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Maine Reef Aquarium
Store & The Largest Soft Coral Aquaculture
Facility In The USA! |
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"Reefers
Grow Their Own" ™ |
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Local
Customer Tanks & Testimonials
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Hi
Penny;
I received your e-mail concerning your sale, and the bubble
anemones. Also noticed the article on the bristle worms.
Even recognized my strain in one of the pictures! It was
comforting to see a pic of the strain I have, as now there
is no doubt of what I have in my tank.
"...Will definitely be back sometime in the near future
though. It is comforting to know however, when someone buys
from you, the transaction does not end there, but you are
willing to baby sit us through the learning curves.
Thanks again for everything you do for your fellow aquarist.
Sincerely,
Joe Barbee
Milford, ME |
Hi
Penny~
I came in to your store a couple of months ago for the first
time with my kids (who loved looking at your tanks) looking
for something to fatten up my mandarin goby. You suggested
PE Mysis and I cannot express how grateful I am to you for
recommending the mysis. My mandarin, who was very emaciated
when I purchased him from PetCo, is now a fat, happy little
butterball. All of my other fish have improved, as well. I
thought they were all doing fine, as I fed them a varied
diet of San Francisco Bay foods (Marine Cuisine, Emerald
Entree, Brine Shrimp and Butterfly and Angel food) and they
all seemed to be happy little fish, with the exception of
the goby, who was not doing well from the first day I
brought him home. Now...the change is just amazing in all
of the fish. Their colors are more vibrant, they are all
more active. My Blue Tang has doubled her size since I
started feeding the mysis. The only change I have made is
feeding the mysis and again, I am so very grateful for the
recommendation.
"...We
will be getting a larger tank (at least 125 gallons) when we
redecorate our living room in a few years and at that time I
will be certain to come to you for all of my livestock and
live rock purchases..."
Again,
thank you, thank you, thank you!!! You've absolutely
secured a customer for life with me.
Rachael Robbins
Augusta, ME |
Hello Penny,
Thank you so much for all your help and the tour of
AquaCorals yesterday. You are really fun to be
around and you can tell you love your fishies! Your
store is so nice and clean and all the fish and
corals were thriving. My
tomato clown LOVES the bubble tip anemone. He hasn't
left it since I put it in the tank! It's so fun to
watch him "snuggle" the BTA.
Thank you again and the metallic orange mushroom is
so awesome! SO glad I did get it...haha
I hope to visit again soon! And maybe pick up some
more seahorses in the future ;c) haha
Kind Regards,
Nathan
Bristol, Maine |
Hi Penny,
I
just wanted to thank you for taking the time to show Abby
and I around yesterday. What an eye opening experience for
both of us. I could tell that you really love what you do.
In today’s world, no one ever seems to take the time like
you did to explain things like you did. I really appreciate
you showing and letting Abby touch different corals and
cucumbers. I would like to say that maybe someday we will
have a tank that we bought from you. Until then, I will
continue to let everyone know about what a great store you
have. Good luck in the future and have a great day.
Thanks again,
Tony |
Hello Penny,
Barry & Michele here from P.E.I. We had a great trip home.
Thank you so very much for all your info while we were
there. We left you $29.00 but you could have sold me
$100.00 worth of fish, but you didn't. Shows you
really care, I thank you . I would love to have a setup
like yours some day? You never know!!!.
"(tank
upgrade instructions) ...I know you said all this when we
were there, but I was in to much of a daze with all the
sights for it all to sink in.
Thank you again,
Barry & Michele
P.E.I., Canada |
Hey
Penny,
Just wanted to let you know despite the 2 hour ride home the
tangs are doing excellent. They became buddies
instantly and my clownfish swims around now with them.
The tank looks amazing now. I'll send some pics soon.
Jared
N Waterboro, ME |
Subject:
todays trip
Thanks again Penny. You are such a great help and the snails
are all doing their jobs well. I really appreciate
everything that you do for us and we can not be happier that
we found you. Thanks again for everything and we will
definitely be back soon.
Chris and Stacey Shaw
Readfield, ME
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Subject:
Many Thanks
Hi Pen,
Wow what a night, I just wanted
to thank you again for being so awesome and helping me save
"Romeo" my seahorse. Who would have thought we could be so
attached. If you hadn't taken the time to call me back, I
don't think he would have survived. I was so scared, I have
never preformed surgery on a seahorse, or anything else for
that matter. I followed your directions, and with a needle
removed all the air bubbles from his pouch. I still can't
believe I did it. Wow!
