South Suburbs Chicago Help!

[Heabel7]

So I have been cruising fish stores from as far south as joliet to as far north as lake Geneva. Hit maybe 15-20 stores. Nothing in the heart of the city. I have only found 2 stores that have a “selection of acros”
Reef geeks has a lot but pricey (imo)+limited hours
Reefwise had a lot, many died and they have not recovered.
Every other store maybe has 1-3 sticks or colonies on hand if your lucky. And those are either brown or a common easy to care for non acro sps.
Why are they a unicorn in this area?
Please point me in the right direction of an SPS heavy store in the Chicagoland area.

 

[vetteguy53081]

So I have been cruising fish stores from as far south as joliet to as far north as lake Geneva. Hit maybe 15-20 stores. Nothing in the heart of the city. I have only found 2 stores that have a “selection of acros”
Reef geeks has a lot but pricey (imo)+limited hours
Reefwise had a lot, many died and they have not recovered.
Every other store maybe has 1-3 sticks or colonies on hand if your lucky. And those are either brown or a common easy to care for non acro sps.
Why are they a unicorn in this area?
Please point me in the right direction of an SPS heavy store in the Chicagoland area.

Show tanks and Beyond The Reef . .. also seven Sea's Aquatic Life

 

[Naturalreef]

I’d say if you have time, go to Reefapalooza this weekend 19th and 20th. You will find any coral you are looking for and good prices especially on Sunday when vendors are looking to offload their inventory.

 

[SeaDweller]

hit up @coral reeftank, I don't know how close to Chicago he is, but at least he has a ton of stuff

 

[jp_75]

reef nation is close to geneva or st charles.many to choose from!
skip reef geeks please.... hobbyists have more than stores these days

 

[MTBake]

Let me know if you find something. Coral selection around here has been kinda lacking lately. Beyond the Reef had a few sticks for pretty cheap on Sunday, but nothing really stood out to me. They are having a sale this weekend as well, just so you know.

 

[jp_75]

i am sure vendors at reefopalooza will have everything you looking for

 

[Heabel7]

reef nation is close to geneva or st charles.many to choose from!
skip reef geeks please.... hobbyists have more than stores these days

Where is reef nation? See the website, see the craigslist post. No address posted and can’t find on google maps. Seems a mystery to me. Looked multiple times, website is useless.

 

[george51349]

reef nation is close to geneva or st charles.many to choose from!
skip reef geeks please.... hobbyists have more than stores these days

I never heard of them, and I live less than 15 minutes away! This is awesome!

 

[ReefHog]

Aquatica in Tinley Park usually has a few dozen frags at any given time.

 

[brownjoshua475]

Tank it easy is a good one and gingerbread corals is another

 

[jp_75]

you need to email him. he is fast with responding...
miss good reefwise days !

 

[jp_75]

totally forgot about gingerbread! last time i stopped by they actually had many sps frags

 

[D&D]

Mermaids Cove

 

[Heabel7]

Been to gingerbread twice. Second time more sticks but nothing of color. They have a large selection of lps and softies.
Aquatica was there last week and actually bought a nice frag. 1st time in 3 years they had a frag worth buying. Usually common stuff overpriced. But they had a new vendor listed on price sheets. Only 3 frags but at least fair price and pretty.
Beyond the reef- been there twice- both times decent selection and good prices on corals. But again limited on acros and common nothing special.

-Tank it easy- I’ll give it a go photos look lps/softy heavy as most stores are
Mermaids cove- can’t wait given it’s a whse in the -middle of nowhere gives me hope
-Email reef nation.......... hmmm is this a basement? Not bad but curious.

 

[Heabel7]

Is the market that limited in a large metropolitan area such as Chicago or nobody has taken the leap to be a sps vendor? Id like a “visually”WWC like experience in my back yard. But with fair prices. Geese just 1 4x8 sps frag tank would be lovely with some great variety of colors.

 

[ghostman]

Aquapros in GlenElyn was my favorite for price and selection.

 

[Heabel7]

Aquapros in GlenElyn was my favorite for price and selection.

Been there, great prices on everything they had. But only a few sps, Small selection of acros. I remember wandering around only to find the store in a back parking lot garage. Store was busy and owner was friendly.

 

[ghostman]

Only fair prices for me are from other reefers....

 

[ghostman]

Been there, great prices on everything they had. But only a few sps, Small selection of acros. I remember wandering around only to find the store in a back parking lot garage. Store was busy and owner wasn’t friendly.

Thats too bad. That was my favorite spot. Now I live near WWC and and TSA and have lots of options.