Coming to San Antonio

[staylor]

Hi all,

I am going to be in San Antonio next week visiting my sister. While there she wants me to help her select and set up a SW tank (probably in the 50-75 gallon range). Since I will only be in town for a few days can anyone tell me the best stores for the tank and lighting, dry goods, and live stock (I may pick up some SPS/LPS for me). I have seen the Pet Store list on this site, but would like more information as I could spend my entire trip driving to all of the vendors listed even if I skip all of the PetCos. If this is going to start a battle between dedicated patrons of certain stores as it would on the ORCA site please feel free to PM me with your opinions.

If anyone has any quality used equipment for sale please PM me. Especialy interested in T5 or MH lighting and skimmers. I will be in town this coming Wednesday through the weekend.

Thanks,

Scott

[captexas]

Lot's of good stores here, avoid the PetCo's for sure. Everyone has their favorites so opinions will vary, but you won't get any battles here over it.

As far as shops that have tanks and equipment readily available, you can check out Aquarium Designs, B&B Aquatics (not on pet store list for some reason, but has their own forum in the sponsor section), Alamo Aquatics and even Texas Tropical. Phenomenal Aquatics (listed as Wolf Reef still on pet store list) is a good place to stop for live rock and livestock.

[Kristy]

Hi and welcome to MAAST,

We have lots of used lights and equipment available in the for sale section of this site and you can usually get someone to post a photo. I saw a very nice T5 set-up that Darth Tater is selling that I think would work beautifully over a 55 - 75 gallon tank, so you might want to check that out (thread is titled "T5 retro lights" I believe).

We have some nice stores to visit while you are here. Don't miss Aquarium Designs. I think they have the best selection and service.

Hope you have a great visit!

[ismvel]

Phenomenal Aquatics (listed as Wolf Reef still on pet store list) is a good place to stop for live rock and livestock.
Definitely the place to go for LR.....sells fiji rock for $1.50 / lb...and has a bunch of rock available.

And in the for sale forum, someone is selling about 50 lbs of rock for $75 out of his established system....

[staylor]

Thanks all, keep the comments coming.

I did poke around in the sale forum a bit last night, but I do not know where any of the cities are in relation to each other. I will wait until I hit the ground and go through it with my sister after we settle on a tank size.

Thanks again,

Scott

[ismvel]

Well (I have a sister-in-law living in the Orlando area) San Antonio is definitely not nearly as big or congested as Orlando, so getting around is quite simple....Austin is about 1 to 1.5 hours north of San Antonio.....but the stores that were given to you on this post are all in San Antonio...North Central and Northwest area...Good luck...

[staylor]

maelv, is your sister a member of the local reef club by any chance?

[ismvel]

maelv, is your sister a member of the local reef club by any chance?
No she isn't.....other than me, I only have an uncle in Chicago who is in the hobby, and he keeps a FOWLR system.

[envy]

i would do away with petco since we are expensive. the place for a tank would be fintique looking in the 200-400 range(55-90gallon) tank stand glass top lights(florescent lights can always be sold if you don't want it). LR would be wolf's reef. corals would be between wolf's, B&B, or AD. i would also recommend check with people on here they might give you a better deal than a LFS would. (thursdays fintique has a sale on saltwater fish i think you save 20% or 25% they get some decent things just get there early. a couple of min before 10a.m. and you get a better choich for fish)

[staylor]

On my way!

Scott