps...

I think ADS has much better prices, colors, and selection....

Altho Im going to OC md this month and Im going to stop by Dc. Mac and sons. I havre gotten some stuff from him in the past and all i can say is they rcoiked. Very large and very colorful stuff. And the prices are good to boot.

[reefer44]

My house i have right now is close to Mac and Son's and he comes and sells at our wamas meetings some times...great stuff and great guy.....

also i was wondering if anyone can translate all the lfs abrevations because i am just moving to the area i don't know any of there names

Brad

[greenman]

Yea I have a condo In OC md.... Think he is salsbary... Not to far.

[skearse]

Originally posted by reefer44
My house i have right now is close to Mac and Son's and he comes and sells at our wamas meetings some times...great stuff and great guy.....

also i was wondering if anyone can translate all the lfs abrevations because i am just moving to the area i don't know any of there names

Brad

Welcome to the area, Brad, and feel free to get in touch with any of the other guys if you have any questions about anything (not just reef related stuff).

Anyway:

RS-ReefSplendor (Hopewell Junction; www.reefsplendor.com)
TW-Tropical World (Newburgh)
ADS-ReefCentral handle for Adam; he owns & operates tridacnareef.com; Kingston)

Basically, I don't think you'll go wrong with any of these guys; most of the guys in the club have used all of them at some time or another. Hope this helps; and, again, welcome to the area!

[greenman]

I have yet to see TW-Tropical World (Newburgh)....

Where is it ?

[foxstop]

Rte 9W North a couple of miles off of I-84 in Balmville.

Brian

[stresco]

I'm with Russ (AKA MasterSwimmer) on this. I see no real value in goint to RS. Other than the sheer volume of their stock. There prices are not that great. Coral prices are the same you get from any LFS, and as for Drygoods, I always buy online. Even with shipping, it comes out to less then them. I'd rather save the money and wait a few days for delivery. And as far as getting your 50bucks back after spending 500.00 in the store. Thas a gimic. They are gauging you on prices and and hoping that you dont notice because of the volume of their livestock. Basically they have guarenteed themselves a 500.00 purchase from everyone that has signed up with them. Who is not going to try ans spend 500.00 there knowing that is the only way to see any kind of real savings. There is no way that I am going to give pay anyone for the right to give them my money. At least with SAM's Club, there are actual discounts to buying in bulk. I havent seen any there.

JMHO

OK guys you can let me have it now.

[seaham358]

IMO there is no price gauging going on there.. The large selection is the big draw for me. I do not plan on spending 500 just to get 50 back... Between dry goods and corals, fish I don't think I'll hit 500 and I will not try to spend 500 just to get 50 back. I don't think Dan expects everyone to spend 500 in his place, he did not even have to make this offer. If your not happy with his prices then don't shop there. I have been buying dry goods for years there and will continue to do so. I'm sure you can still buy dry goods w/out paying the 50 club fee.
Seems like your ****ed off at them for some reason buy you post????

[Melbourne]

Hi,

Not sure but their drygoods selection is decent, factor in shipping costs and the fact you can have the stuff right away its not so bad. Some of their prices are higher but some are lower, you just need to know what to look for. Trying to find the cheapest possible stuff in this hobby doesn't always work out the best. $50 is not a lot of money compared to what most of us spend on our hobby. But to each his own, nothing wrong with supporting another local vendor and by the way consider supporting RC :)

-Mike

[foxstop]

I agree with Seaham and Melbourne here.
If you take the time to research what you want and go there with that in mind the prices are very competitive. I have purchased and compared RS to mailorder and even if the prices are the same you save on shipping and you get to cherry pick your own stuff.
I basically approach it like I'm getting to pick from the same stock as the retailers. You have to be selective and knowledgeable to get the best stuff.
I have found Dan to be very accomodating and fair.
To each their own. Buy where you feel comfortable and happy.

My 2 cents.

Brian

[Tomzpc]

Not to mention that Dan will give you discounts when you purchase multiple corals. Like Brian said, to each their own. But to me $50 in this hobby is just a drop of RODI in the IO bucket. :)

[stresco]

OK. To each his own. But like I said, I prefer to drip my RO/DI drops in other buckets.

[foxstop]

Originally posted by foxstop

To each their own. Buy where you feel comfortable and happy.

My 2 cents.

Brian

[greenman]

50$ a year is alot of money... Then you have to take into account he cant under cut his prices he sells to his retailers or he will lose there buisness... When i was there he had great prices on fish but the corals are as pricy as most public LFS....