Oh, and by the way, The aptasia
in the seahorse tank is now official GONE since I purchased
the Lemon peel Angel. Now my 46 gallon has the same
problem, so I will be in to purchase one for the other tank.
Thanks for all you do!
Kelly
Burnham, ME
Notes From Penny: Kelly used the blunt end of a
needle to gently open the seahorse pouch to evacuate the gas
bubbles. If you have a seahorse that has GBD (Gas
Bubble Disease) please contact me & I'll be more than happy
to help you remedy it.
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"... I also want to say thanks again for taking care of me
on this situation, I consider it above and beyond in the
range of customer service, I truly appreciate it. I cant
wait to come down again to see what else you've gotten in
since my last visit.
Thanks,
Erick
Bangor, ME
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I really want to thank you for
taking the time to give me all that helpful information and
point me in the right direction starting in this awesome
hobby. The trip was totally worth the drive!!
Eric
New Hampshire
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Hi Penny,
I wanted to let everyone in
on my experience and the great outcome from finding your
store on line. I have a 75 gal tank, have had it for
around three years and started to notice things finally
growing out of my live rock I was so excited until they
were everywhere in the sand, all over my rock, and three
of them were huge! I e-mailed Penny and very quickly
she responded to tell me they were aiptasia and they
were very bad.
Penny suggested I purchase a
Lemon peel Angel. I brought one home thinking no way
would this one fish take care of my HUGE problem.
Within 2 weeks all the aiptasia are gone except the 3
big ones that I have thought about injecting but the
angel seems to be picking away at them, so I might wait
and see what happens. Thank you so much for the great
advice Penny! I am a new comer to Aqua Corals and have
really enjoyed talking with you and just looking at your
beautiful tanks.
Thanks again
Leaslie
Wiscasset, ME
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Subject:
Lemon Peel and Aiptasia
Hi Penny,
Just wanted to say, thank
you for your advise on the Lemon peel Angel. Like Leaslie, I
too had a problem with aiptasia. After the first couple of
weeks I didn't see any difference, and didn't think it was
going to work. However, today when I was cleaning the
tank, they were almost gone. It seems that Mr. Lemon
Peel has munched most of the pesky aiptasia away. I
still have a couple of large ones in the tank, but the
smaller ones are gone and I am confident that he will clean
up the rest of the problem. Thanks for all you do!
Kelly
Burnham, ME
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Happy 1 Year
Birthday! Customer Tank: Tom & Dawn's 90
Gallon!
I am proud to
feature this tank. Setup using the AquaCorals
"recipe" Tom & Dawn's tank has blossomed & "grown"
in just a few months. Click on any of the
pictures to see a larger, more detailed version.
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3/07 - Newly set up. Only 2 coralline "seed"
rocks.
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6/07 - In just 3 months!! |
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4/08 & what a beautiful transformation & gorgeous
reef tank! Tom & Dawn's tank is a true
testament to the success of this system as well as
to their personal commitment to it.
Congratulations Tom & Dawn &
Happy Birthday! :c) |
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Subject:
Thank You
Penny,
I just wanted to send you a quick email to say thank you.
My wife and I were very impressed by you and your store. It
is nice to see a store owner care for their live stock as
much as the people purchasing it does. Unfortunately that
is not always the case in your profession. The Xenia is
doing great. Opened immediately once in the tank, and has
since attached itself to the rock is was placed on, and the
snails... Their never ending appetite is amazing. They
will have the tank spotless in no time. Again thanks and we
are looking forward to seeing you again. You and your store
are well worth the trip.
Aaron & Rachel
Berwick, ME
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Subject: Xenia Split
Hi Penny,
I came back to Bangor today after visiting my parents &
stopped into the office and my Xenia is now two Xenia's!
It's amazing how quickly this Canary Coral has grown.
Everything's looking really nice. ... I was in Portland this
weekend and checked out another reef/saltwater store. The
corals were bleaching or bleached, some of the fish were not
healthy (or reef safe), one tank had two huge Aptasia's
growing in it, and the way the water was circulated was
leaving bubbles all over the coral, many of the corals were
dying, they had a what would have been a beautiful pink
hammer coral that was down for the count. There were so many
customers in the store buying things left and right. This
experience made me aware of the knowledge I have gained
since being introduced into this hobby, following your
advice and learning from your experience has made me a more
knowledgeable consumer, and a more competent reefer. I want
to express my thanks for the help and wisdom you've shared
with me as my mentor.
Have a great week,
Scott M.
