Who lives the closest & farthest from a saltwater fish store? What do you do if you live FAR away?

[atomos]

Thanks to @CanuckReefer for the QOTD idea today!

CanuckReefer - "Just thought to myself, as I was dreaming of a future cabin way out in the woods. Oh yes, the peacefulness lol. Many of us are lucky enough to live reasonably close to LFS or ability to have shipping overnight thankfully...however, what about those in extremely remote locations? How do they manage? Who on the site worldwide is the most remote and what do they do in terms of attempting to mitigate a problem if one arrives? Is there a reef in Antarctica, the far north of Norway, Canada etc that is hours and hours away from assistance on the site?"

Let's talk about this today!

1. How close to a saltwater fish store do you live? Tell us about it!

2. If you live FAR away how FAR are you?

3. For those that live too FAR away from a LFS to drive or to even get an overnight package how is reefing effected by the distance?

1) the closest is 15 miles (on a good day) but not high my list of LFS' to purchase fish from....maybe frozen or live foods in a crunch. the preferred LFS is about 18 miles (on a good day). i've ignored any Petco's or the like...only visit these places on a whim and not on a buying mission

 

[Uzidaisies]

Closest is 32 miles, 43 minutes but I don’t care for that place too much. Next closest is 41 miles, 54 minutes.

 

[Jeffcb]

Dangerously close.

 

[Maddlesrain]

I live on an island that has only one general pet store—they do have some frozen food options, but no livestock of any kind. I need to board a ferry to reach the mainland and then it's a bit of a drive from there. Overall, it's about 35 miles to a LFS, but it can be a time consuming trip because of the boats.

 

[N.Sreefer]

I now live only 4 miles from a LFS but when I was living in NFL there were no stores on the island yet so the nearest store was in Nova Scotia 1500km away. It was near impossible at times with Liverock being so expensive to ship and no frozen food nearby. Fed my own seafood mix and used limestone from the grand banks. It was an ugly tank but I was able to grow coral and at the time that's all I cared about!

 

[X-37B]

3 lfs within 3 miles.

 

[CanuckReefer]

I now live only 4 miles from a LFS but when I was living in NFL there were no stores on the island yet so the nearest store was in Nova Scotia 1500km away. It was near impossible at times with Liverock being so expensive to ship and no frozen food nearby. Fed my own seafood mix and used limestone from the grand banks. It was an ugly tank but I was able to grow coral and at the time that's all I cared about!

Wow, that's cool limestone rock from the ocean in Newfoundland! Did you keep one or two of those rocks and add to your current display?

 

[Just John]

I have a ten-hour round trip drive to Edmonton for the closest LFS -- about 1000km of driving for mysis and the like. The only way to do this is to make a day of it, but I still end up driving in the dark on two lane highways with logging trucks and moose, which is certainly not ideal, and especially in wintry weather. In addition to Human Emergency Equipment, I always travel with Fish Emergency Equipment, including styrofoam coolers, heat packs, extra bags, and I even have a small pump with a USB port.

Now that's dedication! I would just have gerbils.

 

[davidcalgary29]

Now that's dedication! I would just have gerbils.

That would be a twenty-hour drive...

 

[fish farmer]

1. How close to a saltwater fish store do you live? Tell us about it!

Petco is 20 miles, the "better" stores are 50 miles and one is basically never open (service contract must make more coin.) I would have to drive within an hour of Boston to get to what I've heard are decent reef stores or go south toward Connecticut.

2. If you live FAR away how FAR are you?

You can't get there from here, not really far from civilization, but probably an hour from other reefers.

3. For those that live too FAR away from a LFS to drive or to even get an overnight package how is reefing effected by the distance?

I can get overnight packages fine during the right times, but mid summer priority mail from Florida is 4 days. My last overnight shipment was a box of seafood from Rhode Island and that took 2 days, next time the wife and I will drive down for dinner. I haven't added much new to my tank in a while, just letting things grow out.

 

[threebuoys]

200 yards from the ocean but 120 miles to Norfolk- nearest Saltwater Fish Store and nearest airport.

My fish and coral buying experience is at the mercy of FedEx and UPS. You can probably imagine how that has gone.

 

[davidcalgary29]

My fish and coral buying experience is at the mercy of FedEx and UPS. You can probably imagine how that has gone.

Tell me about it! The stench of rotting cynaria is just about as bad as rotting potatoes. Blech...

 

[OneSockERock]

0-5 miles

I have a newer reef focused LFS 3 miles from me, only been once but he had quality stuff for decent prices. My go to reef store for the past year is only 5 miles from the house. Expand the circle to 15 miles and I have 4 quality LFS's to choose from, a couple questionable ones, multiple saltwater Petco's and an Aquarium Adventure (Petland). All still in the western burbs - some benefits of living in a major metropolitan area.

Sometimes on boring Sundays me and the SO will make our rounds just to see what's in stock at the various stores. A dangerously expensive pastime.

 

[N.Sreefer]

Wow, that's cool limestone rock from the ocean in Newfoundland! Did you keep one or two of those rocks and add to your current display?

The big ones stayed in NFL but I still got lots of what my buddies and I call "kelp plates" for mounting frags. I was thinking of trying the same thing with pilot whale vertebrae just for the heck of it.

 

[sixty_reefer]

Am quite unlucky I’ve got 8 lfs on a 20 minute drive and if I include the ones I pass through work maybe 15

 

[Ippyroy]

There are 2 LFSs that are about 2 hours away. They are only open a few days a week and those days aren't the same ones I have off. Therefore, it's 5 hours one way to Salt Lake City. I have built my entire tank from online purchases other than some plumbing supplies. It gets to around 40 below 0 and I don't temps above freezing from early November till maybe mid March so I can only order livestock starting in late April or early May. The good part is I can order Frozen food from BRS all winter and not give it a second thought if it is late.

 

[Mr Cypher]

To get to a real fish shop for me it is a 165miles min I have a petco but there uuselesssuper sick live stock and no selection for food aqua sd is the closest real reef shop close to me. I usually order almost everything from BRS and I pre make a butt load of water just in case lol

 

[725196]

I live within 25 minuets of 14 LFS'. Within an hr. of about 40 LFS'.


Reading the other posts I have forgotten about Petco's and other chain pet stores that carry saltwater. That would add another 13 according to a google search within 25 miles.

 

[rhostam]

I'd love to tag my local LFS, but despite my best efforts they still don't have a presence on Reef2Reef. I'm going to have to bug them again!

 

[Tanksfishtank]

According to my wife "We might as well live in the dang fish store".