What's up Pyrosteve and everyone else here. Also new to reefing, my tank is now a little over 6 months old and I'm still slowly adding fish and corals. Joined R2R earlier this year and though I've done a lot of reading on here, only my second post. Like aarbutina, I'm also from Springfield.
My experiences with LFS have been limited after initially really liking Mini Reef. The owner of Mini Reef, Sal, is really nice and is super helpful. But his employee, Steve, is condescending and very assuming, IMO. I bought a McCosker's Flasher Wrasse from them back in February. It came down with ich two days later and Steve put the blame on me despite the fact that I had it in a brand new QT. The lil guy never made it and died a week later. Now having more knowledge, I wonder if it had marine velvet and not ich. I never returned to Mini Reef since.
I've gone to Aquarium World in Boothwyn a handful of times, and have bought a pair of peppermint shrimp and some Zoas from them. Prices are good, the owner is also extremely friendly and helpful, and they have an okay selection for starters and seem to be willing to help find something they don't have.
I haven't been to Aquarium Center in Clementon NJ in 6 years, but plan on making the trip soon. They were my go-to store years ago when I was running a freshwater planted tank. Every experience was awesome there back then and looking forward to checking out the place to see how they are now. I'll also have to check out Aquarium Specialties in Malvern.
Would love to connect with any other local Delco reefers to gaining more knowledge and start acquiring coral frags. As much as my wife loves our tank, she isn't a big fan of how much I've been spending on our LiveAquaria Diver's Den purchases.
