Wassap CR!

Oh cool I see, hey I was wondering where you guys usually shop for your reef merchandise? Other than ordering stuff online that is lol. The only two places I've been to is Exotic Aquatics in Lake in the Hills and Aquarium Adventure in Hoffman Estates, oh and there's Sea Escapes in South Elgin that I stop by at sometimes after school since it's near.
 
Yep, Sea Escapes and Exotic are the closest. If you're at Aquarium Adventure, you should walk across the parking lot and visit Beyond the Reef (which is technically in Schaumburg). Then head down Roselle Rd. (South) a couple miles to Advanced Aquatics. These are the closest stores.

However, you will eventually schedule road trips where you hit 4-5 stores in 1 day. As an example, hit the Hoffman/Schaumburg stores and also Reef Imports in Wood Dale.

Then a day in the "north" hitting Show Tank, Living Sea, & Coral Reef Pet Center. Best Fish is up in Milwaukee and well worth the trip.

Then a day in the "south" hitting AquaPros, Reefwise, Aquatica, Surge AI, & Reef City.
 
Being also new to this all, I'm also still discovering stores. Fish Planet in Deerfield is nice but far too expensive for me.

I'm curious though, what are the Hoffman / Schaumburg stores that you mention?
 
tkh said:
Being also new to this all, I'm also still discovering stores. Fish Planet in Deerfield is nice but far too expensive for me.

I'm curious though, what are the Hoffman / Schaumburg stores that you mention?
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Advanced Aquatics is the best. Beyond the Reef is allright and Aquarium Adventure is worth a look. (These last two are in the same parking lot.)
 
tkh said:
Being also new to this all, I'm also still discovering stores. Fish Planet in Deerfield is nice but far too expensive for me.

I'm curious though, what are the Hoffman / Schaumburg stores that you mention?
Click to expand...

Being in Highwood, your best & closest store is Sho Tank in Mundelein. There is also sea Schor in Buffalo Grove, Living Sea in Park Ridge and Coral Reef Pet Center in Norridge...all of which could be visited on the way to Schaumburg/Hoffman area.
 
Oh, thank you very much for the rundown Eric! I've been to Sho Tank - it was dark, smokey, and the front area looked like a storage for opened boxes. I am sure he was in the middle of something, but the whole dark smokey feel didn't sit well with me. I've read tons of people being very positive on it on these forums, so I will give it a second chance. Sea Schor seems nice, although the reviews on here seem to indicate to be careful who you deal with in there.

Time for a new trip though! Thanks again!
 
Yeah, the front half of Sho Tank is partly a workshop because the owner builds custom stands. It's the back of the store with the coral and fish that you go for ;)

As far as reviews go, they're like opinions and a-holes, everyone's got one! If you look long enough you'll always find some people that don't like a particular lfs for one reason or another. I say, go find out for yourself :)
 
Yeah, I'll be giving ShoTank a second chance. Assuming I'm not still sick, I'll go on a big loop and check out the stores you'd mentioned, thanks again Eric!
 
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