Where do you do your reef shopping?
 

I have been good this year so I want to reward myself this Christmas with something for my aquarium. I am just wondering where you Edmontonians do your reef shopping nowadays. I heard Red Coral is closed. Blue World was closed long time ago. I was at Aqua Giant yesterday and the stocks displayed didn't impress me much. I don't even know if Marine Experience is still in business or not. Marine Aquaria is too far for me since I live in the North side. There's only Aquarium Illussion left from what I know. Is that it for Edmonton?

I've been exclusively doing all my shopping at a retailer in Calgary, and nothing but great help from them, but there's some pretty awesome stuff out there if you dig a little.

I'm going to be purchasing an order of zoas from reefwars on here that I'm pretty excited about. If you have an idea of what exactly you want you could post an ad in the classifieds section of canreef.

Cody,
I have been doing my shopping online with various retailers. Denny is a very nice guy to deal with and I have no hesistant to buy from him again. However, I just miss being able to go to a store to pick and choose and then bring them home with me.

Good luck in your search. Sounds like Edmonton is in need of a good reef store. After spending a bit of time looking at the sponsored vendors websites and seeing what the private sellers are offering I'm ready to break the bank :)

Edit- Oilers, I should have noticed by your post count that you're not new to the site, sorry.

Calgary has a few hidden gem shops (like Wais) that are tiny shops you can actually go into, im sure Edmonton has a few. wight just have to dig a bit

No problem. I am a newbie compared to a lot of people on here :wink: and I am definitely still a newbie to the hobby for sure. Cheers! :biggrin:

Aquarium illusions is okay if u like jacked prices. I use marine aquaria for in town purchases. Great guys there and nice selection.


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Polyps out is pretty good. Lots of lps and clams

Over 800,000 people in Edmonton and so few reef stores - that's crazy! Here in Saskatoon we're a mere 240,000 with one kick ass local marine-only shop (thankful for that!).

Where is Polyps Out? are they new?

Thanks Nick. I'll definitely check it out.

Myka,
It's sad actually. If I know more about the hobby, I would be tempted to open up my own store :biggrin:
Did you say you are coming to Edmonton?? I am still waiting for your homemade food for the fishes :wink:

Aquarium Central is in the north end of town. You should also join the facebook group "Edmonton Coral Reef Buy and Sell" there is always lots for sale on there. And yes Marine Experience is still around and Neil always posts on the mentioned facebook page.

Edmonton has 6 retail SW stores that I know of. Don't know if I would call any of them kick ass but they each have their moments.

Edmonton isn't that big to drive around, should check out Marine Aquaria.

Marine aquaria is the only LFS I buy from in edmonton quality and customer service is top notch. Marine experience is home based but has a ton of frags and always has deals every weekend, also a great guy to deal with. Aquarium central isnt bad, staff isnt too knowledgeable in the salt water trade but they carry a little saltwater equipment and livestock. Aquarium illusions is way overpriced. Big als is not bad, they are getting better and more into the saltwater trade. Polyps out is pricey but they have nice stuff all the time. Aquagiant (aquajunk) everything breaks or dies within a few weeks and service is absolutely terrible.

Just saved you a lot of running around :lol:

Yeah, we were looking at houses, and thought we had one picked out, but hubby got cold feet and put the brakes on moving.

Aquarium Illusions is the only shop that I went to that I thought had any interesting corals.

Any time I went to Blue World it was a giant shop with no stock, and the lady at Red Coral told me if I bought the Bamboo Shark it would only grow to the size of my aquarium (Steve was great though). These are both closed now aren't they?

Aquarium Central was just opening up last time I was there (a couple years ago?) and they had some big plans for a saltwater section - did that pan out? i don't think I've been to Marine Aquaria or Marine Experience.

Blue world and red coral are now closed.. Aquarium central did make a go of it and will be moving soon though from when I was in there they concentrated mostly on fw.

Myka, next time you are in Edmonton you should definitely check out Marine Aquaria. That's how every fish store should look like - not musty and loud and humid like most of them out there. Marine Aquaria has a nice "homey" feel and they took the time to make everything look nice in the store.

Thanks for the tip. I don't have a FB account for various reasons but I might have to bite the bullet and create one now.

Oh, that's too bad. I was looking forward to meet you in person. That would definitely make my day :biggrin:

Thank you. The only store I haven't been to is Polyps out but I will check it out soon.

+1 for polyps out. I find everyone brings in generic corals except for them. I prefer quality over quantity.