Reef-A-Palooza - Who's Going?

Its worth going. parking is 8$. Had a great time. Lots of things to see. Spent way to much money but brought home 19 new corals. Every thing is acclimating now. I have to find room for everything. Even my wife who is ok with the hobby but not really into it had a good time
 
If you talked to the people near the end of the day, they were ready to give deals. Tomorrow will probably be better. Some of the highly sought after stuff may be gone but there was still a lot of stuff when I left ~5pm today.
 
Went today & not sure what to say. I'm kind of had high expectations comparing reviews I've read on the Cali Reefapalooza.

First off, waited 25 minutes to get in (for tickets). Why there's no advanced ticket sales at these events is a good mystery!

It's pretty much a frag swap. I didn't see too much dry goods being showed off. If you want overpay on thumbnail frags, this is down your alley. Certainly, there's some deals if you looked hard enough. I just laugh when I hear people go crazy over 3p of clove polyps going for $60. "Oh they glow under the actinics!"

Also, it seemed like half the tanks were in the middle of a cycle. They kind of smelled horrible & its the first day. Compared to MACNA, the first two days all the frag tanks were crystal clear. Even with all the hands touching water, the tanks at MACNA didn't look bad until the last day. On top of that, I saw several vendors with starfish, looking to be in bad shape (probably ammonia issues?). Can't say I've ever went to any frag swap in which vendors had starfish. To me, it was pretty depressing to see them there in those conditions.

Lastly, b/c of the venue it's certainly not for the claustrophobic. Some people need to learn how to shower! I'm glad I didn't stay the weekend as initially planned.

***Free parking on the far left lot facing front entrance (by Kobe's steakhouse). Park of the lot is barricaded for Kobe's but it's an open lot.
 
Pugcrush did you listen to any of the speakers? Prices were about the same as A LFS today. The tanks being dirty!!!! they were set up lastnight. Kind of hard to get a stable tank in less then 24hours. There were plenty of larger corals but none that I could buy. plenty of 200+$ corals but who is going to buy them. The corals are small so you can buy them. Would you rather buy 5 corals small or 1 bigger one. I liked seeing jason fox corals though they were out of my price range for the size. It might not have been the most incredible thing i have ever seen and yes there were A lot of the same corals from vender to vender but it was still a good time.
I got 5 different zoas-palys. 6 acros. 2 acans. 5 chalices. and A ausi gold torch. I am happy with what I got and happy with the price. One thing to remember is you can make offers. the worst thing they can say is no.
 
Post pics of all those corals man!! I wanna pretend I'm going tomorrow lol. Interested in what 5 chalices you got.
 
I'm still hoping for good deals tomorrow. I plan on taking plenty of pics. Brant it was good seeing you, can't wait to see those frags opened.
 
Over priced and not worth it unless you wanted to attend the speaker events. Thumbnail frags in most of the vendors but i did buy one thing but for me.For me and my wife to attend and parking, 38.50 to look at overpriced stuff. This is not including the 40 + in gas to get there. No swag. I kinda knew in the back of my mind that this was mostly going to be a vendor event but kind of disappointed me.

I was not impressed with MACNA when it was here also. I can buy better and bigger corals here.
Not a repeat for me. On a side note. They bring this event here and charge 15.00 and they have the same event in CA for 5.00? 5.00 is more like it and people would have more money to spend on the corals. It seems to me vendors in this hobby are going smaller and smaller with frags. I put most of these in my tank and would not even see them.

Just my thoughts.
 
lgull1 said:
Over priced and not worth it unless you wanted to attend the speaker events. Thumbnail frags in most of the vendors but i did buy one thing but for me.For me and my wife to attend and parking, 38.50 to look at overpriced stuff. This is not including the 40 + in gas to get there. No swag. I kinda knew in the back of my mind that this was mostly going to be a vendor event but kind of disappointed me.

I was not impressed with MACNA when it was here also. I can buy better and bigger corals here.
Not a repeat for me. On a side note. They bring this event here and charge 15.00 and they have the same event in CA for 5.00? 5.00 is more like it and people would have more money to spend on the corals. It seems to me vendors in this hobby are going smaller and smaller with frags. I put most of these in my tank and would not even see them.

Just my thoughts.
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Yikes! It's hard to justify going with so many great fraggers here locally...
 
LiquidCache said:
Ugh, after reading all the terrible reviews I almost don't want to go tomorrow lol
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Same here, was planning on going today. But after hearing this I'm kinda thinking not really worth it. I didn't really plan on buying anything. Just wanted to hear speakers & see some new cool toys coming out. Still debating it:/
 
The experience was good. I enjoyed hearing the speakers. They had lots of good things to say. Everything was priced normal but if you talked to the people, you could easily work them down. I got a pair of white wyoming clownfish for $84!
 
My best piece of advice is, this is what you make of it. If you're looking for insane deals you'd never find anywhere else- mostly likely you're dreaming of being at your best friend's house who always gives you killer deals.

If you're looking for something you don't experience every day at a low entry cost of $15, you may find some really good deals, and listen to some speakers, then this is probably for you.

But if you go and don't enjoy it, don't blame me :)
 
KoddyVT is right on. How many times have you gone to a bunch of LFS in one day? With this your not driving from store to store. Its all in one place. Stop being a cheap *** and at least check it out. If you dont like it dont go next year. Yes its 15$ to get in. Yes its 8$ to park. Yes its crowded and some people dont smell great. Yes the frags are small and some are over priced. Some are not! There is one vender that comes to mind that was giving good deals on acros. Orange County Corals. as you go in to the event. Go to the right and half way up the first isle. He has 3 good size set ups. The lighting is not perfect and the corals have been in the dark for several day but he had decent size acros in one tank. Everything in the tank was priced 10$ 15$ 20$ nothing higher. Now I dont know acros that well and some of it was a little hard to tell what it was and the guy helping me was not that up on every kind but they were nice. The lights have not come on yet but I will turn them on and take a pic now. Give me 15 min and I will post pics. Like I said lights are not on now and should not come on for several hours."I run my lights late so I can see them at night when I am home"
 
+1 We are heading over in a few-- S/B fun!!

+1 We are heading over in a few-- S/B fun!!

koddyVT said:
My best piece of advice is, this is what you make of it. If you're looking for insane deals you'd never find anywhere else- mostly likely you're dreaming of being at your best friend's house who always gives you killer deals.

If you're looking for something you don't experience every day at a low entry cost of $15, you may find some really good deals, and listen to some speakers, then this is probably for you.

But if you go and don't enjoy it, don't blame me :)
Click to expand...
 
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