Impromptu South Bay LFS Tour 3/23

[Darkxerox]

Photos from last weekend, been really busy lately!

First stop was @ClearWaterAquarium @tribbitt said to stop by to see the changes. Looked like lots of new tanks up and running, place was packed with customers and activity. The new front display looks promising with a cute puffer:

Lots of dry rock options:

Saw some frag options along with some Christmas tree worm colonies if anyone has been looking for some:

 

[Darkxerox]

Second stop was Violet Aquarium where I met the owner Paul. First time here and pretty surprised how huge the back fish holding area is along with the new coral flats. Sounds like most sales are done online but there were other walk ins (you can do in store pickup). Definitely a fan of his QT and isolation methods using copper, metro, kana, etc. Not quite Humblefish or High Tide level QT but wayyy more than a typical turn and burn Petco. All the fish were eating, looked somewhat conditioned, and I liked how he was doing all his own acrylic cutting (had a large machine) and carpentry.

I liked how the employees were observing the fish and moving them around as needed for aggression, further treatment, etc. Very limited for dry goods or foods but he said he can add things as needed. Very much a fish guy at heart I can tell, but the coral systems are fishless and separate for those that care.

Lots of cured live rock and biomedia for sale too.

 

[Darkxerox]

Last stop was Neptune and of course @robert4025 was amazing and showed why he's the OG. Check out the new fresh water area and registers:

You can tell he's a hardware guy at heart and it looked immaculate with the awesome Kessil overhead lights that I still think are the future! Zero glare when on, really overkill but going to be so impressive when the plants are lit up.

The display tanks were super clean and packed as usual:

He's also the only place that has Hydros equipment in store and it's all the same price as online. So let's try to get our controllers and bundles from him to send a message!

 

[Turkeysammich]

Violet aquarium is owned my Mandu. Who is Paul ? Is he the new owner ?
So I wanted to clarify QT. Violet does not officially qt. They medicate like all fish stores. Only High Tide truely does QT. Not to confuse people that maybe reading this thinking they are the same. They are not.
I’m gonna share a story about Violet. I bought a fish on line from them. Drove down there. The guy goes. Oh I’ll bag it up. I was like oh I want to see it. He goes. I’ll be right back. Comes back and hands me the fish all bagged up. I say. Oh I wanted to see it in the aquarium and see if it ate. He just looked at me. I said oh I wanted to choose the fish. He responds. Oh we only have one. I say oh ok. I turn around, look at the fish. The fish does a spiral of death and has a heart attack right in front of me. I turn around and say to the guy. This fish just had a heart attack. It’s dead. He goes oh shit. It just came in. He brought it to the back and just dumped it back into the medicated section of the holding tank. Super sad.

 

[Invictus]

Violet aquarium is owned my Mandu. Who is Paul ? Is he the new owner ?

Paul (Paulo) is the manager, not the owner.

 

[Darkxerox]

Violet aquarium is owned my Mandu. Who is Paul ? Is he the new owner ?
So I wanted to clarify QT. Violet does not officially qt. They medicate like all fish stores. Only High Tide truely does QT. Not to confuse people that maybe reading this thinking they are the same. They are not.
I’m gonna share a story about Violet. I bought a fish on line from them. Drove down there. The guy goes. Oh I’ll bag it up. I was like oh I want to see it. He goes. I’ll be right back. Comes back and hands me the fish all bagged up. I say. Oh I wanted to see it in the aquarium and see if it ate. He just looked at me. I said oh I wanted to choose the fish. He responds. Oh we only have one. I say oh ok. I turn around, look at the fish. The fish does a spiral of death and has a heart attack right in front of me. I turn around and say to the guy. This fish just had a heart attack. It’s dead. He goes oh shit. It just came in. He brought it to the back and just dumped it back into the medicated section of the holding tank. Super sad.

Dunno, he introduced himself as Paul, Tongan dude, very nice and explained all the systems. UV and copper on the front systems, back system prazi/metro, guess he runs the show given his knowledge. And yes I'm aware it's not full QT but still a step above what I see at your typical Petco and they do make that clear in their FAQ and notes. That's how we did it back in the day at Lucky Goldfish so I appreciate the effort even if we know more now about how to do proper QT, or buy from someone that does like Kenny.

The big thing is that I didn't see any dead fish stuck in filter intakes or floating in the top, even though it was busy. And the fish were active, behaving properly, etc. Coral systems were clean, not totally aiptasia ridden. He was open to some of the suggestions I had to on how to control certain algae in fishless systems.

He showed me all the tanks, front and back, which was way more forthcoming than most, especially to a stranger asking lots of questions.

 

[tribbitt]

Second stop was Violet Aquarium where I met the owner Paul. First time here and pretty surprised how huge the back fish holding area is along with the new coral flats. Sounds like most sales are done online but there were other walk ins (you can do in store pickup). Definitely a fan of his QT and isolation methods using copper, metro, kana, etc. Not quite Humblefish or High Tide level QT but wayyy more than a typical turn and burn Petco. All the fish were eating, looked somewhat conditioned, and I liked how he was doing all his own acrylic cutting (had a large machine) and carpentry.

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I liked how the employees were observing the fish and moving them around as needed for aggression, further treatment, etc. Very limited for dry goods or foods but he said he can add things as needed. Very much a fish guy at heart I can tell, but the coral systems are fishless and separate for those that care.

Lots of cured live rock and biomedia for sale too.

Nice pics. Did you notice bubble algae in the tanks at Violet? I was there not too long ago and saw a lot, if it's already been addressed that's really cool

 

[Darkxerox]

Nice pics. Did you notice bubble algae in the tanks at Violet? I was there not too long ago and saw a lot, if it's already been addressed that's really cool

Yep he actually asked me how to deal with it since he tried Fluconazole at 2x recommended dose with no luck, so I showed him where to find pitho crabs.

 

[Alexander1312]

Violet aquarium is owned my Mandu. Who is Paul ? Is he the new owner ?
So I wanted to clarify QT. Violet does not officially qt. They medicate like all fish stores. Only High Tide truely does QT. Not to confuse people that maybe reading this thinking they are the same. They are not.
I’m gonna share a story about Violet. I bought a fish on line from them. Drove down there. The guy goes. Oh I’ll bag it up. I was like oh I want to see it. He goes. I’ll be right back. Comes back and hands me the fish all bagged up. I say. Oh I wanted to see it in the aquarium and see if it ate. He just looked at me. I said oh I wanted to choose the fish. He responds. Oh we only have one. I say oh ok. I turn around, look at the fish. The fish does a spiral of death and has a heart attack right in front of me. I turn around and say to the guy. This fish just had a heart attack. It’s dead. He goes oh shit. It just came in. He brought it to the back and just dumped it back into the medicated section of the holding tank. Super sad.

I do not believe we need a store such as Violet. There are enough others that do great work and still struggle so we should not dilute our (financial) attention with stores who have questionable practices or lacking understanding and do not know how to deal with bubble algae. Attaching the picture of the coral that was sold to me bagged as well. Ordered online before coming in. Only saw it when I got back home.

 

[Turkeysammich]

I do not believe we need a store such as Violet. There are enough others that do great work and still struggle so we should not dilute our (financial) attention with stores who have questionable practices or lacking understanding and do not know how to deal with bubble algae. Attaching the picture of the coral that was sold to me bagged as well. Ordered online before coming in. Only saw it when I got back home.

View attachment 54448

Vermited snails too. Those were free.

 

[tribbitt]

I do not believe we need a store such as Violet. There are enough others that do great work and still struggle so we should not dilute our (financial) attention with stores who have questionable practices or lacking understanding and do not know how to deal with bubble algae. Attaching the picture of the coral that was sold to me bagged as well. Ordered online before coming in. Only saw it when I got back home.

View attachment 54448

I can't tell, are those vermitid snails or coral-boring spionids? At least you can glue vermitids.

 

[tribbitt]

Yep he actually asked me how to deal with it since he tried Fluconazole at 2x recommended dose with no luck, so I showed him where to find pitho crabs.

Actually, this reminds me: I had a bubble algae on a frag I got from Violet, and I popped it in a peroxide dip, so that the cytoplasmic domains couldn't settle elsewhere and are immediately destroyed. Could a similar strategy be employed with in-tank fluconazole?

Also, it's a practice to have 2 sets of frag racks which a store would swap in and out every once in a while in order to remove coralline. Fragbox, for one, does this. There were many bubbles on the rack last I went; could the same be done for the bubble algae? Keep in mind I haven't had to fight a full-on bubble outbreak, so these are just questions and not advice – I was just wondering

 

[Kensington Reefer]

I do not believe we need a store such as Violet. There are enough others that do great work and still struggle so we should not dilute our (financial) attention with stores who have questionable practices or lacking understanding and do not know how to deal with bubble algae. Attaching the picture of the coral that was sold to me bagged as well. Ordered online before coming in. Only saw it when I got back home.

View attachment 54448

That’s despicable!
The frag with the vermetids
Such poor form

 

[Darkxerox]

Actually, this reminds me: I had a bubble algae on a frag I got from Violet, and I popped it in a peroxide dip, so that the cytoplasmic domains couldn't settle elsewhere and are immediately destroyed. Could a similar strategy be employed with in-tank fluconazole?

Also, it's a practice to have 2 sets of frag racks which a store would swap in and out every once in a while in order to remove coralline. Fragbox, for one, does this. There were many bubbles on the rack last I went; could the same be done for the bubble algae? Keep in mind I haven't had to fight a full-on bubble outbreak, so these are just questions and not advice – I was just wondering

The whole popping off bubble algae spreading thing is pretty much debunked.

A lot of stores swap out racks like this though to clean them and it's highly recommended. Def want to make sure you guys have shared your experience with the store. Education is a key part of the club's tenets. Also @Alexander1312 that mummy eye chalice is definitely in DBTC so grab a free one!

 

[Darkxerox]

Not the South Bay but I was up in Petaluma this week and got a chance to finally see @nlopedota 's store Under the Sea!

Tons of coral options, good stock of fish and dry goods, food etc. Really really good deals on some used sumps if anyone is looking ($50 range).

Weather was miserable so I didn't stay as long as would have liked. Good option for those of you in the North Bay.

 

[Turkeysammich]

@Darkxerox how was their fish selection ?

 

[Darkxerox]

@Darkxerox how was their fish selection ?

Lots of freshwater. Saltwater had a mix of clowns, triggers, tangs, etc. There was a hybrid scopas that looked more like a yellow tang (sold though). Didn't make too much of a mental note for fish tbh.

 

[Alexander1312]

Not the South Bay but I was up in Petaluma this week and got a chance to finally see @nlopedota 's store Under the Sea!
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Tons of coral options, good stock of fish and dry goods, food etc. Really really good deals on some used sumps if anyone is looking ($50 range).

Weather was miserable so I didn't stay as long as would have liked. Good option for those of you in the North Bay.

Rohnert Park. Not easy to reach for me but I very much liked the store when I visited it end of last year and had a nice chat with Nick.

 

[Alexander1312]

The whole popping off bubble algae spreading thing is pretty much debunked.

A lot of stores swap out racks like this though to clean them and it's highly recommended. Def want to make sure you guys have shared your experience with the store. Education is a key part of the club's tenets. Also @Alexander1312 that mummy eye chalice is definitely in DBTC so grab a free one!

I have another mummy eye, not sure where I got this from, probbaly a frag swap. My feedback of my experience is on Yelp .

 

[ashburn2k]

Not the South Bay but I was up in Petaluma this week and got a chance to finally see @nlopedota 's store Under the Sea!
View attachment 54475View attachment 54476View attachment 54477View attachment 54478View attachment 54479View attachment 54480View attachment 54481View attachment 54482View attachment 54483View attachment 54484
Tons of coral options, good stock of fish and dry goods, food etc. Really really good deals on some used sumps if anyone is looking ($50 range).

Weather was miserable so I didn't stay as long as would have liked. Good option for those of you in the North Bay.

I thought under the sea is in rohnert park? Did they just moved again?