wds21921
New member
I was hoping to head down to Dr. Mac's on Friday but got tied up trying to play catch up with cleaning and laundry here.
Did make it finally on Saturday though just before closing time.
Well it's definitely a long drive and 4 tolls to pay (Only $1.00 each) if you take the given directions on there website.
My first impression was "I think I'm lost" lol. It's nestled into a small neighborhood in Mardella Springs Maryland right at the DE/MD border line and actually blends into the neighborhood very well. It's an ultra modern design but given it's location off the road slightly, it really blends in.
Walking up to the door the first thing you see are the 3 large (long) grow out tanks that are used to propogate in the greenhouse room. Apparently Dr. Mac was smart enough to figure out that natural sunlight is the best light of all for growing new corals. Kudo's here.
When I first walked in I was greeted by the boxer, no not Mike Tyson, there dog. He was curious of me and didn't seem to take to me immediately. No problems there, it was pretty hot and muggy outside and he looked as though he was a little tired.
When you first walk in it appears to be a very well organized museum or art gallery appearence. Very nice pictures on the wall, some literature on the desk and a few issues of Marine Fish and Reef USA Annual 2006. A magazine I've been waiting for
.
A very friendly and warm greeting from the lady behind the counter who I believe is Dr. Mac's wife? From there I walked a little further in to where the first tank was on your left. It's mostly some nice Soloman Islands LR (I believe). A good mix of different sizes ranging from mid-small top medium size and very healthy looking. Further up on your right is the fish only tanks. He had some really really nice looking Clarkii clowns that were in excellent shape. Also a nice pair of French Angels (juvenile) that were very healthy and showed some great coloring. Best of all in regards to the fish? He had at least 3 pairs maybe 4 of black clowns that were some of the nicest coloring I've ever seen.
From there you walk forward to some frag tanks with great lighting (MH) and nice flow. These are tall shallow grow out type tanks that allow you to really view the corlas and inverts at some good angles to see there total coloring. The tanks are also an off white color so it really makes the appearence of the coloring stand out on all the specimens.
To your left (past the fish only tanks) are the 5 long show tanks with lots of incredibly beautiful frags and frag kits. I was impressed mostly with the cleanliness of the place. It's very well kept and shows a lot of personal care. The tanks are even better.
While the prices are a little higher than what you might see in your LFS, the animals are all in extremely good health and show brilliant coloring. It was one of the first places I've ever been too where I really wanted to take everything they had lol.
What I originally went down for was to check out some zoas and maybe a ric or two, I was not disappointed at all
. He had at least 6-7 different rics with various color combinations and his polyps were top notch. These are definitely the nicest I've ever seen in any type of store.
The large tank to the back of the store (and on your left side) had some frag kits that Dr. Mac and or his staff put together. The one I picked out had 5 sets of different colored zoas on it as well as a splitting ric (2 mouths showing). The ric is a really nice smooth orange outside with a medium (graduating to) bright green center. The polyps were mostly red or orange skirted with many different colored centers. Some yellow, some white, and maybe more.
Then I walked over to the last set of show tanks. In it where THE BEST and most gorgeous blue zoas I've ever seen anywhere. I don't mean small or close to blue with some pink or fading in them either , I MEAN B L U E !!!
Dr. Mac picked out the very one I was looking at which resembles Testors model paint Aquamarine Blue. His other blues were absolutely gorgeous too but my pockets were a little light this week due to the July 4th small paycheck lol. He bagged them up for me and offered me a price on the blues I couldn't refuse too. That was before I'd even mentioned the DRC.
After mentioning the DRC he and his wife remembered that the club had stopped down previously. He invited us all back down again and said they'd take care of lunch for us and give us a discount as well on any frags we were interested in.
Personally I'd love to go back down again just to see his pumps and lighting set up and to also check out more frags. I'll turn that over to Ken though since he's the show maker.
