Aquapros

I’ve been to a handful of reef stores in the Chicagoland area, with some better than others of course. Aquapros is my favorite. Prices are way better than anyone else, the fish look great and are VERY healthy! They know their stuff and are very much into helping out. I have dealt with Mike all the time and he’s just great! Recently upgraded to a 125 gallon reef tank, which I love, purchased from them. It may be a bit hard to find when you first go there. Highly recommended!

Great prices and friendly, knowledgeable staff.

So I went to Aquapros upon the excellent reviews on Unilocal.All I can say is these people must value selection over just about every other aspect of the shopping experience.
I went one Saturday to the store and was helped by a very nice guy (shaved head and glasses). He was attentive and helped me out grabbing all the things I wanted. I walked out with some frags, a couple zoa polyps, and a BTA and pair of frozen frostbite clowns (which are not cheap).
Got home, acclimated everything and added them to the display tank. I only had 2 other fish int he display tank (a mated pair of Potter’s Angels that I had gotten from Reefwise a month earlier). Within a week, my angels started showing signs of stress and eventually some sort of infection. Water tested fine. And they were eating, so I crossed my fingers as catching them to treat them proved impossible.
Within 2 days, both angels died. And the clowns started showing long stringy mucous coats (Brooklynella). They too succumbed within a couple days (within a week of being introduced to the tank).
Here is where my problems with Aquapros begins. I emailed their site and told them what had happened. I sent Dave (the owner?) pictures and told him everything I knew. He responded by blaming reefwise — in spite of the fact that they had been happy and healthy before the introduction of the clowns. But he said he wanted to keep me happy as a new customer and that if I brought in the fish, my receipt, and a sample of tank water we could talk and work something out. This is exactly the type of service that earned them their high Unilocal rating!
Saturday rolls around, and I make the hour drive from Chicago to Glen Ellyn in the nightmarish weekend traffic that all Chicagoans will understand. I walk into the store and Dave proceeds to tell me he can’t do anything and that it isn’t his fault. I remind him of the «deal» he said we could work out if I came and brought him all the things he asked for. Apparently the deal was for him to mumble for about 5 minutes and say he can’t do anything. I asked him if the store had any policy about the health of their fish or some sort of guarantee that is common in the industry. He mumbled that yeah for a couple days. Apparently 6 days is beyond that limit. I told him I didn’t even want a full refund and some store credit would be great to make this trip worth something; to try and keep a person who spent $ 400 on their first time in your store (and god knows how much I would have in the future) happy. He said they wouldn’t do anything. Needless to say I will not be going back to a store that treats their customers like that.
TLDR; decent selection, but owner doesn’t care about service. Hope nothing goes wrong and get everything in writing because they will not take responsibility and communication is not Dave’s forte. I got the sense that the owner is too young to appreciate what good customer service can do for a business.

I love this place. The guys know their stuff and recognize you when you come back. It is a little hard to find, but if you have any interest in reef tanks, it’s well worth it. Tons of frags and good prices.

I needed an antique 100 gallon metaframe tank moved from the city to Glen Ellyn. I foolishly went with Aquarium maintenance & design, a company in the city, to get the job done. They broke the seal on the tank, provided shady custy service, and left me with an old leaky tank. Because of its age, they were exempt from providing a refund for the move, or to get me a new tank. They even tried to sell me a new tank at full price, after their error. So I called Aqua pros…
Aqua pros came to the rescue! :)
Within a day, I had a brand new tank up & running, sold to me for a great price. They even delivered it, inside my place, and gave me the buckets to make the transfer of fish & gravel, at no additional cost. I should have gone with these guys to make the original move. They are so much more professional & knowledgable than their urban competitors. I run a freshwater piranha tank, and have no knowledge of saltwater, but if I ever choose to make the transition, I’ll be sure to come here for all my saltwater needs.

Awesome coral selection. Few fish but exotic compared to Lombard Tropi. They only specialize in marine life, hence if you have a saltwater tank you should probably go there knowing they specifically care for saltwater fish, inverts and coral. Prices are reasonably fair. Super clean tanks and healthy coral. Small place and kind of hidden, BUT it’s worth the trip.

More for saltwater and didn’t exactly get the best service. Kind of felt like I was a burden being there. Kinda hard to find too. Still recommended to my brother in law for corral. Just okay I guess,

Excellent prices, excellent selection for a small space. I can’t wait to go back and get more coals. As for people complaining about hitchhiking bugs, you are foolish if you believe that a store with wild animals will never have stuff like that. That is why you quarantine or dip everything before adding to a tank. You will never find a store with absolutely no hitchhikers. Ok. Rant over.

Excellent customer service, knowledgable staff, and reasonable prices! I’ll be going back often.

Not so great. Brought red bugs from there while ago. Make sure you check your corals before putting in main display.

Visited this place a couple days ago and will definitely be back. Great prices and a decent selection of corals for the small size of this store.
For those that haven’t shopped here. The store is actually behind the main buildings off the street. It’s hard to spot but worth a trip.

This place is hard to find, but worth the effort. Their prices are half of any store in the area. This place is a reef tank lovers dream. They don’t have allot of fish, but they will bend over backwards to help you and get you anything that you need. Everyone that has salt water tanks loves these guys and wished they would have found them before the overpriced, bright, and cheery place in the next town over. Do a comparison of stores for yourself like I did.