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Links & Resources |
Message Boards
Message boards can be a great resource for the hobby. There are a lot of on-line hobbyists who are willing and able to provide advice. Some of these individuals are well respected professionals or at the top of the knowledge pool in the hobby. Others are novices or intermediate level hobbyists. It can sometimes be difficult to determine which level of advice your are getting. My advice is to hang around the board for a period of time observing, before jumping in. Also, there will be a search function that can be used to call up previous posts about the topic you are looking for. Here are a couple of the better boards.
Marine societies & Clubs
www.LMAS.org
The
Louisville
Marine
Aquarium
Society
Nice
site that has been kind enough to offer usage of their photos in the database.
Mail Order Houses (Dry Goods)
Marine Depot
www.MarineDepot.com
Marine Depot has been my main resource for on-line hardware. I have placed 10+ orders through them and they have all been shipped quickly and always arrived on-time. They use UPS and you get a notification as to what day the stuff will be delivered and it has worked flawlessly for me. Shipping costs are minimal or zero depending on your order. Their prices are always competitive and they carry a good selection which covers the needs of most serious hobbyists.
Highly recommended
Pet Solutions
www.petsolutions.com
Pet Solutions is a large MO outfit that carries stuff for more than just reef tanks. I have ordered from them twice and their service was very good. They tend to carry a very broad selection that appeals to the masses which means that they may not carry some of the key items you are looking for in the high-end reef hobby and they also carry quite a bit of snake oil which is popular at the moment.
Decent place to buy for the knowledgeable reefer, but not a complete enough selection to fill all the needs of the avid hobbyist.
Mail Order Houses (Livestock)
GARF
www.GARF.org
GARF stands for Geothermal Aquaculture Research Facility. They are located in Boise Idaho at some geothermal hot springs, hence their name. Their website is very informative, a lot of info on captive propagation of corals and many colorful photographs.
My experience with them is limited. I placed a single order for a set of SPS corals, a janitor cleanup crew and something they call 'Reef Grunge'. I received soft corals in place of the SPS corals due to a shipping mistake. The soft corals were extremely small. While I am a big fan of captive propagation, some of these were really too small. One mushroom I got could not have been bigger than maybe 3mm across. It promptly fell off the reef plug it came on and was never seen again. I did get a very nice Pom Pom xenia and purple gorgonian. The reef janitors were a pretty good bargain and had a nice assortment of hermits and snails. The 'Reef Grunge' seemed to be coralline algae covered coral gravel and bottom muck for the most part and the major benefit of it was lost on me. I did not see any significant life forms in with the 'Grunge'.
Quality LFS's
Upscales Fish and Reptiles
www.Upscales.com
Local fish store in Portland OR. Very good selection and knowledgeable staff. See their display tank.