My grade for PacificEast Aquaculture, Inc. AKA Dr. Mac's? AAAAA+!!!
The service was excellent, not at all pushy. They talk to you as any hobbysist would and the staff there is very helpful and super friendly. It was more like walking into a home of a friend who had a great exhibit of Reef Animals. Very relaxed and not at all pushy in any way whatsoever.
It was nice talking to Dr. Mac as well since he's been in the hobby since '68' to go over some of the advances in the hobby.
This is one place I will absolutely be making a special trip to go back to soon.
I have to thank Ken for making this review happen. After hearing him talk about Dr. Mac's so much, I just had to go down there to see what it was all about and let me tell you I was so glad I did. If you think you've seen nice frags, well you may have, but you haven't seen absolutley beautiful frags until you stop down to Dr. Mac's.
These aren't in anyway your run of the mill LFS frags either. I saw some small frags of things I've only ever seen pictures of so his selection is ultra-top notch as well. In the frag kit tank he also had some small frags that were super low priced as well, $19 each if my memory serves me correctly? Well worth it if you consider E Bays pricing and then the exhorbitant overnight shipping fees.
To be honest I liked Marine Dreams and I've always been a fan of That Pet/Fish Place but I absolutely love Dr. Mac's!!!!!!
If anyones interested I've got 6 available pamphlets which describe the store and show quite a few good pictures in it as well as there toll free number and hours.
If your interested drop me your address in PM and I can mail them to you directly. I'm itching to use a few of these new peel off stamps lol. No charge for any club members or those interested.
Oh by the way, one thing I definitely need to add here. He's also got some TRUE BLUE mushrooms down there
. Not purple with a blue tinge or almost blue, I mean ABSOLUTELY BLUE!!!!!!!!!!!
I'd highly recommend this facility with extreme confidence.
On the way back I also stopped for dinner at a place called Peggy's Home Cooking (northbound on Rt 13 in Farmington). Wow great food (I had the seafood combo platter LOL), great service from a very very friendly staff and the ambiance is fantastic. Another recommendation.
Did make it finally on Saturday though just before closing time.
Well it's definitely a long drive and 4 tolls to pay (Only $1.00 each) if you take the given directions on there website.
My first impression was "I think I'm lost" lol. It's nestled into a small neighborhood in Mardella Springs Maryland right at the DE/MD border line and actually blends into the neighborhood very well. It's an ultra modern design but given it's location off the road slightly, it really blends in.
Walking up to the door the first thing you see are the 3 large (long) grow out tanks that are used to propogate in the greenhouse room. Apparently Dr. Mac was smart enough to figure out that natural sunlight is the best light of all for growing new corals. Kudo's here.
When I first walked in I was greeted by the boxer, no not Mike Tyson, there dog. He was curious of me and didn't seem to take to me immediately. No problems there, it was pretty hot and muggy outside and he looked as though he was a little tired.
When you first walk in it appears to be a very well organized museum or art gallery appearence. Very nice pictures on the wall, some literature on the desk and a few issues of Marine Fish and Reef USA Annual 2006. A magazine I've been waiting for
. A very friendly and warm greeting from the lady behind the counter who I believe is Dr. Mac's wife? From there I walked a little further in to where the first tank was on your left. It's mostly some nice Soloman Islands LR (I believe). A good mix of different sizes ranging from mid-small top medium size and very healthy looking. Further up on your right is the fish only tanks. He had some really really nice looking Clarkii clowns that were in excellent shape. Also a nice pair of French Angels (juvenile) that were very healthy and showed some great coloring. Best of all in regards to the fish? He had at least 3 pairs maybe 4 of black clowns that were some of the nicest coloring I've ever seen.
From there you walk forward to some frag tanks with great lighting (MH) and nice flow. These are tall shallow grow out type tanks that allow you to really view the corlas and inverts at some good angles to see there total coloring. The tanks are also an off white color so it really makes the appearence of the coloring stand out on all the specimens.
