Why such a big difference in coral prices between vendors?

[roll_the_dice]

I have 2 LFS in a 30 minute radius.  One outright sucks and has outrageous pricing, the other is OK, but very small and has maybe half of one of the frag tanks above for frags...3-4 tanks of fish.  It's sad.  I was in SF recently...wish I had gone to some of the LFS in the area, but it would have made me depressed!

[Ebn]

One of the reasons why I like this place is that the owner is aware of bugs and proactively treats for them. 

 

This is the section of one of the sump that is attached to two of the 8' tanks. Might be hard to make out, but both sizable skimmers have their cups removed at the moment since they're gonna overflow for awhile. This is the first of the system to be treated for AEFW using Purge, which should last for 3 weeks or so. 

[ninjamyst]

WOW, that's a great store!  What's the name?  My sister lives Hayward and I visit her often.  I need to check out that store next time.

[Ebn]

Neptune Aquatics, which is in SJ. It's quite a drive (~30 minutes), but worth it. Since your sister is in Hayward, you've probably been to Aquatic Collection before, which is one of three shops that I visit on a normal basis. If you do make it down to Neptune Aquatics, just let them know that you're part of Bay Area Reefers (BAR) and they'll be happy to extend you the 10% discount. 😉

 

[SaltyBuddha]

18 minutes ago, Ebn said:

Neptune Aquatics, which is in SJ. It's quite a drive (~30 minutes), but worth it. Since your sister is in Hayward, you've probably been to Aquatic Collection before, which is one of three shops that I visit on a normal basis. If you do make it down to Neptune Aquatics, just let them know that you're part of Bay Area Reefers (BAR) and they'll be happy to extend you the 10% discount. 😉

 

That looks like an awesome LFS! Gotta make a visit up there next time I go see the family. 

 

My LFS selection has been going down hill recently. Prices going up with less of a selection. I plan on going to Reefapalooza next weekend to see what I can pick up. Hopefully it isn't too bad 

[Clown79]

On 9/25/2018 at 9:58 PM, MrObscura said:

Watched the whole vid. One thing I've quickly learned in my little time in this hobby is that the idea of crazy light, crazy flow isn't the end all be all it used to be. 

 

Hell looking at old threads online you see people talking 2000+ par, while now 150 is often mentioned as high light. 

 

Interestingly, based on that video the opposite of most people approach is actually the case, with soft corals coming from open water areas with crazy flow and light and most acros coming from protected murky reefs. 

 

Its kind of ironic that most good reefers are trying to replicate their animals natural environment as best as possible but in the effort to do so kind of have things somewhat backwards. 

 

Though that brings up the issue of aquaculture corals, since now they have become accustomed to the artificial tank environments. Though fortunately, a few decades in captivity isn't going to erase millions of year of evolution. 

 

Anyway, in this noobs opinion it seems medium/moderate light and flow is the way to go in aquariums for the vast majority of corals. 

 

And on the topic of coloration, thats one reason I don't like buying corals online. Even the most reputable sellers often paint their corals in the best, unrealistic, light. With filters, altered lighting, etc. I remember a thread I found online back from when one of WWCs 600 dollar acro frags came out and a number of people posted their's and none looked close to the Pic on wwcs site. 

I found a site by accident with the required par for sps, unfortunately no lps were listed.

 

I was surprised to see that 250 was the highest that one needed but average was 120-150.

 

And yup, my experience with softies like leathers and xenia- they love light and lots of flow. 

 

I've had monti's start bleaching and closed polyps in the same areas that my xenia are in and loving.

[MrObscura]

The way my lighting is right now my birdsnest and montis are getting 100-130 par give or take and seem happy. 

 

I plan to add acros later to a section getting about 150 par or so. It'll be interesting to see how they do and how I'll end up needing to adjust the intensity. 

[mitten_reef]

On 9/25/2018 at 2:53 PM, A Little Blue said:

Here is one of the links I found, enjoy:

 

Awesome video LB. Here’s an article the presenter (I believe it’s him, I didn’t catch his name in the presentation video, but content is spot on) wrote for reefbuilder a lil while back. Very interesting insight about Millie’s. 

https://reefbuilders.com/2017/05/17/acropora-millepora/

[squamptonbc]

I only buy from hobbyists, most expensive one was $20 and larger then anything a store sells, and store wanted $60 for the same coral only smaller. Because of shipping costs being 30-40, I don't order online. 

 

Stores never have much selection, I really don't think the local stores sell enough corals to justify ordering them, they seem to get their frags on trade from customers for store credit more then anything else.

 

 

[A Little Blue]

1 hour ago, micoastreefing said:

Awesome video LB. Here’s an article the presenter (I believe it’s him, I didn’t catch his name in the presentation video, but content is spot on) wrote for reefbuilder a lil while back. Very interesting insight about Millie’s. 

https://reefbuilders.com/2017/05/17/acropora-millepora/

Good read. Yeah, it is the same guy. I’m fascinated by his (and ppl like him) experiences. 

[MrObscura]

19 hours ago, Clown79 said:

I found a site by accident with the required par for sps, unfortunately no lps were listed.

 

I was surprised to see that 250 was the highest that one needed but average was 120-150.

 

And yup, my experience with softies like leathers and xenia- they love light and lots of flow. 

 

I've had monti's start bleaching and closed polyps in the same areas that my xenia are in and loving.

Reef Wholesale(the people who developed the AB spectrum) aim for 40-70 par for Lps. 

[A Little Blue]

Video from one of Indonesian coral farms:

 

Anothet one in case you like that kind of stuff: