Hidden Reef

[NJTaxMan]

I went to the hidden reef over the weekend. Was such a sad and disappointing experience. Looks like they had an almost storewide system crash. 80% of the tanks were literally empty. the other 20% was cloudy with algea blooms with minimal sickly looking fish. Dinos, cyano and algea abound. Couple more weeks / months of that, and I dont see how there will be a store. Very sad.

 

[NJTaxMan]

To be clear and fair..the salt water was the problem. The fresh water was not as bad..but there was some algae blooms in there as well.

 

[Kaaori]

I went to the hidden reef over the weekend. Was such a sad and disappointing experience. Looks like they had an almost storewide system crash. 80% of the tanks were literally empty. the other 20% was cloudy with algea blooms with minimal sickly looking fish. Dinos, cyano and algea abound. Couple more weeks / months of that, and I dont see how there will be a store. Very sad.

I went maybe two weeks ago and thought the same thing. I went last year and was super disappointed in their saltwater selection so was out and about and stopped by the fish factory and hidden reef to check them out again. And yeah hardly anything in the tanks

 

[BradleyP]

I went to the hidden reef over the weekend. Was such a sad and disappointing experience. Looks like they had an almost storewide system crash. 80% of the tanks were literally empty. the other 20% was cloudy with algea blooms with minimal sickly looking fish. Dinos, cyano and algea abound. Couple more weeks / months of that, and I dont see how there will be a store. Very sad.

You just saved me a trip across the bridge.

thanks!

 

[mrehfeld]

I went to the hidden reef over the weekend. Was such a sad and disappointing experience. Looks like they had an almost storewide system crash. 80% of the tanks were literally empty. the other 20% was cloudy with algea blooms with minimal sickly looking fish. Dinos, cyano and algea abound. Couple more weeks / months of that, and I dont see how there will be a store. Very sad.

What did they say when you asked what happened?

 

[Foxchase]

I went on Sunday and one of the tanks at the end holding coral had a seam that burst and was just spilling water continuously on the ground for the whole time I was there with no one even paying attention to it. They just put a wet floor sign and let it keep draining (which I'm guessing was also draining whatever else it was connected to)

 

[Adam L]

I was there a last week and also saw the sorry state of things. Had almost nothing and saw all that algae in the first system and cloudy second system.

 

[DEL]

last few times i stopped by all i purchased were some small plumbing parts. i think there was only one time that i purchased a fish, which died a few days later. I dont even remember what fish it was. I think it was some kind of anthias. i didnt even bother to look at the corals.

 

[NJTaxMan]

What did they say when you asked what happened?

I didnt even ask. They definitely were short handed. But given what I saw in the tanks...it honestly looks like they have given up. Granted, I have seen this from them before just for them to get their act together..but this was really a rough trip. Actually feel bad for the sickly looking fish that are still swimming around and the newbies that might buy one of them.

 

[radiata]

Sad indeed. Sounds as bad as when the Chinese restaurant in their same (hidden) strip mall caught fire and put them out of business for 6+ months. That event cost them all the livestock they had in the store, and totally water damaged everything else. At lease that first event resulted in insurance claims, but now???

 

[Bear82]

It's a shame to see that happen to them. They have the space for sure to really have something special.

I find their Salt prices particularly Instant ocean cannot be beat. I try to stock up on a few boxes whenever I'm in the area.

 

[radiata]

It's a shame to see that happen to them. They have the space for sure to really have something special.

I find their Salt prices particularly Instant ocean cannot be beat. I try to stock up on a few boxes whenever I'm in the area.

I must agree with your comment on their salt prices. I used to make runs from north NJ to Hidden Reef to pick up salt for myself and for a few other local reefers. My favorite salt was made in Baltimore, MD by Marine Enterprises., and you just couldn't beat HR prices on it as their shipping charges to HR were nil compared to any other salt manufacturer costs to ship to HR.

 

[Bear82]

I must agree with your comment on their salt prices. I used to make runs from north NJ to Hidden Reef to pick up salt for myself and for a few other local reefers. My favorite salt was made in Baltimore, MD by Marine Enterprises., and you just couldn't beat HR prices on it as their shipping charges to HR were nil compared to any other salt manufacturer costs to ship to HR.

Someone told me awhile ago Hidden Reef would order Salt by the tractor trailer load and basically sell it at cost.

 

[fkl]

Was there yesterday. Tanks look good but they didn't have a good variety of fishes. One of the guys mentioned they had a crash a few weeks ago. They also had 200 gallon IO reef crystals box on sale for $48