Dr Mac;Marine Depot; TFP; Phishy; TBS;Indo Pacific; Florida Pets; and others

[aquavista99]

Here are my experiences with online vendors within the past year:


Doc Mac/Pacific East Corals-Maryland: Ordered several boxes of SPS corals on two separate occassions. Corals arrived browned out or bleached. Refunded money but will not do business with them again;

FloridaPets.com: Mangroves arrived without stems or decaying pods and cheato never grew. Shipping was very expensive and everything was packed ebay style, not commercial. Will not do busniess with them again;

IndoPacific Reef Farms-Hawaii: Great company to do online business with. Awesome macro algae (Tang Heaven), inverts, worms and crabs. Highly Recommend;

Phishy Business-Columbus, OH: Hands down, the best coral selection in Ohio, period. Sedar is great to work with. Hundreds of SPS to select from. Highly Recommend;

That Fish Place-Lancaster, PA- During my freshwater fish days, this was the place to go to. However, they do not carry a great selection of higher end stuff for saltwater and I have had several problems with customer service. Will only do business  if I can't get the stuff elsewhere;


Doctors Foster & Smith-WI Great customer service. This company will accept returns without a problem; Good selection and great prices. Highly Recommend;

Champion Lighting & Supply-PA Another good source for Saltwater. They replaced a defective metal Halide bulb without a problem. Great selection. Recommend;

Marine Depot-CA They always get me coming back for more with the free shipping on anything over $175. Spent at least $5k here within the past 6 months. I heard some bad things from this vendor on ReefCentral, but I have never had a problem with them....Just follow the return policy closely and do not place items in the water without checking for defects first. Marine Depot sent me a brown Tunze Stream pump on back order once and they exchanged it without a problem for a black version. Best selection for high end saltwater equipment and products in my opinion. Highly Recommend;

AquaC (Proteinskimmers.com)-SanDeigo-Best customer service in the industry. If you have a problem with the skimmer, the President of the Company, Jason Kim, will contact you directly with a solution. I am currently using AquaC EV 180 & EV 240 skimmers on my systems. Highly Recommend the skimmers and the company;

Tampa Bay Saltwater Richard, the owner, is great. The best live rock offered for sale in my opinion. But Richard is only one person and customer service is not what they are known for. TBS sent me to the Northern Cincinnati /KY airport to pick up my first shipment of live rock and live sand with tracking #s etc and called me to confirm, but when I arrived at the airport, I later learned my 225 pounds of live rock was never placed on the plane in Tampa. Richard made things right, but no matter how disappointed I was, the live rock was UNREAL!!!!!  I would do business with TBS again.

Live Aquaria.com You pay a nice price for shipping but SPS corals came with certificates and mangroves arrived healthy w/stems and roots; Recommend;


Note: I consider Just Coral a LFS but would Highly Recommend as well.

[micki]

Great thread!  Thanks for the indepth details.  That certainly helps! 

[ohioreef]

Very nice!

[bigfalcon36]

Thanks for sharing.  I had an Aqua-C 180 on my system for about a year and then replaced it with Micki's ASM G3, and was blow away by how much more skimmate the ASM pulls.  I was happy with the Aqua-C, but am thrilled with the ASM

[aquavista99]

Thanks for sharing.  I had an Aqua-C 180 on my system for about a year and then replaced it with Micki's ASM G3, and was blow away by how much more skimmate the ASM pulls.  I was happy with the Aqua-C, but am thrilled with the ASM

Before selecting the Aqua C EV series skimmers for my systems, I also considered Euroreef and ASM. I decided against ASM because it is built with the same material used for household humidifiers, which is not durable in my opinion. Aqua C EV skimmers are ultra-high performance skimmers when you use external pressure pumps to run them, like the Iwaki MD40RLT. The internal Mag Drive pumps work well, but they do not compare with Iwaki pumps when used with this skimmer. Unfortunately, the Iwaki external pumps are not cheap ($200 and up). On my EV-240 powered by an Iwaki MD40RLT, I have to change my collection cup twice daily or else the skimmer overflows into a 5 gallon bucket....this occurs even with the precision ball valve reduced 75% to control airflow/ output.

