You got a question about Liveaquaria.com/Divers Den, I'll get an answer!

Alright ladies and gents! This coming Saturday April 17th, I will be visiting the Divers Den Facility, which is part of the Dr Fosters and Smiths Branch. A very well known name in the Aquatic industry. Luckily It is based out of WI and only about an hour away from where I live. Family and Friends of mine visit the retail store there, but never got to see the actual Divers Den area of it. (as much as I buy from it)

We ran into the fact they are giving tours of it this year to the public instead of just reef clubs. Anyways Im going to take the tour along with MoonChaser and some of my family members. Cameras are invited as well as questions. for them.

What it comes down to is, We need to brainstorm, I could ask a billion questions but I want us as a site to make a list of the top 10 questions you guys would like to hear form the so called pros! So start thinking them up and Ill have us all figure out the 10 questions you guys want to hear! (I don't want to overload them, the tours have around 50 people in them)

And don't worry Plenty of pictures will come home, As well as the fact I get to look at and or purchase some corals/fish from them there that they havent posted yet Kinda excited about this one!

 

I'm so excited for you! I'll try to think of some questions.

 

Bah! Its so hard to Think its only 5 days away!

 

I can't believe it's almost here!! I remember when you told me, and it was so far away.

 

It needs to be Sat! Seriously! lol. I cant wait to get pics ... There will be alot everyone, I got an 8GB Memory card in my camera, thats alot of pics.

 

Very sweet opportunity! I'm happy for you and jealous all at the same time

 

how do they acclimate their new coral arrivals?
Do they quarantine them? How long?
What type of light system? type of bulbs? color of bulbs? ( 10k, 14k, 20k)

 

With the exception of Diver's Den, they never see your corals. Divers Den and their one retail store is the only saltwater they ever touch. If you place an order with them, they just collect all the orders. Then a couple of times a day, these orders are given to the jobbers who look through whatever was just transshipped in from the ocean. In short, corals from the ocean land in LAX, a water change is done, and then they are repackaged and up in the air again on the way to your house. They are not a wholesaler that opens up corals, fish, and other inverts, gets them healthy and then sell them. Fish are handled the same way. The only difference is they are re-oxed before they are repackaged and sent back up in the air.

It's not a business model I particularly care for. I would rather charge a little more and not burn through so many dead corals and fish. They've never seen your fish, whether it's eating, whether it's covered with ich, etc. they don't have a clue if your coral opens or not, has nudibranchs, flatworms, etc. They don't care if it dies. If it dies, it dies. They aren't paying for electricity, salt, tanks, educated employees, etc. Unfortunately, replacing all those dead fish and corals is actually cheaper than worrying about keeping them alive in the first place.

 

Good luck!!! Very happy for you

 

Thats cool to actually go there....Good Luck and cant wait to hear about it and see pics.