LFS and SPS

29bonsaireef · Feb 4, 2018

Seems like in the last 5-6 years theres been a real decline in the amount of sps that come through my lfs, and not just one shop. My first theory, is that the high end and big online vendors are too much competition for the average lfs..? My second theory, is the use of LEDs. Ever since LEDs hit the market hard and all the stores switched over from MH and T5. Quality and quantity of sps went downhill, imo. I can remember going to these same stores 7-8 years ago and seeing beautifully colored and thriving sps corals. Now, just some frag tanks with bleached or browned out sticks, being lit by LEDs.

Could it be that all the stores started having water quality/param issues at the same time, or..? I've asked one of the lfs owners why he doesn't switch back to T5? His response "nobody uses t5 anymore" then I asked why they hadn't been carrying many acropora anymore? The response I got was "just not many people buying them these days". So, I got to thinking.. are ALL lfs this way nowadays? or atleast the majority that aren't tied into online retail? Im not one to drop $500 on a frag, however after spending some time at the lfs and looking at all the ugly brown frags. It sure makes some of those "high end" sps seem worth the price. In my area you are almost forced to buy online to get colorful sps, or play the waiting game on some brown-outs..

I'm curious what others think about this? and if anyone has noticed similar change with their lfs? Are there still some out there carrying quality acros and sps?

Yati · Feb 4, 2018

I got into the hobby in 1999 the first store I attempted to shop and had a beautiful mixed reef gave me a book. I literally had to learn the hobby before they would sell me anything. With the technology today a person not knowing a thing can get into the hobby and have a successful system i.e my wife lol but LPS are more forgiving than SPS some chalices can be forgiving so the demand is higher for these corals because its easier to get one into the hobby just know all you have to do is buy your water get a doser have adequate lighting and you are on your way.

I'm a SPS guy and I travel all over trying to find "good" SPS and I must admit I could probably find bigfoot faster!

jda · Feb 4, 2018

One of our local shops dropped their LEDs and went back to MH and their SPS sales are up 800-1000% since about Halloween - he finally convinced himself that selling the coral was more important than selling the few lights that they did... it was better to lose to and online shop for hardware (at a lower markup) than for livestock.

The best SPS shop around us never left their MH and our best basement-vendor has used T5s the whole time. This place has never stopped carrying the deep waters, echinata, loripes, etc. and always has a fantastic selection of both wild/mari stuff in colonies and frags, as well as named stuff from JF, ORA, WWC, etc.

You can bet that it matters... and the people who will by them all see this.

I will say that the vast majority of the stores around here do not have the breath and depth of experience and knowledge to keep acropora - beyond MPB&S, they are lost. The average store has something like a 3x6 frag flat with some wild colonies, a box full of typical mari stuff and some run-of-the-mill frags from their maintenance accounts with a pair of Kessil 700s about 3-4 feet over the tank dialed in all-blue with about 50-70 par getting to the corals. Most of them are dying from the base-up. All of the detail is in the frag tank, the rack and the form factor of the hanging lights with no thought paid to the actual coral.

reefwiser · Feb 4, 2018

Most stores in my area don’t carry SPS. They just deal in the beginner corals LPS and zoa’s. The members of my club share corals and buy from trusted frag swap vendors to get SPS.
LFS deal with the beginner hobbyist mostly. Sadly LFS just don’t cater to advanced hobbyist. I tried getting my local shop to order my favorite salt for three weeks and every week he had an excuse as to why he didn’t order it. So I had to buy it online. Just par for the coarse as far as LFS and advanced hobbyist’s.

Yati · Feb 4, 2018

Yeah I have/had 4 MH 250's over my system (2 10k's and 2 14k's) I recently switched to LED about 8 months ago and the jury is still out.. but I never worried about par or placement just set it and forget it haha but even with the LED I don't do the blue look I run them 100% at 12k

jda said:
One of our local shops dropped their LEDs and went back to MH and their SPS sales are up 800-1000% since about Halloween - he finally convinced himself that selling the coral was more important than selling the few lights that they did... it was better to lose to and online shop for hardware (at a lower markup) than for livestock.

The best SPS shop around us never left their MH and our best basement-vendor has used T5s the whole time. This place has never stopped carrying the deep waters, echinata, loripes, etc. and always has a fantastic selection of both wild/mari stuff in colonies and frags, as well as named stuff from JF, ORA, WWC, etc.

You can bet that it matters... and the people who will by them all see this.

I will say that the vast majority of the stores around here do not have the breath and depth of experience and knowledge to keep acropora - beyond MPB&S, they are lost. The average store has something like a 3x6 frag flat with some wild colonies, a box full of typical mari stuff and some run-of-the-mill frags from their maintenance accounts with a pair of Kessil 700s about 3-4 feet over the tank dialed in all-blue with about 50-70 par getting to the corals. Most of them are dying from the base-up. All of the detail is in the frag tank, the rack and the form factor of the hanging lights with no thought paid to the actual coral.