Just ranting here

JoJosReef · May 20, 2023

workhz said:
Link?

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/n...ons-only-no-reserve-all-start-at-0-99.984654/

FragAddicts · May 20, 2023

So I grew up in a reef shop, and the biggest thing that bothers me isn't even the price of everything (Don't get me wrong its horible)......It's the size of these frags. Hate to say it but 300$ for a 1/8'' Acro or 1-2 polyp zoa is nuts.

WestMI-Reefer · May 20, 2023

@vetteguy53081 I appreciate this post. Hearing that from experienced reefers helps me know I’m not alone in sticker shock. I’m less than a year into the saltwater side of aquariums and the Coral prices have been absolutely shocking to me. It’s really put a damper on the hobby for me because I simply wasn’t budgeting another 3k on Coral after all the set up cost IN A NANO! I thought I would be able to fill a nano for 1k and so far im above that and maybe 1/3 of it is “full”. I’m not buying the expensive ones either, just the basics. It’s ridiculous. They was $30 for GSP! I dont even want GSP! And they say “On sale” of course… I can’t find any cheap coral online.
The games with online “sales” are at best dishonest, and at worst a scam. The on sale price is not a sale at all, just a manipulation of numbers.
I’ve bought one coral Local from a guy a I met on here. It was better deal and healthier coral than anything I got online. Cool guy too. Will be looking for local hobbyists or traveling to further LFS for future coral buys. I fear all the LFS will be similar to online.

vetteguy53081 · May 20, 2023

FragAddicts said:
So I grew up in a reef shop, and the biggest thing that bothers me isn't even the price of everything (Don't get me wrong its horible)......It's the size of these frags. Hate to say it but 300$ for a 1/8'' Acro or 1-2 polyp zoa is nuts.

Very true, SPS has gone from 2” to 1/2” and price tripled

workhz · May 20, 2023

JoJosReef said:
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/n...ons-only-no-reserve-all-start-at-0-99.984654/

I’m going with that being a fat finger. Their eBay auctions are at 10-20 for clams or something like that. You’ll notice the bidding jumped from single digits to 140.

it wasn’t your typical run up so my vote is error or at least I hope so.

Lbrdsoxfan · May 20, 2023

workhz said:
I’m going with that being a fat finger. Their eBay auctions are at 10-20 for clams or something like that. You’ll notice the bidding jumped from single digits to 140.

it wasn’t your typical run up so my vote is error or at least I hope so.

Or there is a plant, bidding. Thats usually the case.

F i s h y · May 20, 2023

Yep this is how things are now...

vetteguy53081 · May 20, 2023

F i s h y said:
Yep this is how things are now...

It was more referring to sales today and none of them were discounted but prices inflated and a supposed discount offered making it last weeks listed price and notable prices that have more than doubled this calendar year

Opus · May 20, 2023

twelvefive said:
Links to the pages?

Not sure of the ones they are referring, but The Coral-Vault used to do weekly live sales on facebook. I don't really follow them so not sure if they still do them.

F i s h y · May 20, 2023

vetteguy53081 said:
It was more referring to sales today and none of them were discounted but prices inflated and a supposed discount offered making it last weeks listed price and notable prices that have more than doubled this calendar year

It's basically robbery...

Fishy888 · May 20, 2023

vetteguy53081 said:
Im sorry to rant but its getting disgusting with coral prices. I went on three sites and my favorite site (will not disclose) . . . . I had to close the pages at page 3-4 as the prices are beyond insane and very unwelcoming to new hobbyists who many want that certain starter coral(s) and may be able to get one or two at these prices and add $30-40 for shipping on top of it..
I have been buying local and from private parties and am glad I made that switch.
Some, I paid $10-$20 a year or a little more ago and are now $55-$75 especially for two head zoa or other bread and butter coral.
And this PERCENTAGE off of sale price is a load of garbage as One in particular was $75 and 20% off last week (making it $60.00) and today its $65.00 and 10% making it $59.50 - Still $60
Just sad.. . .. . .
ANYWAY, HOPING EVERYONE IS HAVING A GREAT WEEKEND AND ENJOYING THEIR TANKS

You couldn’t be more right. It’s beyond ridiculous now. I only buy from people I know locally or one of the LFSs I trust. There’s no reason for anyone to pay shipping costs on top of ridiculously high prices such as $100 for three polyps of xenia. Don’t get me started on the price of euphillias.

Fishy888 · May 21, 2023

jmichaelh7 said:
Can’t lie that white tang is beautiful lol . Like a piece of Picasso

It had better be beautiful at that price. For that matter it better poop out platinum bars on demand and do the dishes too.

flyfisher2 · May 21, 2023

Don’t stop with just the corals which during the pandemic were dirt cheap.
I bought starter corals of all types at local shops here in Central Florida and from their ebay and other online sales for between $5 -$15 per frag
Now the very same coral frags go ON SALE for $40 and more.
But here’s something, Did Instant Ocean go out of business?
the online retailer which was selling Reef Crystals and Instant ocean salt mixes for very reasonable prices has been out of stock for over a month
And the average price of $ 30.00 per bucket is now in the $80.00 dollar range
Must be the increase in the cost of?

Lbrdsoxfan · May 21, 2023

Fishy888 said:
It had better be beautiful at that price. For that matter it better poop out platinum bars on demand and do the dishes too.

See I just wanted it to crap gold on demand, the dishes is too much. It would prolly gripe about a dishwasher and etc, etc, etc.....

Lbrdsoxfan · May 21, 2023

flyfisher2 said:
Don’t stop with just the corals which during the pandemic were dirt cheap.
I bought starter corals of all types at local shops here in Central Florida and from their ebay and other online sales for between $5 -$15 per frag
Now the very same coral frags go ON SALE for $40 and more.
But here’s something, Did Instant Ocean go out of business?
the online retailer which was selling Reef Crystals and Instant ocean salt mixes for very reasonable prices has been out of stock for over a month
And the average price of $ 30.00 per bucket is now in the $80.00 dollar range
Must be the increase in the cost of?

On the IO thing, I'm back to buying from chewy or asking petco/petsmart to match online, was buying amazon. I felt bad for the amazon prime/ups/usps/fedex driver lugging buckets to the door but I didnt feel bad for the convience of not hassling on that front for the past 4 years, until march when that source went dry.

Tried the LFS a few weeks back and they balked about price matching as reg IO is 19.99 and rc is 23.99 for a 50g bag now.

I miss the 7.99 deals for 50g bags of IO salt or the buy 3 get one free deals my lfs uses to have.

ca1ore · May 21, 2023

Hasn’t driven me out of the hobby, but it’s certainly driven me to downsize. Livestock prices, plus an inability to continue to justify burning all that electricity, I dumped my 450 SPS tank, and kept the 120 softie tank. At the rate the softies grow, I’ll be over-pricing chunks before you can type hypocrite . No plans to buy anymore corals, and I’ve all the fish an overstocked 120 can handle. OK, maybe an unusual softie will tempt me …. but it’d have to be something quite different from what I already have.

flyfisher2 · May 21, 2023

If I didn’t know better I’d swear that the other online retailers putsome weight on Instant ocean because they weren't able to sell buckets for $80if everyone was paying $30 to $35 to the Big A and the petco,s and petsmarts.
I got 50 gallon bags for as low as $5 and I’m talking about 2022.

Cichlid Dad · May 21, 2023

Fishy888 said:
You couldn’t be more right. It’s beyond ridiculous now. I only buy from people I know locally or one of the LFSs I trust. There’s no reason for anyone to pay shipping costs on top of ridiculously high prices such as $100 for three polyps of xenia. Don’t get me started on the price of euphillias.

Problem is a lot of hobbyist are trying to sell their frags for what the online store is selling them for . Euphyllia, I can't find any under 100.00 on the major web sights I have them in my reef sprouting heads all over the place. They are fast growing and pretty easy in my short experience. I don't understand when the person I buy from can make a profit selling them for 10 to 15 per head on the more basic hammers. Torches 15 per head.