New to Tampa Bay Reef Club and looking for a local store!

J

J3838

New member
Hey everyone!

My name is Justin Fugazzie and i am a junior at the University of Tampa. I am from NJ and have a great 30 gallon reef tank at home and over the past few years at school i have been going through reef withdrawl. I have been shopping around for a good nano tank and I finally found one worth buying. It is an 8 gallon Bio Cube and i got a fantastic deal on it on Ebay. So....

I am ready to pick up some LR, and obviously eventually fish and corals but i need to find a store to buy at! I have visited Finz and Coral Reef Aquariums, and while both have interesting and exotic fish and corals, i was not pleased with the customer service nor the pricing. When i walked into Finz, i was ready to buy a Bio Cube and LR, Sand, Etc...

So you could say my total would probably be around $300-$400 and maybe thats not a lot for them? but it is to me. So i asked the girl at the desk about the cube and she was incredibly rude to me, she then went in the back and returned about 10 minutes later and just sat down ignoring me. I asked her if they had the cube in stock and she said... o right.. no... 2 to 3 weeks we'll have it. And she went back to her magazine. I got pretty angry with the service and left there... Unfortunate too cause they have cool stuff... But anyways!!!! (sorry guess i had to vent)

So I just want to say hi to everyone and ask if anyone knows of any other good LFS in the Tampa area worth visiting!? Thanks in advance everyone!
 
Hi Justin, I'm a UT graduate - Go Spartans, lol. Check out Fish and Other Ichthy Stuff in Oldsmar, it's off Hillsborough Ave. past Racetrack Rd., Marine Warehouse which is also off Hillsborough by Webb Rd, and I hope I don't get slammed for this but Pet Mart on Busch near 50th St. has had some good deals on dry goods, food, etc. with their word of mouth club. Alot of people don't like it for some reason but everything I've bought there has lived and they are nice and helpful. There's also Aquarium Creations on Brandon Blvd. They are kind of hit and miss and I've never bought anything except some sand there. I haven't been there yet but everybody seems to like Rockin' Reef in St. Pete.
 
Marine warehouse is nice. Im sure the other place is nicer but the staff has always been good to me. Decent prices on some stuff too.
 
HI JUSTIN

1ST, WELCOME HOME : )
WE HAVE A FEW STORES AROUND HERE.
FINZ OF TAMPA
150 S DALE MABRY
JUST SOUTH OF KENNEDY ON DALE MABRY ON LEFT SIDE
SEE CHRIS(OWNER) OR RON.

HAPPY REEFING
 
Welcome! i'm in college too and $300-$400 is definetly alot! But like Checkinhawk said, check out FAOIS (Fish and Other Ichthy Stuff) in oldsmar, i've visited all the stores in tampa and that's by far my favorite place, John's (the owner) prices are extremely fair and the knowledge he shares is priceless as well. And checkinhawk is definetly right about the customer service, i think its great there. John keeps his fish in perfect health as well as his corals. The only thing i have against finz is their shipping time. I havnt had too many bad experiences with them, Chris Meckley (oneof the owners) is a great guy. But unforuntely i cant really afford super exotic fish. But if john doesnt have the cube, he'll get it within 2weeks or so (with my experienece and shipping) and he is very true to his word. Other then that, another decent store to check out is Saltwater aquariums (im not sureof the name) but its on Bears Ave and Livingston which is much closer to me, but last time i went in, multiple fish weren'tlooking too healthy, and they were in the same system as their healthy fish, which makes me scared. But their pricing is fair as well and their customer service is good. Besdies that, i havnt felt confident in suggesting any other stores due to their lack of whatever it may be.

OH one other store, Life Oceanic, i dont know their exact address cause they recently moved but Joe (the owner) is a super nice guy and so is the rest of his family. They have pretty decent prices on Liverock but fish prices were maybe a little bit above average last time i was in, but that was a few months ago. Regardless, it's a good place to check out!

I may be making a run to FAOIS in the sometime near future, so if you want to tag along justlet me know, because the store is quite difficult to find on the first try.

-Nelson
 
Sorry you had a bad experience at Finz. I've only been there once and had a good experience. And it's so close to UT.
Welcome to Tampa. Hope to get to meet you at a club meeting.
 
