New to the area

TrishW · Jun 28, 2012

Hello fellow reefers!

I am relocating to the area and wanted your opinion on the best saltwater store in the area. I visited one that didn't impress me at all. I will be living northeast of Huntsville, but I drive almost two hours to get to the store I prefer here in Virginia so I have no problem driving to get to a store that sells quality corals.

Does the group have regular meetings, swaps, etc?

Thanks for your input,
Trish W

pickupman66 · Jun 28, 2012

Trish. I am about 45 mins northeast of Huntsville. Welcome to the area. Not much for a big store in Huntsville since the tornado. H@rry always has nice frags at great prices in the area. The club does meet but not regularly at the moment. The next closest big lfs is in Nashville. The aquatic critter. Overall the Huntsville gang here is a nice and always able to lend a hand. Oh and Jason and Tammy have plenty of corals and do order fish regularly.

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revsgirl · Jun 28, 2012

Hi Trish! Not from your area, just wanted to welcome you to R2R!!

GrouperStupor · Jun 29, 2012

Only place I know nearby that always has corals stocked is Harrys. Lots of SPS. They are at his house, so by appointment only. Some other locals will post corals for sale now and again.
I've been ordering from some of the sponsors on here. Some great deals can be found.
From new market, nashville is probably the closest place to window shop.

This is it for salwater fish stores (rarely have corals):
Aquarium Shop - Parkway
Decatur Petco - Beltline (Stock some soft corals now and again)
Huntsville & Madison Petcos (dry goods only)

H@rry · Jun 29, 2012

Welcome to R2R Trish. You'll find the local people here in Huntsville to be very helpful. Also, R2R is a great resource for information.

Glad to have you in North Alabama.

flodiver · Jun 29, 2012

I 've had my tank up and running for several years now and have just started at looking to add some more SPS. It has been difficult for me since CRA is gone. I really hope someone steps in to open another dedicated store.

I just can't seem to make that leap to buying corals offline

Shaun

jbonez · Jun 29, 2012

Welcome...

Dave3112 · Jun 29, 2012

Welcome to N. Alabama! I hope you love it here as much as we do! We have a pretty good group of folks in the club but we rarely ever have meetings any more. But we are always willing to lean a hand and offer advice. There are a lot of local tanks and they are all nice. Most of us sell frags from time to time and even give some away too to help get started. I agree that H@rry has the best selection of SPS in Huntsville and the best prices/sizes for frags you will find anywhere. Again Welcome! If you have any questions please feel free to ask we will help out any way we can.

TrishW · Jul 2, 2012

Thanks for the welcome everyone. We have started the transition. My husband and broke down the sump and all its equipment plus the RODI system yesterday and he transported it all to Alabama and has started making water. This means my tank is totally dependent on a Fluval FX5 for the next week. As soon as the movers have the truck loaded we will break down the display, put all the fish and corals in numerous totes, power the powerheads in each tote with a generator strapped on the back of our trailer and start moving the whole deal south. I will be taking a cooler of frozen water bottles with us to control temperature. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

Dave3112 · Jul 2, 2012

I don't envy your move at all. I have done it three times! Once from WA to FL then from FL to CA and finally( I hope) from CA to AL. I wish you the best of luck! I know how nerve wracking it is.

H@rry · Jul 2, 2012

Wow, I don't envy you. I shudder to think about having to move my tanks. I really doubt if you need to do the powerhead thing in the totes if it will be a one day trip. There will be a lot of sloshing from driving (if you drive like I do). Shouldn't be a lot different from shipping livestock overnight.

Good luck and let us hear from you when you get it all put back together.

pickupman66 · Jul 2, 2012

Travel safe and if u need a hand setting up give me a holler. I'm not too far away

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jason.tammy · Jul 9, 2012

If you get a chance chk H@rry and us out.Dave also has stuff to thin out from time to time.Good luck with the move.We are planing a fish order soon so if you are looking to add something please give us a shout.
Jason,Tammy&Willie

Dave3112 · Jul 10, 2012

jason.tammy said:
If you get a chance chk H@rry and us out.Dave also has stuff to thin out from time to time.Good luck with the move.We are planing a fish order soon so if you are looking to add something please give us a shout.
Jason,Tammy&Willie

If you are down towards Cullman make sure you give Jason and Tammy a shout. They have some great stuff and are great people to deal with!

GatorBen · Jul 12, 2012

Good luck with the move. Welcome to North Alabama. I've been here my whole life and don't plan to leave. I'm new to R2R and SW fish tanks but I'm hoping to gain knowledge from all of you guys and gals.

TrishW · Aug 15, 2012

It's been a while but thought I would update the thread. We moved the tank on July 12th and did better than I had feared. We lost a torch coral, like totally lost it and couldn't find it, lol, but all in all the corals faired pretty well. We had a little bleaching but things are looking better now. All just in time for our next move coming up on August 30th. We found a house within a week of moving the tank to the rental we are in which is good for us, but a pain for the tank.

We are kicking around the idea of upgrading to a 180G so if anyone has an idea of where to buy nearby I would love to hear it. Right now I am leaning towards glasscages.com and driving to TN to pick it up. It may not happen but the hubby brought it up, so it is definitely a strong possibility. It's my hobby so him talking about a new tank is a good thing.

Thanks for all the welcomes and suggestions on the move. We won't be adding anything at all for a while but I sure hope to get to see what Harry & Jason&Tammy may have for sale sometime near the end of the year when everything has had time to fully adjust to multiple moves. I was totally freaked out on the VA to AL trip but pleasantly surprised at how well we fared and hope to start adding some stuff again soon.

Looking forward to meeting some of you soon.

H@rry · Aug 15, 2012

Great! Sounds like you made it a whole lot better than you thought. Sorry to hear that you have to move it again but once you have it setup in your own house you'll really enjoy it. Good luck and keep us posted.

EmilyXLC · Aug 15, 2012

Hi! Welcome to Alabama!

Sadly, we don't have much in the way of actual LFSs here in Huntsville but there are a few members in surrounding areas who run small shoppes!

allabout · Aug 15, 2012

Glad the tank move went pretty well for you Trish! Did you happen to move from the Staunton, VA area? We might know each other from the shen valley club

Chameleon · Aug 15, 2012

Congrats on the successful move. When I cam from VA to AL I left my tank behind. I wasn't as brave as you plus I was getting married so I didn't need to add more confusion to the mix. Glad to hear everything went well and sorry you have to move again soon. My wife and I will probably be doing the same within the next year as we are looking for houses now. Let us know your tricks! On the 180g upgrade...do it do it do it...lol.