Aqua Lab Aquaria

I moved to the Bay Area last year and travel too much for a dog so I took up fish. Wow was there a lot to learn but lucky for me I found Kent (owner) online…
He helped me design and build an amazing salt water Nano set up and has truly been a teacher throughout the process. He is very flexible and available to help anytime. He takes care of maintenance and babysitting the tank when I travel and regularly sources fish and coral for me. He has also been great with answering tank related questions.
I completely trust and highly recommend his services! He even has keys to my house.
Piece of advice for newbies… Find an expert you can trust and listen to him when he says things are right for your tank!

I’m giving this business 10 stars, they deserve it! I went down to get a mr aqua 30g shallow and was more than impressed with the store and staff. The customer service was excellent! I got the tank because of complication with a custom tank I ordered elsewhere and thought I was gonna get a refund. So I came to aqua lab to get the mr aqua, but found out a few days later the other custom tank was not refundable… I felt terribly asking kent the owner if I could return the mr aqua tank and he honored it. This is a first class store, I won’t be shopping anywhere else from now on. Thanks aqua lab!!!

Searched up aquatic stores and this was the closest location to the South Bay. The staff exemplified the highest standard of customer service, aquatic design and an enormous knowledge base.
For my aquascape project I was pleased to buy 4 different species of shrimp, snails, fish, rimless tank, remote access lighting and controls, aquascape materials (huge selection of drift wood, san sui rock, diff types of moss, amazon aqua soil, entire co2 setup, and a great variety of aquatic plants.
I loved how Aqua Lab has the high-​end inventory to meet my needs. I will be coming back for more of their in-​house products as well!

I had a chance to talk to Kent the owner, and was pleasantly surprised to see his enthusiasm for the hobby. He was nice enough to show me around the shop which was still a work in progress, but judging from his description, I can see how he had great aspirations of how this store will turn out. It’s awesome to see that he’s trying to take the hobby to the next level, using not only high quality aquariums and equipment, but also new innovative techniques. In addition, he’s doing paladariums and bonsai as well.
I ordered an Innovative Marine aquarium, but it wasn’t in stock, so he special ordered it. This was around Christmas. When it arrived, he gave me a call. We tried a couple of times to arrange a pick up time, but because of the holidays, we weren’t able to synch up our schedule. So rather than keep trying to synch up, he instead tells me that he’s just going to drop the aquarium off at my house!!! Now mind you, I told him that I’m in no rush, and was willing to wait. But he insisted that he should drop it off so that we wouldn’t have to keep trying to match schedules. I mean talk about white glove service! I didn’t even pay for this level of service! He just felt bad that we weren’t able to meet up sooner. He came by house one night after doing a service call elsewhere and dropped it off inside my house!!! Now that’s committment to an unparralleled level of service! Two big thumbs up!

Kent has got something going here at ALA, all who are in the market for a tank go see Kent, he is very very knowledgeable and prompt on responding to questions. Great CAD skills and great aquarium build quality! what else can a reefer ask for!

It was a good experience finding a more private professional Aquarium expert here in San Jose. Kent will provide time to listen and assess your aquarium needs. He gives expert opinion, options, and solutions to maximize results well within your budget.
I, myself needed some advice on starting my aquascaping project. The products that he has in his inventory ranges from affordable to high end quality brands. His office/​shop will be my mainstay for my aquascaping needs.

Thank you Aqua lab… My tank and accessories just came in this week. I’m More then excited about the quality of my tank and the light. Thanks kent for all your help. I can’t wait to get it started..

Aqua Lab Aquaria has great customer service and will even special order where other stores will not.
I wanted to get kuhli loaches and called around and found that most aquarium pet stores will NOT special order anything. That is not the case with Aqua Lab Aquaria. I was very impressed with how friendly and knowledgeable they are and will definitely make them my number one go to place.
I highly recommend Aqua Lab Aquaria!

I recently had a skimmer go out on me and my first option was to go on craigslist and see if there are any used ones available. I didnt see any i liked but i did see an ad Kent posted so i asked if he had any in my price range in stock (cause if i was to wait for a shipment, i couldve done that myself, also cause im impatient!) and if it was possible for me to come pick it up that same night. He offered to stay later than usual but i still wouldnt have been to able to make it, so i came the following morning. He has a variety of skimmers but he showed me one which he thought would be good for my tank, and i couldnt be happier.
When i went to his store it wasnt completely done up yet but he definitely has some cool stuff there. The sumps he made are straight eye candy! Cant wait for the shop to be 100% up and running without making an appointment so us reefers can stop by anytime we want!

