gone_PHiSHin Posted September 16, 2017 Share Posted September 16, 2017 what site do you most often visit to check out their stock? i haven't ordered much online, because it really bothers me to pay up to $50 or so to have something shipped but when i'm ready to put in a larger order to make the shipping cost worth it i will spend the money. i much prefer to see the corals health and colors in person, but my local fish stores aren't that great. i have the best time at frag swaps/coral shows but that only happens a couple times a year at most. the sites i check regularly are Legendary Corals, Cherry Corals, World Wide Corals, and Cultivated Reef, but i have never ordered from any of them but LC. i recently found out about AquaSD as well. i had a great experience with Legendary Corals when i first started this tank, and they happen to have a sale going right now so i may order again, but first i wanted to talk about other options. i'm aware of our sponsor section, which is a good place to start but there are obviously mixed reviews of those, and there are certainly more options than that. what vendors do you love? best prices? most impressive corals? best customer service? anything negative to be aware of? help me make this a good reference for those of us that are just starting to order our corals online! Quote Link to comment
gone_PHiSHin Posted September 16, 2017 Author Share Posted September 16, 2017 i have no idea why the font size changed in that post haha i wanted to also add, please include ebay sellers that you have used and trust as well Quote Link to comment
medinar83 Posted September 16, 2017 Share Posted September 16, 2017 check out Uniquecorals.com good quality and awesome shipping, a bit on the expensive side. Def checking out Legendary Corals during the sale. Quote Link to comment
gone_PHiSHin Posted September 16, 2017 Author Share Posted September 16, 2017 i forgot about Unique Corals, thanks my only problem with LC is the shipping is at the high end, $50 unless you are in CA. however they have very reasonable prices on most stuff i'm interested in, especially during the sales. Quote Link to comment
Mark1313 Posted September 17, 2017 Share Posted September 17, 2017 4 hours ago, gone_PHiSHin said: what site do you most often visit to check out their stock? i haven't ordered much online, because it really bothers me to pay up to $50 or so to have something shipped but when i'm ready to put in a larger order to make the shipping cost worth it i will spend the money. i much prefer to see the corals health and colors in person, but my local fish stores aren't that great. i have the best time at frag swaps/coral shows but that only happens a couple times a year at most. the sites i check regularly are Legendary Corals, Cherry Corals, World Wide Corals, and Cultivated Reef, but i have never ordered from any of them but LC. i recently found out about AquaSD as well. i had a great experience with Legendary Corals when i first started this tank, and they happen to have a sale going right now so i may order again, but first i wanted to talk about other options. i'm aware of our sponsor section, which is a good place to start but there are obviously mixed reviews of those, and there are certainly more options than that. what vendors do you love? best prices? most impressive corals? best customer service? anything negative to be aware of? help me make this a good reference for those of us that are just starting to order our corals online! I agree with the shipping cost. Even if I was stocking something large it would still be hard to pull the trigger on the shipping price. Fortunately for me, I'm currently in an area where reefers are abundant. I only have a small tank, and I've overfilled that with different coral. I've never been to a frag show but I have 2 coming up in the next two months. I get frags from local reefers , factor in gas and time, I'm still way ahead of getting a delivery shipped to me cost. Plus I get info from my sellers and get to see their tanks. I've seen and learned a great deal from them and made a couple friends. Even if I needed or wanted a full size coral, there is a lot to choose from in my area. Do you have a local forum for your area? That would be my choice to start from. To answer your question directly w/o any personal experience. I've seen and heard great things from AquaSD and their ebay site seems to have great deals. Good luck matey Quote Link to comment
