SW Newbie in McAllen

[M_nica]

Hey y'all. I am beginning my saltwater adventure with a Biocube 29. Today is the day for making sure there are no leaks in my tank so I am running it with water starting in about an hour. I've tried to connect with other SW enthusiasts down here in the Valley since moving down from L.A. in January '09 but haven't had any luck. The few people I have met that run SW tanks have no idea what equipment they have, don't even know their livestock, etc. I'm surprised they have LIVEstock to be honest! I know there is only one LFS and I'll be checking it out ASAP for LR. I've been checking Craigslist every day for LR but no such luck. People want to sell all or nothing and it's always way more than what I need. Hopefully someone from the RGV will read this and we can share. The RGV forum is completely empty :(

If anyone knows any resources down here please share I have tried responding to a few people who are selling things locally but I don't have access to those forums. :(

[Adrienne]

Aquarium Masters is the only store we found in Mc Allen.
The guy there was super nice, but the store is not what you would normally expect from a lfs... especially being from LA!
They also have a Corpus branch if you are able to hit there too.
Fish Gallery is supposed to have a servicing and installation hub in Mc Allen, but I am not sure if they offer anything other than that.
Very slim pickings, and the guy at Aquarium Masters does seem to agree with you on the issue of people not being able to keep live stock in the area.
Best of luck to you and welcome!!

[txav8r]

http://www.maast.org/showthread.php?...hlight=mcallen

try this thread.

[Europhyllia]

Sorry I have no clue about your area but I still wanted to be sure to say 'Hello and welcome to MAAST!'

[txav8r]

Oh, and WELCOME!!

[M_nica]

Thanks, y'all. Yes I know about Aquarium Masters being the only shop down here. My friend got her whole 90g setup from Eric & just had to give up the hobby cuz she has a brand new baby and had to move. I wish I had my $#!% together then cuz I could have taken her LR! Now I may have to pay goodness knows how much for what she wanted to give me for free! Boo!! lol I'm going to go check out his store if he is here and open tomorrow. I spoke to him last week but haven't had the chance to go yet. I hear he has an exceptional supply of fish.

We used to have an AMAZING LFS called E-Aquatics but I can't find it. I haven't seen it since before I moved way to college & nobody I ask seems to know it ever existed. :( The guy that owned that place really knew his stuff. I used to get all my cichlids from him.

I've checked Petco & Petland. I decided I won't buy anything from Petco except for supplies. Every time I go there they have very few SW fish with many in very bad shape, the LR selection is ****e and the employees really don't know their stuff. Petland sells their LR for $7.99 a pound which seems like it's a lot compared to what I see online but their fish, inverts and tanks look great. I hate shopping at Petland because of the whole puppy mill thing, though. :/

I may have to rely on shopping online and browsing forums and Ebay for frags & such. I would really want a tank full of shrooms and softies.

I'm not from L.A. I'm actually from McAllen. But I left for college in San Marcos then lived there and Austin for years before I moved to L.A. and spent 3 years there. Now I'm back in good ol' Texas and thank goodness for that!

Thanks all for your help. I'm about to check out that link.

[M_nica]

Oof! LOL Yeah I have already been to that thread. :( I replied to it yesterday. Seems it's pretty dead, though.

[boichild]

theres a pretty good place for saltwater aquariums in Corpus Christi if you dont mind the drive...it may not be what you're looking for but they do have live rock, coral frags, and all their fish look healthy and well taken care of

[txg8gxp]

Welcome to maast. Have you thought about dry/fossil rock. Reefcleaners/marcorock/bulkreefsuply all sell dry rock for around $2-3 a pound. I use this stuff and I have been very happy with it.

[M_nica]

Thanks. I got my live rock months ago.