Aqua Lab Aquaria — Local services in San Jose

Love this place.

Initially, I was hesitant to buy plants from Aqua Lab Aquaria since I was so used to the usual places around the Bay Area that I frequent. On first glance the prices were OK, some well-priced, but some items didn't seem the cheapest out there. However, I can say it's well worth it after experiencing their outstanding customer support.

For my order, I tried their ground shipping as it's a bit of a drive for me to reach them. My order came in fast - within 48 hours of ordering. Big plus and that tells me they're on top of their order processing.

Unfortunately, my heart sank when I opened the package. The plant culture that I was really excited about came in all messed up. It was all slimy, sloshed around and indistinguishable. It was definitely well-packaged and even had multiple stickers saying "This side up". Whether it was because of that brand's quality in particular, sloppy USPS delivery, or whatever - it was completely different than the pictures on their website. I sent over an e-mail with pictures to show my dissatisfaction with little hopes of reaching a good resolution, as I've experienced with other stores in the Bay Area. This may even have to go through the Paypal resolutions team, I thought.

The next morning, I received two e-mails from ALA and what I read shocked me. In the first e-mail, ALA actually sided with me and apologized for having sent the poor plant culture. They assured me that this was unacceptable to them and that they would send out another culture right away. The second e-mail was the shipping confirmation and tracking info of the culture already ready for USPS pickup. The new plant culture was subsequently received next day at 9AM in the morning and is in perfect condition.

From total frustration to complete satisfaction, I am really surprised by the outstanding customer service from ALA as it's difficult to find these days. I'm also really glad that such a place exists locally. I've been too used to below par service from some local fish stores, who have outright ignored my e-mails when issues arise, that I didn't expect this kind of customer care. Hope management continues this trend and I look forward to being a long-time...

Aqua Lab is an amazing store for aquascaping supplies, tools, plants, and equipment. I went there with my 9 year old godson Alex and his father to aquascape Alex’s low tech tank, pictures attached in early February. The store gave us lots of inspiration with their display tanks, the staff was able to give us lots of information, and answer our questions. There was a large variety of plants for us to choose from that other stores just don’t have.

We purchased 6 different plants, 2 Wabi-Sabi stones, Kakako wood, and Manzanita wood for the aquascape. We also purchased Ultum Nature System all in one plant food fertilizer, kH test, and a gH test. Two months later the tank is thriving after some initial algae outbreaks and one plant death, which is due more to my thumb then anything else. We didn’t change any equipment, and our tank is low tech, simple filter, heater, 10 gallons, Dwarf African Frogs, Neon Tetras, and snails. The frogs love the Nymphoides Hydrophylla ‘Taiwan’ which we haven’t seen available else where. My godson Alex could not be happier or more proud of his tank and the advice and information we got from Aqua Lab, let alone that everything was available in one place for us to purchase has made this tank possible.

1st picture is of Alex’s tank before Aqua Lab 2nd picture is Alex’s new tank right after Aqua Lab 2/6 3rd picture is Alex’s tank today, the Nymphoides Hydrophylla ‘Taiwan’ is doing so well we have clippings to go into the quarantine tank for when fish get sick.

Final Note – regarding Covid-19 all employees were wearing masks correctly, so were customers, everyone was attempting to stay 6 feet apart, and taking turns in parts of the store were social distancing wasn’t possible. It was a wonderful experience in...

In-person shopping experience is good. Store is clean and the owner is helpful answering questions. However, communication is very, very, very poor.

I purchased some items in-store on 11/25 including pre-ordering some plants. The owner told me the timeline for receiving those plants would be about a week... I follow up 12/8 and I receive a response via text "Eta next weekend"... okay... then I followed up and got a response on 12/13 that the owner was "ordering today... prob get them Friday"... What? I thought they would have placed the order with the vendor the day I placed the pre-order in store... and since writing this review on 12/22 I have not received any updates or my plants. Throughout this whole time I've been the one calling the store and texting myself and have never received a proactive update from them reaching out first. I am still waiting for an update.

Getting through via the phone number is impossible (it always just rings and rings every time I try to call) and receiving responses via text message is very hit or miss.

In short, it's been nearly a month since I placed some plants on pre-order and was told it would only take about a week to get them in. I've been patiently waiting to get these plants before filling and stocking my tank and it's just been a...