MR. C. Meckley hasnt been an owner in while. i dunno if u knew that gimplar. shipping its been a headache cuz of the weather up north, but like ppl say " good things come to ppl that wait".

happy reefing everyone
 
Thanks everyone for all your quick responses! Looks like i have a fun friday and saturday planned visiting all these new stores! lol... Gimplar, yea my budget has been cut to about 100 after i got raped with having to buy my books lol... college is fricin way too expensive... but half.com is heaven lol...
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9046601#post9046601 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by NICERICAN4YOU25
HI JUSTIN

1ST, WELCOME HOME : )
WE HAVE A FEW STORES AROUND HERE.
FINZ OF TAMPA . . .
HAPPY REEFING
Click to expand...

He mentioned he's been there in his opening statement, or are there other LFS with the same name? I'm fairly new and don't go to Tampa that much, but I thought there was only one by that name. Am I wrong?
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9051147#post9051147 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ReefArtist
He mentioned he's been there in his opening statement, or are there other LFS with the same name? I'm fairly new and don't go to Tampa that much, but I thought there was only one by that name. Am I wrong?
Click to expand...

Yes, appparently he didn't read OP's post.
 
rican seems hung up on finz...too busy yelling...not enough listening.

THE DUDE HAS BEEN THERE...HE GOT BAD SERVICE...HE'S LOOKING FOR ANOTHER STORE...THAT'S THE POINT OF THE THREAD...
 
OMG I DONT KNOW HOW TO TURN OFF CAP LOCKS EVEN AT MY HOUSE......GO TO FINS...DONT LISTN 2 N E 1 GO TO FINS...SQUAAAK SQUAAAK !

BTW FAOIS has 12 and 24 nanos in stock. I got my 12 gallon nano there and really love it.

Oh, dont buy that little nano Current USA Nano skimmer....waste of 30 dollars.
 
Hey saliki- please lets not start another thread slinging -LOL. You know how to spin people up :D. Good information on the "Where you can purchase" now and the brands to stay away from. Is your Nano hard to take care of as far as keeping the parameters in check?
 
Fish and Other Ichty stuff in Oldsmar.. No other place in Tampa comes close to service/product/price. Once you go you will know.
 
LOL...what are parameters j/k!
Nah, its pretty easy ot maintain. The temp seems to be the biggest issues with the nano. They dont vent heat well, and once you put in a MJ1200 like most people do, you are right on the border of 80+ degrees.

I have a little nano tunze powerhead too ....but I ended up taking it out. I used to have my electronic temp and PH meters in it, but since I have moved didnt set them back up in the tank.

There was a really nice Coral Magazine a year or 2 ago that focused on Nano tank. It really simplified the nano down to less mechanical devices, and focused on using biological methodologies to keep the tank in good running order. Not new info......decent live rock, intank macro algae, good oxygen exchange, appropriate clean-up crew.
 
Thanks Saliki, I have a 10g QT that had the same heat problems. I ended up directing a 10" fan right above it which kept it in check. I might have to see if I can get that old coral mag. I figured if I can keep my QT just like all of you keep your Nano's it would be great. I'm always afraid that I'm doing more harm than good - with the small QT.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9051872#post9051872 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Saliki
LOL...what are parameters j/k!
Nah, its pretty easy ot maintain. The temp seems to be the biggest issues with the nano. They dont vent heat well, and once you put in a MJ1200 like most people do, you are right on the border of 80+ degrees.

I have a little nano tunze powerhead too ....but I ended up taking it out. I used to have my electronic temp and PH meters in it, but since I have moved didnt set them back up in the tank.

There was a really nice Coral Magazine a year or 2 ago that focused on Nano tank. It really simplified the nano down to less mechanical devices, and focused on using biological methodologies to keep the tank in good running order. Not new info......decent live rock, intank macro algae, good oxygen exchange, appropriate clean-up crew.
Click to expand...

I second the temp. issues. I have the 24 gallon version and it is difficult to keep the tank under 80 degrees. You really have to be careful with where you place it in the house. I originally set the tank up in the kitchen so we could look at it while we cook, bad idea. The tank temp. spiked 2-3 degrees every time the stove came on so I have since moved it to our bedroom right by the AC vent. Other than that these tanks are actually fairly decent for an all in one unit.
 
Visit all the stores mentioned here so you can see a larger selection of livestock.
If you are an educated buyer, you can feel comfortable shopping in any of them.

And Rican’s caps are off…something fishy.
 
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