Hey guys, I have been in the hobby for a little over a year and want to make the switch from a FOWLR to a reef tank. I have done my research on corals but do not know which LFS is best for corals. Do yall have any suggestions?
Stores like Nemo's and Atlanta aquarium are pretty good. You could also reach out here on the forum and tell us what you are looking for, hobbiest tend to give really good deals.
I want to start off with softies. My tank is a 30 gallon with pretty stable parameters now, but I don't have the equipment to start the dosing necessary for LPS/SPS
You may also want to get accustomed to testing all of your parameters if you don't already, it's also a good idea to have the appropriate products to make adjustments for calcium, alkalinity, and magnesium on hand. Fish only is a bit more simple than mixed reef, but lps and softies are pretty forgiving.
Most of the LFS's are sponsors of this forum and will give you a discount if you are a supporting member of the club (discount varies by store). I highly recommend you to join. We also have an coral and aquatics expo coming up in May, which will be a great opportunity to buy a lot of corals.
I like Reef Shac and Primiere. They have some nice stuff and fair prices especially Shacs. I don't make it much further south than that, as I am from North Ga. and it is a long drive already just to get down that far. Have fun planning which corals! It is a whole lot of fun and a little bit ok...a whole lot addictive. Also, I have never used equipment to dose my LPS and SPS. I dose manually...so if you have the proper set up and want to add a few things you like and see that your tank will support..you could manually dose. (if your tank needs it) My weekly water changes actually handled my tank inhabitants calcium and alk uptake until It was pretty crowded in there so just a thought.