Old Town, ME
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Thank you for the opportunity to share my
experience regarding starting and maintaining a saltwater
aquarium. I have been in this hobby for almost five years
and I'm hooked. Initially, I went the unconventional route
of reading, gathering information on-line, and purchasing
corals/fish at Pet Shops along with on-line not knowing
Penny was available to assist me.
My first meeting with Penny was
information, reassuring, and comforting to know I could turn
my failures into success. She was so knowledgeable and so
accessible to me. I have been working with Penny for well
almost four years and have been extremely successful with my
current corals and fish tank. Television is a thing of
the past. I love sitting in front of my fish tank for hours
enjoying the fish and admiring how beautiful the aquascape
is.
Penny is more than an expert at saltwater aquariums. She's a
friend. Thank you for helping me be confident and successful
in this fun hobby.
Sincerely,
Johnna Bowen
Benton, ME
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Title: Fish Color vs. Food Quality
Hi Penny,
I’ve always fed my tank the foods
that you’ve recommended. I used to
feed them a mixture of Mysis shrimp,
cyclopeeze, and formula two flake.
After my last visit to you, I
replaced the mysis with PE Mysis.
Until recently I always bought my
fish in groups and I’ve only bought
fish from three different sources.
The fish I’ve bought from you have
always been beautifully colored in
your tanks and they continue to
maintain their colors months after
I’ve brought them home. Some time
ago, I purchased a pair of
oscellaris clowns from another
location. They looked great,
healthy, they acclimated well, and
they were eating well. The smaller
one never really adjusted to it’s
new surroundings and after a month
of increasingly timid behavior, it
died. A few months ago I bought my
remaining clown a new buddy from the
same store that the pair originally
came from. When I was in the store,
this new little guy looked great.
His color was good, fins, behavior,
eating, so I brought him home.
After he acclimated and I released
him, he headed straight down for
the frogspawn that my established
clown is hosting and guess who came
out to greet him. Aside from the
fact that it was one of the cutest
moments I’ve seen in my tank when
the established clown came swimming
up and did a body twist like I never
saw before to say “Hey buddy”, it
was then that I noticed that the new
clown was such a pale orange in
comparison to my established one
that I was almost worried. To make
a long story a little shorter….Today
they are both a beautiful deep
orange. They look today like they
came from the mother instead of
looking like different species when
they first met up.
Thank you for recommending high
quality food, but even more
important than that.. Thank you for
feeding your fish the same high
quality food you recommend even
though it’s more costly instead of
cutting corners.
Thanks as always,
Paul
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Hi Penny,
Can you
believe that almost a year has passed
since I first walked into your shop? It
was Labor Day weekend that I had set up
a saltwater tank with no knowledge of
how to do so. I had visited your shop
many months prior to that, but hadn't
convinced myself to take the plunge yet.
It was on my mind though, that's why I
got it going on Labor Day. Then I
decided to take a little trip to see
your place. That was the beginning of my
reef addiction for sure! !!!! I remember
clearly when I told you how I had my
sand placed in it, you said I had it
backwards. I had coarse on bottom and
fine on top You said fine goes on
bottom-coarse on top. I was so ticked
that I hadn't come to you sooner. I had
worked all day getting it set up wrong.
haha. So, reluctantly, I went home,
drained it, took out what seemed to be a
ton of sand, removed all of the rocks,
put it all back correctly. got the sump
set up, hooked up the overflow box
(another one of your suggestions when I
was there) and away we went again! Only
this time, it was right. It worked and I
have a beautiful tank to show for it. I
may have ignored someone else, but the
appearance of your shop with its beauty
and comfy atmosphere made me feel so
good that I wanted to have a tank of my
own that made me feel that way.
And now I do. My husband was sold on
your ideas from the beginning. He said
that your shop was so beautiful that it
was apparent that you knew what you were
doing and that we should listen to
you. Since then I've had some beautiful
corals from your shop and many I've
split, many have grown so much that I
had to set up a new tank. Ya right! Had
too?? This hobby has truly consumed me.
Its the best hobby I've ever had in my
life. I enjoy it every day and never get
tired of looking at it or taking care of
it. I faithfully do 10% water changes
every week .My tank perimeters are
always perfect and the water is always
crystal clear. I wouldn't have this
beautiful tank if it wasn't for
you, your advice, helpful hints, know
how and most of all your patience.
You taught me how to set a tank up that
would remain stable and beautiful for
years to come. I now have one
beautiful tank and another heading in
that direction.
See you
soon!
Thank you so much.
