cerreta
Premium Member
During the trip, I visited about 8 stores. The pricing and selection was better than Tucson, but not by as much as I hoped for. There certainly is a niche in the Ca market for the rarity and sps, which is just not found here or in Phoenix. What impressed me the most about several stores is the price of drygoods and the amount of goods stocked. They were only a few dollars more than Internet stores, which I found to be shocking. For example, Salifert Test kits ranged from $15 to $20 for the basic ones, like NH3, PO4, NO2, NO3, Ca, etc. I also bought two Penductors for $22 each. Light systems and skimmers were also just a few dollars over that of the Internet sites.
The two stores I was most impressed with was Tong’s and ReeferMadness. Tong’s was like a wherehouse. Prices on drygoods were very good and the selection was incredible. The fish and coral tanks were very good with lots of sps frags for $15 and some small colonies for $40-$50. It is here that I bought a Neon-Green monti cap $15, small ¾†Monti danae SuperMan $40, a medium 5†Neon yellow/green Acro colony for $45
ReeferMadness is a special place. They specialize in Internet only sales. However, you can go there by appointment. So, Monday, I just showed up in the morning wanting to ask details on how to make an appointment for Tuesday. Chris, (not the owner, Two Chris’s and a Christine work there…hehehe) said I was welcome to shop around. The store is a warehouse with three large fiberglass coral bins. One is loaded with Live Rock, the other two are dedicated to corals. There is a ton of stuff here and it was very hard to shop. Nothing is marked with price. However, they had tons of show corals and sps galore. They also had the extremely rare corals and protopalythoas. I also noted that the prices were not cheap. Most sps colonies ranged from $60 to $200 and frags were about $30-$80. I made a plan to return the following day. To make my life easy, I decided to shop their website the night before and discovered that they frequently have sales. These corals range from $20 - $60. Many are good sizes and colors, but some are TLC corals, which they list on the website.
So, the next day, I bought a 10 pack of zoos for $100; 3.5†Montastrea curta deep purple with emerald green eyes$30; 3†A. sarmentosa rose tips with green bracnhes $30; 3.5†A. tenuis lime green $30; 3.5†Montipora crassi-tuberculata forest green and turquoise $30; and a 20 polyp protopalythoa. This was the prize! These polyps have a soft purple/pink center with lime green skirts. They are much more brilliant in coloration compared to the PPE, which they had plenty of. Forthermore, this was the one and only colony of this color morph. They called it the joker $100. They also tossed in a freebee sps frag that I got to choose from several cut unmounted frags. I selected an A. cerealis lime green/white stlk with neon yellow polyps/tips.
Here are some pictures taken at ReeferMadness
Two coral display tanks with 1000watt MH above.
Mostly sps tank
Here are the protopalythoas. My joker colony was already removed. I will post pics of this at a later time.
One of the three monster skimmers. These things always impress me. Glad I don’t have to clean that skimmer cup.
Some LPS and caps
This is the whole vat shot of the tank with LPS, caps, and zoos.
The two stores I was most impressed with was Tong’s and ReeferMadness. Tong’s was like a wherehouse. Prices on drygoods were very good and the selection was incredible. The fish and coral tanks were very good with lots of sps frags for $15 and some small colonies for $40-$50. It is here that I bought a Neon-Green monti cap $15, small ¾†Monti danae SuperMan $40, a medium 5†Neon yellow/green Acro colony for $45
ReeferMadness is a special place. They specialize in Internet only sales. However, you can go there by appointment. So, Monday, I just showed up in the morning wanting to ask details on how to make an appointment for Tuesday. Chris, (not the owner, Two Chris’s and a Christine work there…hehehe) said I was welcome to shop around. The store is a warehouse with three large fiberglass coral bins. One is loaded with Live Rock, the other two are dedicated to corals. There is a ton of stuff here and it was very hard to shop. Nothing is marked with price. However, they had tons of show corals and sps galore. They also had the extremely rare corals and protopalythoas. I also noted that the prices were not cheap. Most sps colonies ranged from $60 to $200 and frags were about $30-$80. I made a plan to return the following day. To make my life easy, I decided to shop their website the night before and discovered that they frequently have sales. These corals range from $20 - $60. Many are good sizes and colors, but some are TLC corals, which they list on the website.
So, the next day, I bought a 10 pack of zoos for $100; 3.5†Montastrea curta deep purple with emerald green eyes$30; 3†A. sarmentosa rose tips with green bracnhes $30; 3.5†A. tenuis lime green $30; 3.5†Montipora crassi-tuberculata forest green and turquoise $30; and a 20 polyp protopalythoa. This was the prize! These polyps have a soft purple/pink center with lime green skirts. They are much more brilliant in coloration compared to the PPE, which they had plenty of. Forthermore, this was the one and only colony of this color morph. They called it the joker $100. They also tossed in a freebee sps frag that I got to choose from several cut unmounted frags. I selected an A. cerealis lime green/white stlk with neon yellow polyps/tips.
Here are some pictures taken at ReeferMadness
Two coral display tanks with 1000watt MH above.
Mostly sps tank
Here are the protopalythoas. My joker colony was already removed. I will post pics of this at a later time.
One of the three monster skimmers. These things always impress me. Glad I don’t have to clean that skimmer cup.
Some LPS and caps
This is the whole vat shot of the tank with LPS, caps, and zoos.
When you gonna frag ???
