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Favorite Coral Site?


AlexC

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After a few months in the hobby, I've hit most LFS in the Austin area and picked up or seen a few fantastic pieces. I want to venture into online shopping for coral, but with so many sites and no experience in the area, it's a little hard to find a good and trusted site. So I figured, why not ask the club?
What is your favorite site?
1. Bulk deals
2. Exotic color variations
3. Most trusted best success
Which sites have you had problems with?
1. Customer service
2. Dead on arrival or poorly shipped
3. Pests and hitchhikers

Thanks for the read
Alex

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We've used AquaSD, Jason Fox, and Live Aquaria all a few times, no complaints. We've also bought from hobbyists through Facebook a few times and all of those went well except one time the dude messed up but he gave us a full refund.

AquaSD has some good deals.

Jason Fox has some high end stuff but it's really expensive.

Live Aquaria has the basic stuff.

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Dan and Brooks hit on some great sites for corals. Unique corals has some pretty nice stuff, and the one time I ordered from him he was very helpful in putting together a frag pack within my specifications and price range. Although I have never ordered form battle corals I have read and heard nothing but positive reviews of Adam and his corals. I have also heard really good things about BSA and pieces of the ocean. I have never ordered from them but both have some great looking pieces as well, and pieces of the ocean has a 30 day guarantee on fish (if your ever interested in ordering fish), which is a pretty sweet

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I've ordered 3 times from Aqua SD and have been extremely happy. So easy to deal with and the corals always look great. They do a live sale on Saturday evenings. If you miss it you're still able to order after the sale as long as they still have some in stock.

I also got a free frag pack from Unique Corals when I bought my Neptune Wav's. When I ordered I asked for a specific delivery date. They were quick to respond and notified me when the package shipped. The 4 pieces arrived in great condition and looked great.

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I can't think of the last time I ordered online. There's so much available locally and I can actually see the system a coral is grown in and get it's history I just don't see any need to go online.

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I think normally you can get most of what you want locally, but if you're looking for fairly specific or rare corals, it's pretty difficult. For example, you can't just go out and get a nice Blasto Wellsi, or rare SPS. I've already got a frag of many of the high end SPS locally, so I'm stuck venturing online to get some more of the rare stuff. I think everyone would prefer local when possible...

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BRS & amazon for "dry goods."

LFS for livestock 90% of the time (unless i have $$$ for a bulk order online). sometimes some stores resell peoples tank shutdowns at closeout prices. I tend to get "deals" from the "about to die" tank. if they come back, they will survive in my tank *lol*

sometimes petsolutions has good deals on fish. no complaints there. aquasd, liveaquariua have been my recent stores.

i get food from brineshrimpdirect in bulk, and cleaner crew every once in awhile from reefcleaners.

craigslist amazingly has some good stuff sometimes, and other "local" or "regional" forums like ARC. I've has a lot of luck from the san antonio one.

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There are a couple that I'm on. If you pm me I can tell you which ones. The Facebook groups are kinda the Wild West. There isn't any buyer protection or seller protection. It's truely buyer beware and it's a group of people right so you can have a great experience with John S and get great coral and the next time get fleeced by Morgan K all in the same group. You also usually pay a premium for the coral but your not on these groups if your looking for purple stylo, they are more reserved for the ultra high end.

It's not for the faint of heart and to be honest it's not really for beginners either. You need to have some experience before you step into those groups or you can be separated from your money quite quickly and efficiently and have nothing to show for it.

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