Glenda Knowlan
Wayne, ME
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I really appreciate your
attentiveness and care to your product
and service.....it is unfortunately a
rarity these days. It sounds like you
love this hobby as much as I do and can
relate to how important it is for me to
succeed....
I
will speak to you soon.....thanks again
Penny.
Brian, New Jersey
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Subject: Kent RO filter
Hi Penny,
When I was setting up my reef, I went
with all of the equipment you
recommended with one exception. I
decided that I could save some money if
I bought an RO/DI filter on EBay instead
of getting the Kent Ro filter that you
recommended.
As my reef settled
down from all the cycling and expected
initial algae blooms etc, I seemed to be
contending with much more algae,
planaria, and cyano than I should have.
I wasn’t overfeeding, lighting was
appropriate, I added an additional
powerhead to eliminate flow as a
potential cause, and finally I had my
water tested for TDS. The output of my
DI was reading 33 TDS. DI should be at
zero and RO should be far below 33
itself.
I finally listened to
you and bought a Kent RO filter. I
haven’t tested the TDS of the new RO,
but I don’t have to. The difference has
been more apparent with every weekly
water change I’ve done since. Algae
growth has slowed to the point now that
it’s not growing back where I remove it
from. I have not had any cyano trying
to take hold since the first new Ro
water change. The top of my sand is
staying much cleaner with each change.
The coloring of the sand bed against the
glass is becoming much less pronounced
again with each change. The growth of
green on the inside of my glass has
slowed considerably as well.
In short, as you said,
the Kent Ro filter made a huge
difference. Trying to save that money
up front was certainly not worth it with
all the additional work and aggravation
over the past months. Thank you for
recommending top quality products like
this!
Thanks
Paul - NH
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To: 'Penny - AquaCorals'
Hi Penny,
I just wanted to share a quick update
with you regarding my reef.
I’ve crossed the 5 month mark and things
are going quite well, really. My buddies
in the reef have survived a few power
outages over the winter and everyone is
looking happy and healthy. I have to
thank you for the confidence to overcome
my latest two challenges. The first was
Cyano bacteria. Hopefully anyone with a
new reef will believe you when you tell
them that they can expect many forms of
algae and bacteria outbreaks within the
first year of their reef. Cyano may be
the most trying between visible patches
and required maintenance.
As you told me, low flow is a major
contributing factor to cyano. In
addition to your recommended
scrapings/siphons/nettings of the cyano,
I added an extra powerhead and again at
your recommendation left the lights off
completely for two days and I have not
seen cyano since then. As I read forums
etc about the hobby, that is a huge
victory and I only did what you
recommended. Thank you.
The next scourge is red flatworms. I
have to admit that I panicked when I
first saw them. I wanted to pull the
rock I saw them on, get natural
‘feeders’, quite frankly the day I first
saw them, I may have done anything,
whether it was the right thing to do or
not….
The advice I got from you was to relax.
Go figure!
You told me that these little guys
aren’t really the scourge they are made
out to be. You told me to maintain my
10% weekly water changes, siphon any of
these critters I could see, and stay the
course. Ha! Imagine that I’m the
skeptic, but wetwebmedia completely
agreed with you. They mentioned
potential natural predators but they may
have also threatened my existing reef
population, so even though they were all
included in my initial email to you,
they were all excluded from the fix.
Patience became the mantra.
This wasn’t new. The months it took me
to build my system proved that nothing
worthwhile would come quickly. You told
me to stay on course with my weekly 10%
water changes, siphoning of the red
flatworms as possible, and run carbon
and phosphate remover hard.
The next step, I think makes a huge leap
of faith that starts at the beginning of
the reef.
What do I know? The answer to that is
Nothing.
One of the huge reasons that I built a
reef according to Penny’s specifications
is that Penny is right. I don’t know
better than her, If I want to start a
reef that builds it’s success on what
Penny has seen, Then when Penny says be
patient, I’m patient!.
My red flatworm population recently
reduced by 2/3 with no action on my part
but regular water changes and siphoning
and attention to water parameters. I was
doing just this and overnight the
flatworms reduced by 2/3 easily. They
are still there, but what Penny told me,
that my patience would be rewarded, is
true.
As always , I’ll keep you posted.
Thanks
Paul, NH
PS...Methods
are just methods, methods and in a
science of opinions, one is as good as
another. I’ve yet to find a true mentor
besides you. Every lfs has their
prescribed ideal system, but do any of
them give the bottom line like you do in
your “Tips for beginners”? Of all the
‘stuff’ I read online before I started
building anything, nothing made more
sense than that. That set the hook.
=)
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