North/Central AL Reef shops

If you don't know about it Aquarium Imports is located in Hoover, AL just south of Birmingham. Store has been there for years and have lots of inventory. The owners are very nice and helpful.

they are nice but seem to rush you along and are over priced. there is one in Homewood Aquarium Fantasies
931 Oxmoor Rd, Birmingham, AL 35209 » Map
(205) 637-5680

they are younger guys but seem to be more helpful to me and have much better pricing. has alot of corals to choose from and stay busy. just my .02cents
 
I wonder if they belong to the Aquarium Fantasies in Montgomery?

They do. Same guy. I have been to the B'ham store. Small, but seems to have nice stock. The Montgomery store is supposedly 4000sq/ft which would make the B'ham store 20% the size.

I am interested in getting down to see that one. 3 hours for me. I wonder if it wold be worth the drive?
 
They do. Same guy. I have been to the B'ham store. Small, but seems to have nice stock. The Montgomery store is supposedly 4000sq/ft which would make the B'ham store 20% the size.

I am interested in getting down to see that one. 3 hours for me. I wonder if it wold be worth the drive?

By the looks of the website what there is of it, it should be a real nice place. the guys at the homewood store talk real big about it but it is the main store they work for too.
i'd like to make the trip to see too but im 2.5 hours away and cant justify it for now.
 
I've been in the Montgomery store a few time and its real nice. I didn't know they were moving. I know they don't open until noon.
 
I've been in the Montgomery store a few time and its real nice. I didn't know they were moving. I know they don't open until noon.

yeah the noon thing is killing me but they are open till 7. im the type of person who wants to get up and go early.
 
theres a guy on this forum (zaozao) hes in culman al awesome dude & great stuff hes on craigslist in birmingham
 
Fins and Frags is on Smith Lake near Cullman. Jason and Tammy are good folks.

:wave: It was so nice to find out about this Place! Went there today and boy, What a nice set up they have, Very nice too, and close to home :)

Still have my tank and glad I do, it looks good and was ready to add some fish. I only had 2 clowns that have been in the tank from the beginning. Jason and Tammy have some Beautiful Corals too!
 
I'm not opposed to driving to Nashville or Atlanta. We have friends we'll be visiting periodically there anyway. We're actually going to Memphis this weekend so I may go ahead and grab another cleaning crew while I'm there.

When I got started in this hobby back in '04, I went all out and practically had a LFS in my basement but then I started traveling for work again and had to get out for a while myself. Now, I just have a little 30g that I'm basically starting over with, but I may upgrade. I've got that bug again. (cha-ching)

Nashville try http://www.aquaticcritter.com/. best store I've been in yet. Hospital clean and lots of stuff. Worth the drive from Huntsville maybe 1 hour.

Birmingham try Aquarium Fantasies, GREAT CORALS. or Aquarium Imports.
 
Ha ha, I made it from Birmingham Al in 3 hours. So your right about 2 hours. I was doing 70. Trying to get good gas mileage. The store is worth the drive though....
 
I actually like the set up in Montgomery better now, despite it being smaller. It's a little crowded with equipment, but the overall set up is nicer. I like the new coral tanks. Saw some decent deals on some of the tanks and equipment (27 gal cube for $60, I think).
 
Aquarium Fantasies in Homewood is the only store in Bham worth going to. I just moved back to Bham after being gone a couple years, and this store is what the area was lacking. AI is overpriced, run down, and has consistently gone down hill since the death of the owner's mother (the original owner) 10 years ago. I lived in Montgomery several years ago, and that store is very nice. If you do go to the one in Homewood, take cash. They do accept CC, but have to call the store in Montgomery and give your info over the phone. If they are very busy down there, it can take a while. Apparently the owner doesn't trust the employees with a cc machine (you can get them for the iPhone for free) but does trust them with $1000s of dollars in livestock. The SPS is extremely nice, and the fish are quite healthy. I'm in the process of moving tanks, but when I do get the new one set up, AF will be the go to point for my fish and sps frags.
 
That's great to hear, thanks for sharing! I need to get up there, just crazy busy down here lately

Oh and in regards to the cc machine, I haven't spoken with Jim in awhile, may be he just hasn't gotten the machine up? I dunno. But speaking from a business stand point as I own my own business, I wouldn't trust anyone either in regards to swiping it with your iPhone. I know it's free, I just looked into this yesterday and signed up for it, but it requires you to login to their site and it would allow the employees to have all the personal banking info. Can't say I'd want an employee getting ahold of that stuff either. Having looked into this yesterday, that's the way it goes. I realize it's a pain for the customer, but I would make them call as well. I'm sure it'll change soon, I'm sure it's just extremely busy now for them. Hth
 
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