Trip to Austin, Texas (home of the LongHorns, and the Tunze repair site!)

[Hawkeye]

I only had a brief two days in Austin to meet with a vendor, and met up with some family. But the pics below are almost all of the two LFS I briefly stopped in. I decided against fighting the TSA in terms of buying anything live.

First place: drop off my osmolator. TSA in Newark looked at my carry-on, froze the belt and let it keep going. The ozmolator had all these wires sticking out of it...

I almost drove right by the place - it's rather inconspicuous. there is NO retail store - just the place where Roger lives!

I didn't take any pics inside - it was just a big empty warehouse and a small office. The oz was fixed that day and I got it back the next morning.

Next stop: River City Aquatics.

The guy was really really busy - i guess 5pm is the hour when things start going nuts. I was asked twice if i needed help and I mentioned I was from NJ checking the place out. Nice folks and interestin place. Comments below.

Big fw display at entrance:

Display tank

Nano tank with a baby snowflake

my bad shot of the baby:

FW nano tank above - blue crawfish

SW nano tank display:

Some frag tanks:

Some nice ORA clams.

Interesting water setup - every "two" tanks had their own filtration

Cheap Zoa FRAGS! $5

Some more cheap stuff $15

Cheap used tanks?

Kinda open dry goods area:

huge big catfish in this tank by the dry goods

I dunno if Rod lurks here - but some pics for his love for discus:

Some fish in the tanks:

 

[Hawkeye]

after river city - i went to aqua trek

Rather small signage outside - but the gps found it

The place is a tunze retailer so right away i noticed those products in use on display:

i kinda liked the pvc area:

Lots of space/tanks:

This beauty caught my eye in one of the nano displays:

Most of the fish were healthy, not all but most.

I liked the invert section:

huge mantis:

crazy big conches (note quarter for scale)

Spider crab:

Mole Lobster?

Barnacle Blenny

of course - they had a lot of freshwater stuff too...

but then i had to run to dinner...end of story!

 

[Hawkeye]

i also walked down "sixth street" which is apparently some kind of bar/tourist trap. It was dead though being a tuesday night. Not everyday though you see mechanical bulls being riden right by the front display. I guess they probably have that in Manhattan somewhere but it was prominent - so was the live music.

Anyways - it was fun briefly then the rest of the days was work, and a long flight.

 

[steamman]

Great pictures Phil. Aside from the apparent planned visit to Tunze, did you happen upon these places or plan to go to them?

 

[NewJerseyReefer]

thanks for sharing those pictures i love how they have the setups in the store and especially the 5 zoo's frags too

 

[redfishbluefish]

Phil, good stuff.

When we travel I’ve always visited local aquariums, but never though about looking up LFS’s. Thanks!!

 

[shipwrecked]

Thanks for sharing Phil enjoyed the pics

 

[dnov99]

Good stuff Phil, you are the Frommers of the reefing hobby...

 

[Hawkeye]

Phil, good stuff.

When we travel I’ve always visited local aquariums, but never though about looking up LFS’s. Thanks!!

I don't think there is one in austin.

I did walk by a bar called the aquarium on 6th street, but all it had was a huge 300~500 gallon tank in the back.

 

[Hawkeye]

Great pictures Phil. Aside from the apparent planned visit to Tunze, did you happen upon these places or plan to go to them?

nope. When I arrived and settled into the hotel, after making dinner plans I realized I had about 2 hrs of free time. So I could either sit in the hotel/relax watch espn/hbo or something - or go out. I decided on going out.

I just searched for the Austin Reef Club and then checked their vendor forums. did a quick street search to make sure they were close by (both within 10 miles away). Then got in the car and braved their bizarre driving.

Bizarre driving = Left Lane, people drive exactly at speed limit. No one is passing anyone.
middle lane, people drive just fast enough so that they are almost parallel to the left lane drivers
Right lane, slow folks who are merging/exiting.

 

[alex93se]

Another place you should stop by, in Austin, is Aquadome. They have the best prices and get rare fish in all the time (at super cheap prices). They usually have the best select of coral as well. Aquatek is nice because of all the Tunze stuff they have and Bruce, one of the owners, knows his stuff. Austin is definitely a cool town to visit w/ plenty of places to eat. Too bad is so sticking hot all the time!

 

[TanksNStuff]

nope. When I arrived and settled into the hotel, after making dinner plans I realized I had about 2 hrs of free time. So I could either sit in the hotel/relax watch espn/hbo or something - or go out. I decided on going out.

I just searched for the Austin Reef Club and then checked their vendor forums. did a quick street search to make sure they were close by (both within 10 miles away). Then got in the car and braved their bizarre driving.

Bizarre driving = Left Lane, people drive exactly at speed limit. No one is passing anyone.
middle lane, people drive just fast enough so that they are almost parallel to the left lane drivers
Right lane, slow folks who are merging/exiting.

View attachment 2006

I lived in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area for about 8 months when I was young and adventurous... so I know what you mean about their driving. It drove me nuts!

I love the pic Phil. Need to make that a bumper sticker.

 

[downbeach]

Bizarre driving = Left Lane, people drive exactly at speed limit. No one is passing anyone.
middle lane, people drive just fast enough so that they are almost parallel to the left lane drivers
Right lane, slow folks who are merging/exiting.

Sounds just like the AC Expressway in the summer, or anyplace close to Philly anytime. I hate Philly drivers.

 

[TanksNStuff]

Driving home on 676 / 42 area one Friday night, I counted 17 cars in a row with PA plates in the left lane. They were all going like 50 mph. I was in the middle lane and passed them all shaking my head as I counted them. The middle lane was wide open (which was suprising for a Friday evening) so it's not like they couldn't get over.

They just seem to get in the left lane and put it on autopilot.

After I passed them, I then drove up to 8 more in a row in the left lane (all PA plates) and I moved over to the middle where there was a few cars, then got in the right lane and passed all of them. My exit was coming up in the next mile so I was going to get over there anyway.

It just amazes me how they all ignore all the signs that say "Keep Right Except to Pass". Traffic could be reduced so much if people would just adhere to this simple LAW.

 

[Hawkeye]

Another place you should stop by, in Austin, is Aquadome. They have the best prices and get rare fish in all the time (at super cheap prices). They usually have the best select of coral as well. Aquatek is nice because of all the Tunze stuff they have and Bruce, one of the owners, knows his stuff. Austin is definitely a cool town to visit w/ plenty of places to eat. Too bad is so sticking hot all the time!

I didn't make it to this place. I only had 2 hrs to spend and wasn't familiar with the roads in austin. So I kinda kept to around the Arboretum area (which is where my hotel/office was located). Although checking out that website - I wish I tried to stop in on the way to the airport when i was headed home.