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North Jersey (Bergen County) LFSs

Good evening,

Been a long time since my last post on here. Either way, I know most members are from South Jersey but any LFSs in Bergen County Area or 20-30 minute drive without taking the bridges or tunnels worth going to?

Reef Encounter - was ok at best but it has since closed
Random vendors like Jason and I believe Mike from Township of Washington are no longer posting from what I can see.

Fishtown USA was never a go to store imo
Fish Hut is geared toward cichlids and freshwater setups
Absolutely Fish - nice fish selection with a price - I am going SPS so this store will not do
ACC is doing awesome but too far. Once I start fishing again (too cold), I will be able to pass by there often.
AO is another good store but 45+ minutes away
OGII is another good store I would buy from but 45+ minutes away.

1.5 to 2 hr drive for items doesn't work well when I am limited with time already and have 3 kids waiting for me to go out and have fun with them. playing soccer, football, bbqs etc.

Any suggestions would be awesome!

New Milford, NJ
 
Ive been there as well. Right now best store hands down is ACC with clean setup, nice workers, and always great deals to be had.

Next is OGII then AO.

My opinion of course. Hopefully, i dont offend anyone.

As far as North Jersey area, I am not fond of any. Anyone been to NJ Direct Corals? I remember them being part of craigslist for the longest and then grew to mailing list and now a vendor. Congrats!!

If needed, post your NY store if it is a must visit.
 
IMO every store has its perks but my recent go to spots are:
#1. iconic aquarium/tenafly
Just opened up, if your looking for uncommon livestock a must go to.
2# sea level aquarium/pinebrook
Pricing fair,knowledgeable, macroalgae,live pods
3# aquatic obsessions
Fair pricing, clean store, nice show tank
4# pieceoftheocean.com/POTO/Staten Island/online auction
You get what you buy shipping is cheaper than most onlines/local pick up available
 

erics210

NJRC Member
Evolx, just next door in Dumont. One shop in Parsippany inwent with my brother in law a while back. Also two stores in NY state. Pearl River, more of a wholesaler, but sells individual items too. No prices listed, was hard to get workers to help as they we're all filling big orders for online sales. Owner finally spoke English and was able to help. Another place in Nanuet.
 

erics210

NJRC Member
Also, set to host the July meeting. Being that you are less than 5 minutes away...you should have no excuses!!!
 
I'm bias to my LFS Ocean Image Aquatics in Ledgewood NJ. The meeting this month will be held there so there is a kill 2 birds with 1 stone reason to attend! He is also very into SPS as well.
 
Nice, thanks for the replies. I will definitely look into the one in Tenafly. I hope it is a shop that I can make my goto since it is even closer.

I've met only a few people from Dumont so I am sure I have met you if you been in the hobby for quite some time. I'll look into the meeting but haven't been to a NJReefers Meeting in.....YEARS.

Eric, the wholesaler around this area was said to need a retailer ID/tax ID in order to buy from there. Does this sound like the same thing to buy from the Pearl River location? I go to Pearl River to fish every so often and that would be a win-win situation!

POTO looks like a nice auction type vendor. I've seen some very nice pieces on tank threads on ManhattanReefs with their corals in beautiful tanks.
 

DangerDave

NJRC Member
This is a great thread. I am in South Jersey, but make my way up to my company's office in Monmouth County 3 times a week. Do we have a centralized listing of LFS in NJ? If not, is this something we could do? Maybe a sticky thread that could be created and commented on by members, and then updated by whoever owns the thread? This way it would be updated as members found new ones, or they close, etc.

Just a thought.

Dave
 
Jim,

Meherbas post #6/7 posted that there is a new one in tenafly.

I plan on taking a trip there this weekend.

Also, that would be awesome for people to take general pictures of their favorite LFS. It helps buyers and LFSs become aware that there is a community looking to spend their hard earned money if they have done a good job. My opinion.
 
Danger Dave,

Check out ACC. I went there years back when thry were just coming out. They barely had their setup finished, no tablets or displays to look at prices yet.

I was impressed with the options and prices plus they were very polite.

I believe there is another bigger fish store in that area that i visited, still on rt35. Big selection but i felt ACC was just more of a traditional LFS and not like a petco.
 
Spoke too soon. Just saw a thread and instantly remembered the name of the other fish spot. Tropiquarium. It looks like it is now closed.
 
I visited POTO this week. He has a great setup, large variety of livestock (as you can see from the auction listings) and you can probably coax some non-auction items from him to take home with you!
 
Oh easy. If I ever win something from that auction (People always bid ridiculously high) I will definitely pick up my order as opposed to having it delivered. :)
 
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