Kellie in CA Posted September 17, 2017 Share Posted September 17, 2017 I've only ordered online once, from Legendary Corals during their last sale. It was a really good experience! Good healthy stuff and it was packed well. The only reason I'm not ordering again today is because I'm going to hit up their booth at RAP next month. Quote Link to comment
WV Reefer Posted September 17, 2017 Share Posted September 17, 2017 I've been lucky and have had pretty good experiences ordering Livestock online. Most recently: Blue Zoo Aquatics IndoPacific Sea Farms Aquariumdepot Dexters Coral BSA Corals Also have used: House of Sticks Got Corals Salt Critters ..... that's just off the top of my head. 1 Quote Link to comment
Thrassian Atoll Posted September 17, 2017 Share Posted September 17, 2017 I might try to win some stuff on the Facebook coral auction pages and see how it goes. My ponape birdsnet from ORA was super bleached recently when I got it. Quote Link to comment
Lawnman Posted September 17, 2017 Share Posted September 17, 2017 I have purchased from about every vendor there is being in the hobby 8 years. Fish and Inverts Live Aquaria Legendary-Corals for awesome polyps and they always have that higher end piece I want. Darwin is awesome with communication and returning emails. Cultivated Reef has nice bubble tip anemones. I hate that none of there stuff is WYSIWYG. Holly gives great customer service. KPaquatics.com for sponges and gorgonians and the odd ball inverts. World Wide Corals has cheap shipping but the corals are pretty expensive for what you get. They also are horrible at returning emails. Website until the last week had a minimal selection. LA Reefs on ebay usually has a great selection of bubble tip anemones. Reefgardener.com has a decent selection with decent priced shipping but Morgan doesn't respond to emails that promptly if she even responds. Reefersdirect.com has a awesome selection and great customer service. 45 dollar shipping though. Pacific East Aquaculture has great priced corals and amazing customer service. Reefkoicorals has awesome corals and Chris give amazing customer service. My top 2 favorites have to be Live Aquaria and Legendary. Got Corals is a great business and Sandy always provides awesome customer service. Premium Aquatics has awesome live rock and decent corals with great customer service. 3 Quote Link to comment
gone_PHiSHin Posted September 17, 2017 Author Share Posted September 17, 2017 some awesome feedback already guys, thanks to all so far Quote Link to comment
IonicBond Posted September 17, 2017 Share Posted September 17, 2017 Does Jason Fox no longer do private auctions? Quote Link to comment
TheRope Posted September 17, 2017 Share Posted September 17, 2017 For canada i really like Fragbox.ca. Ordered 4 corals from there along with some food and coral cement. Shipping was perfect and timing was dead on. Love the prices, shipping rate and their corals. Quote Link to comment
Tmr8188 Posted September 17, 2017 Share Posted September 17, 2017 My absolute favorite is kpaquatics. 1 Quote Link to comment
nicholase22 Posted September 17, 2017 Share Posted September 17, 2017 I bought from SaltCritters.com last time they had a sale. Everything showed up in great shape and opened right up. Quote Link to comment
Minmay Posted September 17, 2017 Share Posted September 17, 2017 16 hours ago, gone_PHiSHin said: what site do you most often visit to check out their stock? i haven't ordered much online, because it really bothers me to pay up to $50 or so to have something shipped but when i'm ready to put in a larger order to make the shipping cost worth it i will spend the money. i much prefer to see the corals health and colors in person, but my local fish stores aren't that great. i have the best time at frag swaps/coral shows but that only happens a couple times a year at most. the sites i check regularly are Legendary Corals, Cherry Corals, World Wide Corals, and Cultivated Reef, but i have never ordered from any of them but LC. i recently found out about AquaSD as well. i had a great experience with Legendary Corals when i first started this tank, and they happen to have a sale going right now so i may order again, but first i wanted to talk about other options. i'm aware of our sponsor section, which is a good place to start but there are obviously mixed reviews of those, and there are certainly more options than that. what vendors do you love? best prices? most impressive corals? best customer service? anything negative to be aware of? help me make this a good reference for those of us that are just