To your left (past the fish only tanks) are the 5 long show tanks with lots of incredibly beautiful frags and frag kits. I was impressed mostly with the cleanliness of the place. It's very well kept and shows a lot of personal care. The tanks are even better
.While the prices are a little higher than what you might see in your LFS, the animals are all in extremely good health and show brilliant coloring. It was one of the first places I've ever been too where I really wanted to take everything they had lol.
What I originally went down for was to check out some zoas and maybe a ric or two, I was not disappointed at all
. He had at least 6-7 different rics with various color combinations and his polyps were top notch. These are definitely the nicest I've ever seen in any type of store. The large tank to the back of the store (and on your left side) had some frag kits that Dr. Mac and or his staff put together. The one I picked out had 5 sets of different colored zoas on it as well as a splitting ric (2 mouths showing). The ric is a really nice smooth orange outside with a medium (graduating to) bright green center. The polyps were mostly red or orange skirted with many different colored centers. Some yellow, some white, and maybe more
. Then I walked over to the last set of show tanks. In it where THE BEST and most gorgeous blue zoas I've ever seen anywhere. I don't mean small or close to blue with some pink or fading in them either , I MEAN B L U E !!!
Dr. Mac picked out the very one I was looking at which resembles Testors model paint Aquamarine Blue. His other blues were absolutely gorgeous too but my pockets were a little light this week due to the July 4th small paycheck lol. He bagged them up for me and offered me a price on the blues I couldn't refuse too
. That was before I'd even mentioned the DRC. After mentioning the DRC he and his wife remembered that the club had stopped down previously. He invited us all back down again and said they'd take care of lunch for us and give us a discount as well on any frags we were interested in.
Personally I'd love to go back down again just to see his pumps and lighting set up and to also check out more frags
. I'll turn that over to Ken though since he's the show maker.My grade for PacificEast Aquaculture, Inc. AKA Dr. Mac's? AAAAA+!!!
The service was excellent, not at all pushy. They talk to you as any hobbysist would and the staff there is very helpful and super friendly. It was more like walking into a home of a friend who had a great exhibit of Reef Animals. Very relaxed and not at all pushy in any way whatsoever.
It was nice talking to Dr. Mac as well since he's been in the hobby since '68' to go over some of the advances in the hobby.
This is one place I will absolutely be making a special trip to go back to soon.
I have to thank Ken for making this review happen. After hearing him talk about Dr. Mac's so much, I just had to go down there to see what it was all about and let me tell you I was so glad I did. If you think you've seen nice frags, well you may have, but you haven't seen absolutley beautiful frags until you stop down to Dr. Mac's.
These aren't in anyway your run of the mill LFS frags either. I saw some small frags of things I've only ever seen pictures of so his selection is ultra-top notch as well. In the frag kit tank he also had some small frags that were super low priced as well, $19 each if my memory serves me correctly? Well worth it if you consider E Bays pricing and then the exhorbitant overnight shipping fees.
To be honest I liked Marine Dreams and I've always been a fan of That Pet/Fish Place but I absolutely love Dr. Mac's!!!!!!
If anyones interested I've got 6 available pamphlets which describe the store and show quite a few good pictures in it as well as there toll free number and hours.
If your interested drop me your address in PM and I can mail them to you directly. I'm itching to use a few of these new peel off stamps lol. No charge for any club members or those interested.
Oh by the way, one thing I definitely need to add here. He's also got some TRUE BLUE mushrooms down there
. Not purple with a blue tinge or almost blue, I mean ABSOLUTELY BLUE!!!!!!!!!!!I'd highly recommend this facility with extreme confidence
.On the way back I also stopped for dinner at a place called Peggy's Home Cooking (northbound on Rt 13 in Farmington). Wow great food (I had the seafood combo platter LOL), great service from a very very friendly staff and the ambiance is fantastic. Another recommendation.