I also picked Aqua C because they are known for great customer service. If something goes wrong with the skimmer or if you need help with the break-in-process, Aqua C is always there to help you, even after your warranty expires. I can't say the same for Euroreef (i.e., see numerous threads of ReefCentral ). As for ASM, they are new, so only time will tell. But as the story goes, you get what you pay for and sometimes, service  and support is not included after the sale. Thanks for sharing your input as well.

[micki]

I've used an ASM from the beginning with my 125.  I had a G-3 for about a year, then upgraded to a G-4X because we upgraded the sump.  I have been nothing but happy with both of these skimmers. I sold my G-3 to Travis and he has been happy with it as well.  I can't comment on customer service because I haven't had to use it, however, I have head good things about them in that respect. 

[scott wilson]

Your air cargo issue with the live rock is an all too common issue with air cargo.  The shipper books it and then the carrier bumps it off of the specified flight.  I will not even start to discuss how Atlanta can be a black hole and things get lost for days.  Wholesalers have had cargo that was going through Atlanta get stuck and then bounce back to them ant they get it back 4 days later, never to reach the customer.  I thought USPS was bad but I guess nongovernmental carriers can be total screw-up as well.

[aquavista99]

Your air cargo issue with the live rock is an all too common issue with air cargo.  The shipper books it and then the carrier bumps it off of the specified flight.  I will not even start to discuss how Atlanta can be a black hole and things get lost for days.  Wholesalers have had cargo that was going through Atlanta get stuck and then bounce back to them ant they get it back 4 days later, never to reach the customer.  I thought USPS was bad but I guess nongovernmental carriers can be total screw-up as well.

My experience was not a bump. Apparently, a former employee who shall remain nameless at TBS had a mental breakdown and never dropped off the liverock to the airport to begin with. This happened with other accounts as well, and when Richard returned, a lot of people canceled orders on him and went with another company. Richard made things right and the live rock came with stony corals and sponges attached along with all other types of stuff from the ocean, both good and bad, like various crabs, brittle stars, urchins, worms, sea cucumbers, snails, and mantis shrimp (bad).  I have heard about what you are talking about as well....it is amazing how many livestock orders get bumped by the airlines due to over booking etc.

[aquavista99]

I've used an ASM from the beginning with my 125.  I had a G-3 for about a year, then upgraded to a G-4X because we upgraded the sump.  I have been nothing but happy with both of these skimmers.

I've seen ASM skimmers in action at Marine Solutions. They look like they do a really good job as well, especially for the price. It is basically the same concept as Euroreef, but made from different materials, right? I think ASM was formed by a former partner of Euroreef as well.  I bet Euroreef is not happy with ASM's success, huh?

[scott wilson]

ASM is a Chinese imported skimmer.  They use the same pump as ER but different quality acrylic and union. So really if you are not upset with a potential for the union to drip and are not planning on dropping your skimmer It should work as well as a euro-reef.  There is just more quality control with Euro-reef than Chinese imports and a manual.  But I have heard many bad things about Euro reef customer support these days.  I am sure they are feeling the pressure of the ASM and the Coralvue Octopus skimmers that are putting pressure on the market.  Really you are buying piece of mind with the more expensive skimmers.  Look at Delteck and Bubble king really expensive.  But they do the same thing.  But you are paying for the Quality and the brand and known track record.

[ohioreef]

I am very pleased with my ASM Mini-G. As far as I know, the union has never leaked, but then my skimmer sits in the sump so I guess it wouldn't too big of an issue anyway.

[verper]

Like Scott said, a lot of the cost difference is in the materials.  ASMs use clear extruded PVC tubes and the more expensive brands use extruded acrylic $ or even cast cell acrylic $$$.  All needle wheel skimmers work on the same principal- mixing air and water together and chopping it up into bubbles.  Just depends on what you want your skimmer made out of and where you plan on putting it.  ASMs for example sometimes leak and are not recommended for out of sump use but do work as well as many higher priced units.