Latest and Greatest SPS at RAP?

[gofor100]

I'm an SPS nut, and my tank is finally doing AWESOME... so I have to ask, what trendy or not-so-trendy SPS corals have come out recently. And more importantly, is anyone bringing them to RAP this weekend?

I'm looking to add some nice frags to the tank, and haven't been out shopping in quite some time.

Look forward to seeing everyone!

-Chad

[solitude127]

Glad the tank is doing well. At the past shows (RAP and MAX) there weren't too many SPS for sale. But visit the SPS Store booth. I've been to the retail shop and it's pretty amazing.

[Arkayology]

Glad the tank is doing well. At the past shows (RAP and MAX) there weren't too many SPS for sale. But visit the SPS Store booth. I've been to the retail shop and it's pretty amazing.

Not that much SPS? That is disappointing.

[ChefZilla]

Both sps store and garrets accrolopis have nice selections of sps :-)

[thegrun]

Steve Garret always has nice SPS for sale.

[gofor100]

Glad the tank is doing well. At the past shows (RAP and MAX) there weren't too many SPS for sale. But visit the SPS Store booth. I've been to the retail shop and it's pretty amazing.

Thanks Mike... sorry to hear that your tank is shutting down.

Aaron is the man for sure! He's the one that I ordered my tank/stand/canopy through and he carries some great looking corals.

I'll definitely be checking out his booth.

-Chad

[gofor100]

Both sps store and garrets accrolopis have nice selections of sps :-)

Steve Garret always has nice SPS for sale.

Yeah... Steve is another regular stop for me... great SPS. The unfortunate thing is that I have most of the SPS he sells.

The one that I still need though is the Sapphire Blue Milli... had one STN on me before my tank got in "the zone," and need to restock with a few acros. That one is on the top of my list.

-Chad

[gofor100]

Not that much SPS? That is disappointing.

Yeah, but its still a pretty decent showing. You'll usually be able to find a decent number of booths with SPS, but then you'll also see some crazy non-SPS corals that you weren't planning on getting. Which is when I get in trouble... :uhoh2:

[solitude127]

Not that much SPS? That is disappointing.

Let me restate myself. IMO, there are more softy and LPS vendors than there are SPS vendors

[rjd0521]

I bought a huge $5 sps frag at last year rap that a vendor gave up on because it was loosing color. Now the frag is a small colony with plenty of polyps extension and color.

[dodgerblew]

I would check the booths of Exotic Frags, Diablo corals (with Kessil Lighting) and Unique Corals for SB Milli. They are good with the hard to find. Good luck and have a great time and good to hear the tank is on the upswing!

[drd]

try crystal she has a booth and has nice sps

[Green_Lionfish]

So who carries some great corals and prices for SPS on Saturday at RAP?

[reefish123]

Garrett had a great selection of sps also the clubs has lots I did see nice red dragon colonies for sale.

[dodgerblew]

Omar, did you pick up anything?

[Armitron]

I'm so disappoint with Reefraft, there is No Nice SPS and corals in their booth.

[fishnerd]

I'm so disappoint with Reefraft, there is No Nice SPS and corals in their booth.

I agree, so we drove to their store instead. Lots of sps and walked away with nice pieces and a lighter wallet.

Bryan

[Armitron]

I went to their store. All their SPS are brown out and the price are so expensive. Every brown out frag with their name over $100 for a small frag.

[Green_Lionfish]

How about Unique Corals?

[Armitron]

I got some nice chalices at the Aquaticslife booth. Their chalice price is so cheap.

[Borchers]

I would check the booths of Exotic Frags, Diablo corals (with Kessil Lighting) and Unique Corals for SB Milli. They are good with the hard to find. Good luck and have a great time and good to hear the tank is on the upswing!

Jesse at Diablo always has the best and hardest to find SPS. He keeps a sweet selection at the shop.

[h20poloman2]

The SPS selection was pretty weak yesterday IMO. I was fired up to see Aaron with The SPS store but he mentioned that his tanks this summer didn't fair so well with the heat and he ended up not bringing too much SPS this year. Reefraft didn't bring any and I ended up getting a few from Vivid. Garret had the most and Rob @ the SCRK booth had some good pieces. Other than that there was a few scattered with some larger maricultured colonies. Would be nice to see corals under at least T5 lighting...all the LED blue is annoying.

[solitude127]

So what did you end up with Chad?

[Armitron]

Corals Gazer didn't bring many SPS.

[Arkayology]

There were some SPS there on Saturday when I was there, but not too many things I would consider buying. Overall, I think it is fair to say the SPS selection was very weak. There was more of a focus on zoas and LPS. Oh well.

[scrapz]

Only eyecatching SPS I saw was the aquasd rainbow milli @ exoticfrags.

