RE: Horizon and Rivercity my two favorite stores!!
I have to agree. Horizon and Rivercity are both great stores. I really like the fact that they don't feel that your tank has to be setup a certain way. I was talking to this one hobbyist and he told me that you must run DSB and Protein Skimmer or your tank will fail and then another told me that Bare bottom was the only way to go and he didn't use a Protein Skimmer at all. So I went in to Horizon and talked to Steve about it and he showed me examples in his stores of different setups. He showed me that there are a lot of different ways to make your reef look great and I just really appreciate his opinion because his is straight forward and open minded. With the constant advancement this hobby is making I think that's really important.
Rivercity is also a great shop. I wish they would setup a few more saltwater tanks but as far as helpfulness and knowledge these guys are great.
Being new to the bobby information is very important to me. I really like the fact that I can go in to either of these stores and ask A LOT of questions but never feel like I have to buy something in return for the knowledge they provided me. If you haven't been to either of these store's I would recommend going to both. I know Horizon just got a big shipment in yesterday, go check it out.
Before you make fun of someone walk a mile in their shoes.
That way when you do make fun of them, your a mile away and you have their shoes!