Kent has been maintaining my saltwater reef tank since March 2015 and it has never looked better. He’s been a pleasure to work with and has been highly professional and trustworthy. I bought my reef system used and while the tank looked great before I purchased it, it started to go downhill from there (I am fairly new to the reef side of the hobby). Kent was able to come in, re-​aquascape the tank (which is AMAZING now, by the way), and provide the remediation needed to get my aquarium back on track. Along the way I have made some upgrades based on Kent’s suggestions but Aqua Lab has never peddled me anything I DIDN’T NEED.
I’ve been tremendously happy with my decision to choose Aqua Lab to maintain our aquarium. After doing a lot of research on the other options available in the Silicon Valley, I am confident that Kent and Aqua Lab are the best in the business when it comes to servicing modern saltwater aquariums. You can’t go wrong with these guys.

Very helpful with a killer everything included tank set up. Hours aren’t super stable yet but customer service puts them high up on my list. Hopefully visiting more as I go deeper into aquariums.

Kent was incredibly helpful with both our fresh water and reef tanks. Reliability is very important in the tank game, and Kent is as reliable as they come. Besides having Kent make house calls, I have also visited his shop and found it welcoming and full of beautiful tanks! He is a real enthusiast himself and it shows in his work. Thanks Kent!

After searching all over the bay area for an affordable reef tank setup, I showed up at Kent’s under construction Storefront, ALA. I told him I have no time to cycle the aquarium since time is kind of an enemy for me at this point as I battle my 5yo girl’s brain cancer. He just wanted to help right away and offered to sell one of his used tanks. A new setup would’ve costed way more and would’ve taken way more time as well. I couldn’t have asked for anything better than this. A reef tank ready to put fish in! He came home and set everything up in just a few hours. I was able to surprise my daughter when she returned from school that day and she was super thrilled to see the nemos dancing around in front. He knows just about everything and carries top quality products only. He has answered all of my questions with patience and has sufficient knowledge about everything related to aquarium. I am seriously happy to have found this place. I can’t wait for his store front to be ready for me to shop around for some fish/​corals. He even offered to match price with Amazon for products that he sell. Neptune Aquatics have got some serious competition now in terms of quality!

Where to begin. For one, this review is way overdue. Aqua Lab has helped me set up and maintain 4 tanks now, all more beautiful then the next! I’ve read some of these other reviews and they are spot on. The owner Kent is friendly, knowledgeable, passionate, and innovative. They only sell the very best in quality products and equipment so I’ve never had to second guess my purchase. They have such a unique assortment of products and equipment that I haven’t found at other LFS and at super competitive prices which is always a plus in this hobby! Whether you’re a beginner or have been in the hobby for years, Aqua Lab is an amazing resource.

Kent is both very knowledgeable and passionate about all things aquarium related. He took the time to listen to my concerns and promptly addressed them in a professional, yet friendly manner. Would highly recommend his services!!!

I first contacted Kent after I had enough with my last fish maintenance guy (always mad, canceling apt speaking too loud and the worst stinking my house every time he came by I’m sure some would relate to this) once Kent came to my house the first visit I was amazed with his knowledge, expertise and equipment, very clean and explaining the whole process to me very well, I upgraded some equipment thanks to his advice and my tank is looking way better than ever.
Thanks Kent, I appreciate you driving to Hayward for my tank service.

Kent was awesome to work with. I got a Crystal Vu 65 gallon high clarity rimless aquarium, archaea ultra-​gro lights and some seiryu rocks. He delivered it to me for free even though I was little over 20 miles from his shop. The original delivery date was for Tuesday, but he delivered it on Sunday since I coudn’t wait to setup my new tank :) That is some great customer service ! The only other option for high clarity rimless in the bay area is aquaforest in Fillmore, but they don’t deliver and shipping is exhorbidant. I am looking forward to AquaLab growing into or even bettering AquaForest. I need a good LFS nearby :) There is hardly anything in this side for planted tanks apart from the big box stores, their lousy collections and their sick fish.

Excellent service! Aqua Lab helped me plan a new tank build. They brought me up to speed on the latest and greatest technology and provided competitive equipment pricing. I hope to do business again!

Excellent service ! Very patient, knowledgeable, energetic and professional. ALA is a service for those who are interested in very high end equipment and service