welcome aboard the r2r board. hello from PA!
Fish Think Pink
5000 Club Member
Hey all —
Haven't participated much in forums before but I've already gotten a ton of useful information off R2R as a lurker for the past month or so and thought I'd make it official. It'll be helpful for when I inevitably upgrade; I'm starting out with this HelloReef 15-gallon AIO and already thinking about spots in my home that might be good for a bigger tank in the future if all goes well. Started cycling about three weeks ago and recently added a couple scarlet hermits and astraeas to give the place some (visible) life. Supplementing with tiny bits of algae wafer since the tank's still so clean and planning to add a small clownfish pair soon.
Would love to hear from any Chicago-area folks — I'm in the city — about who they use as their LFS.
More from me later. Thanks for building such a cool community here.
N
Welcome! It sounds like you are well on your way. Nice rockwork design!
Hello, and welcome.
Newtoy
New Member
Welcome! I just joined the forums myself today. I am also from the Chicagoland area, right by O'hare Airport. I am new to the hobby so everything is a learning curve for me. Please let me know if you find any good LFS and I'll do the same.
I F'in love that. You are hooked
OP
OP
nbj914
New Member
Welcome! I've been exploring a bunch of different stores around the area whenever I get the chance and am out in the suburbs (I'm in Lakeview, but have family in various 'burbs, which takes me out there regularly). I'd recommend doing the same if you've ever got the time; they all have different strengths.
Favorites so far are Old Town Aquarium (only open Friday-Sunday, but really welcoming storefront and I picked up two Clowns there that are a great pair and some inverts for clean-up); Beyond the Reef, which is in Schaumburg and shouldn't be too far from you (lots of small coral frags, some nice livestock like Royal Grammas and Flame Angels that are too big for my small tank but something to aspire to); and Reefwise down in Lisle, where I bought a Rainbow Bubble-Tip Anemone for the Clowns just this past weekend. I wanted to buy one in person rather than online and these were the best I could find in the area.
Welcome to R2R!!
Mark Hyman
Community Member
Just saw your post- welcome! I'm up in Libertyville and rejoined the hobby late last year after a couple of decades off. I'll second Beyond the Reef in Schaumberg; nice place with good stock. I also quite like The Local Fish Store in Morton Grove. Run by a nice young family and they're working on some innovative stuff. I got a lot of nice coral at Reef Geeks in Northbrook; it recently changed hands and refurbed so they're building back their stock. I've gotten some nice fish at ShoTank in Mundelein and they run a good tank service (will be using them soon for a vacation). 650 Ocean's Reef is more about fish/inverts; their stock seems to go pretty fast and the owner is nice. Love our Diamond Goby from them. I've been meaning to get to Reefwise but haven't yet. AquaCave is a drygoods catalog store in Lake Forest with great stock and decent prices, but I really enjoy being able to just swing by during the week and pick stuff up rather than shipping. It's only about 10 minutes from me.
Please share your thoughts about places; I'm still getting to know the local scene too!
Please share your thoughts about places; I'm still getting to know the local scene too!
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