how far would you drive for nice corals w nice prices

NeonRabbit221B · Feb 11, 2020

Silent said:
I hear Tiki Corals is good also

I go to Richmond a few times a year as well, I will make sure to check it out!
Thanks!

Duffer · Feb 11, 2020

i have and will continue to drive at least 1 hr

saturn13 · Feb 11, 2020

I have a great store witin 5 mins, and then 2-3 other stores or sellers within 30 mins.

ADAM · Feb 11, 2020

An hour, one way, is about all I’m good for anymore. However that’s more likely when I need a particular dry good and don’t feel like I could wait 4-5 days for delivery or the 1-2 day delivery is not cost effective. Occasionally a hard to find fish or invert pops up and I’ll make the trip, or because I have to be in the area for work and stop by. Two or three years ago that trip didn’t seem nearly as far as it does now. I went probably at least every other weekend. Back then I would generally go planning to shop for an hour or so and be on the way back home..... 3 LFS later I was helping wipe down the tanks at closing time. But most of LFS that were prominent when I started are closed or they have new owners and they just don’t feel like “home” anymore.

andrewkw · Feb 11, 2020

ReeferSteve said:
Man, that’s tough. Where do you live? If you don’t mind me asking.

Don't mind at all. I live on a large freshwater island called St. Joseph Island in Northern Ontario near the MI border.

The blue circle is where I live, the red tiny red circle is where the closest reef store is and the big red circle is where I used to live / where there are probably 6-10 stores I would frequent. The blue dots are detroit area fish stores but since that's the US I can only buy fish at those places not corals.

I'm hopeful of moving in the next year or 2 but it won't be anywhere ideal. 3+ years ago I got pushed out of the Southern Ontario market when houses were creeping (blowing) out of my price range. I just saw the other day the house across the street from where I grew up is on the market for 1.4 million. If it's the original owners from the mid 90s they paid less than 300k for that house. In today's market 300k gets you a rural home hours from civilization...

The original idea behind moving this far north was to have a whole new life, going outside and such but it turns out I just like to eat at various ethnic restaurants and hang out at fish stores... If shipping wasn't a disaster from here (it's really not possible to overnight things) I'd be building a coral farm since I have about an acre of flat land and virtually unlimited decent water (55tds out of my well).

ReeferSteve · Feb 11, 2020

andrewkw said:
Don't mind at all. I live on a large freshwater island called St. Joseph Island in Northern Ontario near the MI border.

The blue circle is where I live, the red tiny red circle is where the closest reef store is and the big red circle is where I used to live / where there are probably 6-10 stores I would frequent. The blue dots are detroit area fish stores but since that's the US I can only buy fish at those places not corals.

I'm hopeful of moving in the next year or 2 but it won't be anywhere ideal. 3+ years ago I got pushed out of the Southern Ontario market when houses were creeping (blowing) out of my price range. I just saw the other day the house across the street from where I grew up is on the market for 1.4 million. If it's the original owners from the mid 90s they paid less than 300k for that house. In today's market 300k gets you a rural home hours from civilization...

The original idea behind moving this far north was to have a whole new life, going outside and such but it turns out I just like to eat at various ethnic restaurants and hang out at fish stores... If shipping wasn't a disaster from here (it's really not possible to overnight things) I'd be building a coral farm since I have about an acre of flat land and virtually unlimited decent water (55tds out of my well).

Wow!

And I thought the housing market here was outrageous. I’ve lived rural before I mean nothing as rural as you and I will never do it again. I much prefer living in a metro area of a decent city. I love the outdoors and everything that comes with it but I’d rather drive for those adventures and have everyday conveniences close by.

fish farmer · Feb 11, 2020

2 to 3 hours to great stores in other states, but usually visiting relatives or on vacation. I rarely just do road trips to check out new stores.

It's much easier to buy corals online for me.

steallife904 · Feb 11, 2020

less than 2 hours from st Augustine to Jacksonville for reefapalooza

Roachbeef19 · Feb 11, 2020

Silent said:
Maybe 4-5 hours. That is how far reefapalooza is in New Jersey (in June) from me in Maryland.

Oh thanks for posting this I'm definitely in for that. I live in pa

tankstudy · Feb 11, 2020

3 hours there and 3 hours back. Do it quite often actually to LFS and frag swaps. We don't have any frag swaps in Arkansas anymore.

Js.Aqua.Project · Feb 11, 2020

I will drive about an hour radius to find quality corals and good deals.

That being said, if I am already in another town with time to kill, my wife and I will almost always look to see if there is an LFS to check out.

homer1475 · Feb 11, 2020

I have driven up to 7 hours one way(reefapalooza), but any LFS is easily 3 hours one way from me.

LegendaryCG · Feb 11, 2020

2 hours max but I’ve never hit that yet. Living where there aren’t a lot of options I generally just order online.

azbigjohn · Feb 11, 2020

Just got back from driving almost 400 miles (Las Cruces, NM to Phoenix, AZ) to come back with $400 of beautiful corals and fish from a store I'd never been to before, but had great coral and prices.

Okay, my wife thinks the trip was just for our grand daughter's birthday party, and the coral stop was a last second idea... my secret is safe here, right?

champyeti · Feb 11, 2020

I'll drive 3 hours from Seattle to Portland. No sales tax for my torches and cheaper than the stores around here.

But Portland is the halfway point between my parents and I so I can see them, too. I probably wouldn't drive any farther than that.