So, Since I have the week off... I was bored of sitting in the house watching my dog chase his tail, so I decided to make the 30 minute trek to Coral Island to see what all the buzz was about. I hadn't been there in well over 8 months and last time I had stopped in, it looked like it was going to be out of business.
With that assumption I had begun to look for a different store to go to for basic reef keeping needs. At the time I lived right at Chapman and Main street in Orange so Coral Island's location was ideal for me. Since moving to Rancho Santa Margarita, Coral Island isn't the best location as it is about 30 minutes away. After hearing about Tony and how he and Huey have revamped the store, here on Socalireefs. I decided that I needed to go check it out for myself.
I was completely shocked to see all of the stuff that they have in that store. It is definitely night and day compared to what it was before. Now having three large displays and three big frag tanks filled to the brim, I can see what everyone is talking about. One of the best things I liked are the amount of smaller frags (of amazing corals).
Looking through the frag tanks I noticed that they had about 8 frags of Bubble Gum Monster chalice sitting in one of the tanks. I asked him about one of the frags as he had the mother colony sitting next to it. The frag I was inquiring about had 5 eyes on it and looked well-healed. I then asked him how much it was, and to my surprise he told me $50.00. I asked him again as if in disbelief and he again told me $50.00! To me, $50.00 for a BGM frag with 5 eyes is unheard of. He then told me about the promotion that they are running where if you spend $50 in the store you get a entered in to the raffle for an aussie torch and it seemed just to good to be true.
After talking with Tony for a bit, he seemed like a real personable guy and very knowledgeable about the corals he had. I will say that for just meeting the guy and talking to him getting to know him, I can say that I will definitely be bringing my business to Coral Island.
For those of you asking where all the pictures are that I usually do when I check out a store... Stay tuned as I didn't bring my camera setup due to the weather. I will probably head over there on Thursday and shoot a whole bunch.
Anywho, If you are looking for cheap prices on nice corals go check out Coral Island in Orange.
Cheers, :beer:
With that assumption I had begun to look for a different store to go to for basic reef keeping needs. At the time I lived right at Chapman and Main street in Orange so Coral Island's location was ideal for me. Since moving to Rancho Santa Margarita, Coral Island isn't the best location as it is about 30 minutes away. After hearing about Tony and how he and Huey have revamped the store, here on Socalireefs. I decided that I needed to go check it out for myself.
I was completely shocked to see all of the stuff that they have in that store. It is definitely night and day compared to what it was before. Now having three large displays and three big frag tanks filled to the brim, I can see what everyone is talking about. One of the best things I liked are the amount of smaller frags (of amazing corals).
Looking through the frag tanks I noticed that they had about 8 frags of Bubble Gum Monster chalice sitting in one of the tanks. I asked him about one of the frags as he had the mother colony sitting next to it. The frag I was inquiring about had 5 eyes on it and looked well-healed. I then asked him how much it was, and to my surprise he told me $50.00. I asked him again as if in disbelief and he again told me $50.00! To me, $50.00 for a BGM frag with 5 eyes is unheard of. He then told me about the promotion that they are running where if you spend $50 in the store you get a entered in to the raffle for an aussie torch and it seemed just to good to be true.
After talking with Tony for a bit, he seemed like a real personable guy and very knowledgeable about the corals he had. I will say that for just meeting the guy and talking to him getting to know him, I can say that I will definitely be bringing my business to Coral Island.
For those of you asking where all the pictures are that I usually do when I check out a store... Stay tuned as I didn't bring my camera setup due to the weather. I will probably head over there on Thursday and shoot a whole bunch.
Anywho, If you are looking for cheap prices on nice corals go check out Coral Island in Orange.
Cheers, :beer:
