Whos Going to Reefapalooza Orlando!!??

[BlueDamselReef]

ROLL CALL!!!

 

[KrisReef]

I’m on the TSA no-fly list again.
Hopefully others will be able to go support the hobby in my absence.

 

[BlueDamselReef]

I’m on the TSA no-fly list again.
Hopefully others will be able to go support the hobby in my absence.

Oh nooooo....what did you do!?? Dare I ask

 

[KrisReef]

Oh nooooo....what did you do!?? Dare I ask

I’m not supposed to talk about it

 

[BlueDamselReef]

I’m not supposed to talk about it

Fair enough lol

 

[AquaticYeti]

I’ll be there. First timer here and super excited. Honestly may window shop since I’m a cheap ‍

hopefully there’s some form of deals to motivate me to buy stuff.

 

[BlueDamselReef]

I’ll be there. First timer here and super excited. Honestly may window shop since I’m a cheap ‍

hopefully there’s some form of deals to motivate me to buy stuff.

First time for me too! I've always had something going on but not this year!! I'll mostly be window shopping too because the IRS took all my money!

 

[Cichlid Dad]

Sorry, spent my trip money on a new frag tank

 

[BlueDamselReef]

Sorry, spent my trip money on a new frag tank

Got pics of the new Frag tank??

 

[Dinkins Aquatic Gardens Verified Sponsor]

We’re here! Stop by and say hi!

 

[Cichlid Dad]

Got pics of the new Frag tank??

Finishing this weekend! It was more of a funny, but I'm going to have fun putting it together.

 

[BlueDamselReef]

We’re here! Stop by and say hi!

Looking forward to checking you guys out!!

 

[BlueDamselReef]

Finishing this weekend! It was more of a funny, but I'm going to have fun putting it together.

Nice! I'm trying to set up a new 20gallon tank. Hopefully can finish it up on Sunday or Wednesday! I'm running out of coral space!

 

[Cichlid Dad]

Nice! I'm trying to set up a new 20gallon tank. Hopefully can finish it up on Sunday or Wednesday! I'm running out of coral space!

I ran out! Cheaper to run frag tank LOL!

 

[Opus]

I hope the Dallas show gets more love this year. Last year I showed up around 3 on Sunday and some of the vendors were already gone and others were packing up. I heard attendance was horrible. Surprised me to hear since Aquashella had well over 5000 attendance from what I've been told.

 

[BlueDamselReef]

I hope the Dallas show gets more love this year. Last year I showed up around 3 on Sunday and some of the vendors were already gone and others were packing up. I heard attendance was horrible. Surprised me to hear since Aquashella had well over 5000 attendance from what I've been told.

I think it will! But I think showing up at 3 on closing day is still risky for any show. Sure you might get a few good deals but vendors are tired from traveling and have to travel back home and are ready to pack up and go asap. Some have to catch flights or beat traffic. Show is usually scheduled until about 6 but vendors are starting to packup at about 3 or 4 already on the last day.

 

[KrisReef]

I hope folks who can go will support the vendors who make the effort to be there for the hobby. A nice and inexpensive way to enjoy the show would be to buy a bag of live food from @Dinkins Aquatic Gardens. Corals grow so quickly when they get live natural foodstuffs in their diet.

 

[Opus]

I think it will! But I think showing up at 3 on closing day is still risky for any show. Sure you might get a few good deals but vendors are tired from traveling and have to travel back home and are ready to pack up and go asap. Some have to catch flights or beat traffic. Show is usually scheduled until about 6 but vendors are starting to packup at about 3 or 4 already on the last day.

In this case it was lack of attendance. Some of the vendors actually changed their flights to leave earlier because there was no one there. I think when I got there, there were more vendors than attendees. I heard the first day was almost as bad. I'm hoping it was just frag swap fatigue. We had 8 frag swaps in DFW last year which is just too many. Also, we have several "garage" sellers in the area that bring in stuff and post on facebook that sell below frag swap prices. We just had a frag swap a few weeks ago and I think the attendance was around 50 for the day. They used to bring in 100 to 200. Even the people that were there weren't buying. I talked to a couple of vendors that also have store fronts and they said they were done with frag swaps in the area. They have been loosing money after paying for the booths.

