vancouver reef shops
 

hey guys, I'm off to vancouver for a couple days and wanted to know where to go to get reef supplies and fish. any suggestions would be great
thanks Erin

Well you must stop by ocean aquatics. They are on 76th Street in Delta. Just off River road

Ocean Aquatics, Hidden Reef(Abbotsford), J&L Aquatics(Burnaby), Big AL's(burnaby)

Also...
 

King Ed's, Kingsway, Burnaby.

Big Al's, No 3 Road, Richmond.

Aquariums West, Burrard St, Downtown, Vancouver.

I've been to all of them on various occasions, and I think the only ones worth stopping by are Ocean Aquatics, J&L Aquatics, and King Ed's. If you really want to go to the others, stop by the other ones first otherwise they will be disappointing after the better stores!!! :lol: Even though Ocean Aquatics is quite out of the way, it is VERY worth the trip! :)

Could not have put it better myself Myka
I don't know how many times I've felt motivated to drive for an hour to get to a reef shop only to get there andrealize the best ones are the closest to home, JL and King Eds.

Ocean Aquatics is far for me, but it's the only far lfs that I drive out to and consistently feel glad I did.
The best service by far is Ocean Aquatics, JL kills it for animal selection and King Eds has almost everything you could want and more with the best prices....

Just my opinion, but man do i shop a lot, even if it's only window shopping.

I am heading to the Coast today with a hardware shopping list (no fish or corals at this time but maybe some snails). I have only stopped at J&L's once, I have never been to King Eds or OA.

So does anyone want to step up and offer some comments:

Of J&L, OA and King Eds what are their pros and cons regarding:

Hardware selection and prices
Coral selection and prices
Fish selection and prices
Invertebrates selection and prices
Customer service

Vendor rating is fround upon at Canreef as it never leads to a constructive thread. I'm sure you will get some PMs on the subject if people want to comment

J

Hi guys, yeah, unfortunately when we say "pros and cons" to a store it means we're pretty much rating the store. Unfortunately this is a practice which has led to many heated arguments in the past and even in some extreme cases, threats of litigation, so our policy now is that we can't do it. Sorry. However, what gets said in a PM is not anyone's business but the sender and receiver, so if anyone has any really strong feelings on a store that they are compelled to share, that might be an avenue.

As a fellow addict .. err.. hobbyist though, I would have to say, visit all of them! That's what I would do. :mrgreen:

Ooops thanks. :sad:


I am hoping to visit all three this weekend anyway.

If you can, go to all 3.
The lfs' listed are quite commonly on any local hobbyists top list, so if you haven't been, do yourself a favour and check em all out, hopefully you've go thte time but you could do a tour of all 3 of these stores in 2 hours.
You'll have no doubts about any purchase you make.

You've got to be kidding!!!! 2 hours?? Jeeez, that's some speedy shopping! It's at least a 45 minute drive between Ocean Aquatics and King Ed's, then another 15 to J&L. I'd say you need at least 4 hours to really get a good look around all three stores. King Ed's also has some really cool freshwater fish to check out.

Vendor rating isn't allowed edit: (you're right it isn't) , but this is (I think) :D IMO, the best place for:


I PMed the above, just in case you guys delete it. ;)

So if vendor rating isn't allowed why didn't you PM it in the first place? Sheesh, smiles don't make it ok you know.

umm no its not a 45 minute drive from OA to king eds.. maybe in busy busy traffic but on average 25 minutes to make the small drive..

25 min?? Gaa, you city folk need to take some driving lessions. Last time me and the the wife were down, 23.234 minutes from OA to JL LOL

JK

But Ya, OA, JL are great places. Plan for 2 hrs Each store. I know i did. and came back twice

If you get trapped in Vancouer rush hour traffic, it could take a good hour or even more to get between J&L and OA. Timing is everything.

Smiles make everything okay, how do you think Mcdonalds manages to pollute and kill our race with 1000's of tones of fat and transfat each year? *In catchly Mcdonalds toon* Put a smile on, put a smile on, everybody come on put a smile on :lol: (but stop the vender rating thats bad:wink:)
Levi
(On topic, Ive never been to Vancounver but if I do go I'm going to make to spend a whole day shopping at the LFS so 45 min travel time really shouldn't be the issue)

big al's list 2 locations, which one should i go to, burnaby or richmond?

The Burnaby one is about 2 minutes by car from J&L so it would be more convenient.

I'd go: J&L --> BA --> King Ed --> OA

Smiles weren't supposed to make it ok. Where the hell do you get off saying that?

I honestly didn't think there would be issues with listing MY favourite places to go for each thing. I didn't say anything negative, and I didn't do a "comparison". I DID PM it in the first place! ;)