Sustainable Reefs is an "idea" that developed over time, and out of necessity and opportunity. Reefkeeping has been a true passion of mine since 1989, soon after that was my first "fish store gig" where I learned the ropes. Then, during college, I commuted 45min to work at a saltwater wholesaler in Martinez.
I have always said I wanted to do something different. Try to look ahead of the trade. I feel promoting Aquaculture livestock IS the future of this hobby. It's time to offer the Reef Community a different type of Reef Store. One where you can find a full array of aquaculture livestock, including marine coral, fish, and plants. We welcome you to Sustainable Reefs!
What is "In Stock" and what is "Available", and why we are a New Concept reef store.
I think it's very important to clarify the difference between our store concept vs. your typical reef store/online supplier. Most other reef stores: get one-off wild pieces, and once they're sold, they are gone. You look in their store categories and see all of the "SOLD" tags. SustainableReefs is just the opposite: Everything on our website is "Available" but may not be "In-Stock" at our location. But every aquaculture piece is repeatably available on demand through our extensive supply outlets.
Our Concept: We have SR growers, and wholesale suppliers who "grow" the coral we offer. Our main facility is more of a distribution hub or a sample of available items. We wouldn't have the capacity to store one of every item, and logistically, it's almost impossible to propagate at one location and provide a good selection of different types of coral and livestock. A Perfect example... We get ORA corals from ORA, on ORA plugs, we are not here to recreate the wheel... ORA is already producing coral, and we support that effort by ordering the items they culture. Buying and re-fragging, ORA coral is possible, but it cuts out the support that ORA needs to continue the business of growing that coral. We only focus on growing items NOT available from other sources.
Cultured Corals: All of our cultured items are "Known growers", and have a "known coloration" so our listings have a colony picture, as well as fragment pics showing the size where possible. We try, but do not always have a WYSIWYG pic supplied for our cultured items. But, when you place an order, we get the item filled with the exact strain you ordered. We bring them into our local facility and ship the order as one unit to you.
We do our best to only list items still available. Sometimes if an item is a slow grower or limited supply, we note the details of the item with this information.