[scrapz]

The SPS selection was pretty weak yesterday IMO. I was fired up to see Aaron with The SPS store but he mentioned that his tanks this summer didn't fair so well with the heat and he ended up not bringing too much SPS this year. Reefraft didn't bring any and I ended up getting a few from Vivid. Garret had the most and Rob @ the SCRK booth had some good pieces. Other than that there was a few scattered with some larger maricultured colonies. Would be nice to see corals under at least T5 lighting...all the LED blue is annoying.

its just how it works at shows. i was running a 14-20k spectrum and not a single person stopped to look until i went with the full blue light special. sad

[pciscott]

There was some very nice SPS at the show, and there is always more LPS and softies because only about 10% of us have enough patience and effort to make SPS thrive. Also SPS does not fair well being moved around much and the frag tank at the show with hands in it all day and questionable water can make it even tougher to keep looking perfect. I saw Voltron in Danny's tank, looked pretty good along with Tierra del Fuego huge colony. Exotic frags had some very nice SPS. Steve Garrett had mostly SPS. I saw many other vendors with SPS marticulated colonies, but you are better off putting up a looking for thread if there is a particular piece you are trying to find. I also saw some pretty sweet pieces of SPS for good deals at Age of Aquariums and the Evening Dress Acro I got from them at the last show is a stunning coral and colors up very well after it spreads out a bit. The Hobbyist booths had some great deals as well and Rob and Crystal had some great prices on SPS. The Kessil lights do show off the LPS very well, but if you asked the vendor to turn up the white they will give you a good idea what SPS will look like in a Halide or T5 tank. I have been having problems with my SPS now that I moved all my fish out of the coral tanks, always something!

Anyway SPS is tough to keep happy even for vendors so there will always be less of it. Good seeing all my friends at the show! I will be looking for some colorful SPS to start adding to the big tank after the first of the year. Hope to start adding some corals in the next few weeks.

[gofor100]

I ended up getting some nice pieces I was looking for (sad I missed out on the AquaSD Rainbow Milli though... didn't see that one in my mad dash from vendor to vendor).

Ended up with:
> Blue Oregon Tort (Steve Garrett) > Red Dragon to again replace an STN'd one
> Rouge Millepora
> No-Name Blue Millepora (from one of the local club members)- looks a lot like the Sapphire Millepora, so if it keeps that up, I'll be stoked
> Red Planet- got a huge chunk of this from a local hobbyist that had a booth for pretty cheap
> Blue Matrix- been keeping an eye out for one for a good deal... finally got it.

Also got some non-SPS items:
> Aussie Orange Torch: got an amazing deal on this one (at least I thought so)... has 4 heads and spent only $100. I was going around looking for who had the best price on these, and many were going for about $70 to $80 per head, so I felt pretty good about this purchase.
> Blue Maxima (small): been looking for a clam or two recently, but didn't want to spend big since I'm not sure how my fish will react (since I have a Moorish Idol and some wrasses that might dine on it). So I took a chance and we'll see how it goes.
> Space Invader Pectina: got this for a pretty good deal too. Been waiting for the price to drop on these since they are pretty decent growers. Found one with an eye for $50, not bad compared to what I've seen.

I was just bummed that I didn't have too much time to meet up with some of you guys. It was my bday on Saturday, and I had to get home to acclimate my new purchases and be ready in time for my bday evening with the wife.

Hope everyone enjoyed this year's RAP!

-Chad

[dodgerblew]

Chad, I have some nice rainbow and others if you are interested.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2337988

[gofor100]

Chad, I have some nice rainbow and others if you are interested.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2337988

Thanks Rik!

If you're ever down in OC let me know. I'm always open to picking up some nice pieces.

Thanks again,

Chad

[dodgerblew]

Well I don't make it to the OC very often. I will be in Whittier on Sunday the 27th if u want to meet in the semi middle. Let me know

[gofor100]

Here's an iPhone pic of what I ended up with (minus the aussie torch and the blue matrix):

http://i1248.photobucket.com/albums/hh492/gofor100/187%20Tank%20Pics/RAPFrags10-13_zps97103634.jpg (http://s1248.photobucket.com/user/gofor100/media/187%20Tank%20Pics/RAPFrags10-13_zps97103634.jpg.html)

-Chad

[gofor100]

Well I don't make it to the OC very often. I will be in Whittier on Sunday the 27th if u want to meet in the semi middle. Let me know

No worries bro'... I think I'll hold out for the AquaSD rainbow (my coral space is becoming limited), but I'll let you know if things change. I'll have to look at my tank tonight to see how many more corals I can fit in the tank... :beer:

Thanks!

Chad

[dodgerblew]

Your frags/mini colonies look great!

[gofor100]

Your frags/mini colonies look great!

Thanks! That pic was taken a couple of hours after acclimating, so they're looking even better now.

I actually just placed them in their permanent positions yesterday afternoon, so I'm looking forward to seeing how they do over the next couple of weeks.

-Chad

[gofor100]

I also saw some pretty sweet pieces of SPS for good deals at Age of Aquariums and the Evening Dress Acro I got from them at the last show is a stunning coral and colors up very well after it spreads out a bit.

Hey Scott,

Do you have any pics of the "Evening Dress Acro"? Never heard/seen that one before.

Thanks,

Chad