starting to order our corals online! I love AquaSD and Socalaquafarms on ebay but I do local pickup. Reefers garage is cool too but again local pickup. Aquarium Warehouse and Reefers garage is a long drive so I dont go up that way often. They are great guys. Great customer service. Like you, I have checked out other online vendors like WWC, Legendary Corals etc but never took the plunge of actually ordering cuz of the shipping fees and the thought of the kind of stress these creatures go thru in shipping just breaks my heart. Luckly, (kinda lol) I live in SD so I have alot of great reef shops to pick from. I am interested in buying from Reefers Direct. They have some beautiful RFA that I just cant seem to find a nice one in SD. Quote Link to comment
debbeach13 Posted September 17, 2017 Share Posted September 17, 2017 In the last 10 months I have only ordered from SaltCritters and LC. I was very happy with both vendors. Quote Link to comment
Dougefresh35 Posted September 17, 2017 Share Posted September 17, 2017 I have always had good luck with Pacific Aquaculture East you can get alot of frags for the money you spend. I am lucky we have 4 really good frag shops in my area less than a 20 min drive from my house so I havent ordered anything online in a while. Quote Link to comment
gone_PHiSHin Posted September 17, 2017 Author Share Posted September 17, 2017 wow i've got a lot of vendors to look into i mostly wish i had a good local place. the best ones around me are 45 min to an hour away and even they can be hit or miss. keep em coming! 2 Quote Link to comment
Thunder Goose Posted September 17, 2017 Share Posted September 17, 2017 It was mentioned briefly above but I love, love, love Cultivated Reef! Their corals always look great and, since they've been grown by CR you know they're hardy in a tank. And fantastic customer support. I also love KP Aquatics. I was so happy to hear they survived Irma. Their stock is limited but they have some stuff you can't find elsewhere and, again, quality and customer support are great. 1 Quote Link to comment
fishfreak0114 Posted September 17, 2017 Share Posted September 17, 2017 In Canada, the two places I've ordered from are fragbox and Canada Corals. I was very impressed with both places' customer service and how they packaged the corals. Some things are over priced at Canada Corals, but you get healthy coral. 1 Quote Link to comment
jstj0sh Posted September 17, 2017 Share Posted September 17, 2017 Saltcritters is nice when they have their $10 frag sales. Shipping price is very reasonable and my corals have always been perfect and healthy! 1 Quote Link to comment
twowilldo Posted September 17, 2017 Share Posted September 17, 2017 4 hours ago, gone_PHiSHin said: wow i've got a lot of vendors to look into i mostly wish i had a good local place. the best ones around me are 45 min to an hour away and even they can be hit or miss. keep em coming! Do you know about MBC in Broomfield? They have pretty good choices. That's only what, about a 15 m drive for you? Quote Link to comment
Tamberav Posted September 18, 2017 Share Posted September 18, 2017 The stuff Cultivated reef sent me was bigger and better looking than the pictures. I plan to order again just cuz... 2 Quote Link to comment
Rene Posted September 20, 2017 Share Posted September 20, 2017 The hardest part for me is figuring out if the coral I'm interested in will look remotely similar under my lighting. A good vendor will take the time to share what lighting their photos were taken under, which can help, although there are so, so many other factors at play there... I have had recent excellent success with: KP aquatics (unique stuff, great prices, well packaged) Reefgardener.com (some unusual stuff, good ricordea, great prices, good communication) Pacific east aquaculture (can be pricey but discounts available, sales, and great service!) Legendary corals (great customer service, beautiful corals, best packaging I've seen) Quote Link to comment
colinlevy Posted September 30, 2017 Share Posted September 30, 2017 I've only ordered from salt critters, and knew nothing about them before I read about their $10 frag sale. But I've seen multiple people mention this website so it must be good. Anyways, during the sale I got 7 frags shipped under $100. Turns out salt critters is based an hour and a half away from me and does local pickups on Fridays, so looks like next time I won't have to worry about shipping 1 Quote Link to comment
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.