 

[BlueDamselReef]

In this case it was lack of attendance. Some of the vendors actually changed their flights to leave earlier because there was no one there. I think when I got there, there were more vendors than attendees. I heard the first day was almost as bad. I'm hoping it was just frag swap fatigue. We had 8 frag swaps in DFW last year which is just too many. Also, we have several "garage" sellers in the area that bring in stuff and post on facebook that sell below frag swap prices. We just had a frag swap a few weeks ago and I think the attendance was around 50 for the day. They used to bring in 100 to 200. Even the people that were there weren't buying. I talked to a couple of vendors that also have store fronts and they said they were done with frag swaps in the area. They have been loosing money after paying for the booths.

Interesting. How are prices there for frag swaps? I feel like most vendors lately here have pretty steep prices, even at Frag Swaps. Every now and then you'll come across 1 or 2 vendors with some great deals and that makes it worth it to me! Like you said, vendors aren't willing to pay a very high price for a table at a show like RAP if the turnout isn't going to be good, and i guess most feel that they can't lower their prices too much so they can recover the price they paid for the both. But then hobbyists don't want to pay the cost of travel or ticket price for something they don't feel they're getting a good deal on. I just got back from RAP Orlando Day 1 and I actually enjoyed a frag swap I went to in February better than RAP (and the Frag Swap price was $20 cheaper than RAP!). However, I can't complain because I still managed to snag an amazing deal on a new AI Blade from Top Shelf Aquatics who was bringing the heat on some sweet deals and I got a few Frag Racks from PNW Customs.

 

[Opus]

Interesting. How are prices there for frag swaps? I feel like most vendors lately here have pretty steep prices, even at Frag Swaps. Every now and then you'll come across 1 or 2 vendors with some great deals and that makes it worth it to me! Like you said, vendors aren't willing to pay a very high price for a table at a show like RAP if the turnout isn't going to be good, and i guess most feel that they can't lower their prices too much so they can recover the price they paid for the both. But then hobbyists don't want to pay the cost of travel or ticket price for something they don't feel they're getting a good deal on. I just got back from RAP Orlando Day 1 and I actually enjoyed a frag swap I went to in February better than RAP (and the Frag Swap price was $20 cheaper than RAP!). However, I can't complain because I still managed to snag an amazing deal on a new AI Blade from Top Shelf Aquatics who was bringing the heat on some sweet deals and I got a few Frag Racks from PNW Customs.

You can do better from local guys than at frag swaps, but you don't get all the variety in one place. Most of our local guys do the swaps and we have a couple that really have the rarer zoas, which is what I like. Since I go to every swap most of the local vendors know my face and will cut me deals if I'm buying a few things. It also helps that I try and buy everything with cash, so they are even more willing to cut deals. Except for Aquashella and Reefapalooza there are is little to no hardware available. I normally don't even pay attention to the hardware except for Dirk's, I always check out his stuff. I still kick myself for not buying the Corals of the World bookset he had a few years back at Aquashella. I really miss the VIP they used to do for some of the swaps that would allow you to come the night before when a lot of the vendors were setting up. There would be a lot of drinking and I would get some great deals. The last 2 times I went to the VIP I ended up not the day of the swap because I spent all my money the night before.

The swap a few weeks back the vendors had really nice gold torches for $150, some that were splitting and he said no one was buying. Even the vendors that had rows and rows of $15 to $30 frags weren't selling.

My biggest problem with the big shows is I want to walk around and check out all the booths before I buy anything. Nothing worse than paying $50 for a zoa and then seeing the same one a few booth away for $25. The problem is I see things I say I will come back and get and then I forget about it and remember once I left or I go back and it is already gone.