thesea.org

ok, here's part one of this as the zoos are now in my tank and haven't yet opened.

I emailed Blane over at thesea.org and told him I wanted to place an order and that I wanted strange, wierd and colorful morphs and that I would rather him select them.

He emails me back with a suggestion (done in cost, not in zoo stock numbers) and I say fine. Paypal the money and I'm all set.

A couple of days go by and I get an email that those funky "purple people eaters" are available. I immediately email him and tell him to add them to my order and I will, if necessary, add some more cash to the pot. I get an email back telling me they are all accounted for. Bummer (incidentally, it is now one week later and they are still available, as are some similar ones).

Anyway, my order ships on Monday and Blane calls me with the tracking number and asks me if I have any questions. Nice service touch. I said no thanks and went about my usual day.

Today I check the tracking site at fed ex and discover that the package was deemed undeliverable. I call fed ex and they tell me they had the wrong zip the first time (my mistake - gave office zip in email) and that Blane corrected it with the wrong zip (he used the paypal zip but screwed up a number). Anyway, I stressed to fed ex that the animals would die and that it was up to them to not cause the deaths of innocent lives. I emailed Blane regarding the situation and he called me a few times during the day to check up on the status.

The website was suddenly changed to delivered at 9:23 am a solid two hours before I made the phone call. Strange.

I arrive home and am greeted by a nifty little igloo (I think that's the brand) cooler. The box charge is finally worthwhile. Inside are a bunch of well packed bags, with codes on them so I can finally check the site and see what I got. Some of the frags are on plugs. Others are on rubble. The ones on plugs contain three or 5 polyps. I hate plugs and having these big disks with three tiny polyps on them will annoy the crap out of me but I'll live with it. Fortunately, one frag came off of the plug during shipping so I got to glue that one on rock.

Blane included one free frag in one of the bags, which I am assuming is the same zoos as the ones marked on the bag.

So far, everything is cool. I'll post pics in my tank thread and a link here.

The size of the select frags are not worth the money, in my opinion. The price has since gone up and three tiny polyps for roughly $10 or so a polyp is steep. However, he does has some truly stunning zoos so, if you have the money and want the zoos, welcome to the world of supply and demand.

Blane seemed concerned about the shipment from the moment it left his hands and his calling was a nice touch, although for a busy guy like me it could get to be a bit much. However, I understand his concern and I would have been the same way.

My only real issues were the lack of availability of the purple people eaters, although they were, and still are, available, the three polyps for a steep price (again, a concern but not a major issue if you have the coin) and the lag between my paypal being accepted and the frags shipping.

I spoke with blane about the lag and he explained the situation well enough for me.

Pics forthcoming.

Well I am going to post my opinion on Blane's operation and I don't have a lot of good things to say unfortunately.

Basically Seabass and I went in together a few weeks back and placed an order from thesea.org. Over the next several hours we were told that the zoos that said they were available on the site were all gone. These e-mails went back and forth several times before we finally just settled on some for the sake of getting *something*. Strike one.

Next problem we had was trying to find out when they were going to be shipped. To make a long story short, the zoos were not shipped out until a few days later (I can't be more specific because I truly don't recall exactly except to say that I was frustrated at the delay). Communication expressing these details were sketchy. Strike two.

When the zoos arrived, the frags were *small*. I know Blane says 10-15 poylps on the selects we ordered, and perhaps that is what we got but I can tell you that there aren't very many for the $20-$30 price tag that is on them. Strike three.

From a packaging standpoint, the cooler packaging is neat and works great. The large (no make that H-U-G-E) concrete discs the frags were attached to are just bad news.

This is new for Blane and I am willing to try him again in the future because every new businessperson has opportunities to learn and get better as they go.

He truly needs to get a better system up for ordering frags period. The e-mails back and forth and trying to find something that *IS* in stock (even though the site says they are in stock) was an exercise in frustration and futility. The Logical Reef has a shopping cart system and once somebody buys a piece they are no longer available on the site. Something along those lines would be SO much better.

Also, Blane told us that he only ships on certain days of the week to keep costs down. I have no problem with that but that needs to be on the site in bold and clearly identifiable for everyone to easily see. When I order a coral online, normally I expect it to be shipped very promptly.

Again, this is constructive criticism as I think Blane is a nice guy and I sincerely hope he can fix some of these issues.

As a sidenote, his zoos in our tank(s) are doing fine, albeit they are extremely small frags.

Thanks,

-Jeff

well said Jeff. I didn't want to come across as too harsh as, like you said, it is a work in progress and will most likely improve over time.

The frags are small and on those friggin disks they looke teeny. I tried popping the frags off the plugs but they were glued on real well and with three polyps sandwhiched between the glue, it wasn't worth the risk. Hopefully they will grow out a bit and I will get them off then.

The ordering system is not the best and, as Blane explained to me, he is still doing this as a hobby so he does it when he can. Is this good for the consumer? No. If I place an order on a Monday and my money is taken in a day, I expect to get that shipment that week, unless I request a later shipment. The fact that zoos were supposedly not available and yet remain available on the site (with more added) ####ed me off a bit but I don't know what is in stock and I don't know how often he updates the site so I can only accept his word there.

I'll continue to check the site, if nothing more than for the sake of seeing the stunning morphs he has for sale.

I have been emailing back and forth with Blane all morning and he has popped in to read the posts. He agrees that some things need to be worked on and I have suggested some ideas for a new, and better, plug.

He is concerned about the site and the way it comes across and he says he is working on making it better.

I really appreciate the input from Crakeur, he had some

Great ideas. I had not really sold online since 99-00 form

My old 450 gallon system. The demand was much less then.

Farms at thesea has been a work in progress for about 2 years

Actually. The site launched just under a month ago. I really

Could never have imagined the kind of response I have been

Getting at all.

The upside is it motivates me to work harder and expand my

Selection. I’d like to get back into SPS heavily. I use to have about

120 different morphs on my site. The downside is so much so soon

“growing pains”

I love to get feedback from people because it helps me grow and

In turn provide a better service. For the first 3 weeks I had a problem

With bags leaking despite the 310 rubber bands I used J. I thought

They may have been handled roughly so I purchased three different

Kinds of Packaging labels. Seemed to help a bit; last week though I

Purchased a professional bagging machine and the results have been

Great.

Another big issue was (and still is to some extent the frags broke

Off the disks) actually every one in a shipment. I changed glue

Brands and it really reduced this problem. I had some negative

Feedback about the disks in the past, but Crakeur really summed it

Up by explaining it really will ever look right in an aquarium. I had

Spent about an hour today looking for different mold types to make

Smaller less obtrusive plugs but no luck just yet. I have about 200

Left of these kind but once they are gone I should have something

A bit better. I really like the consistency of the Garf plugs, they look

Allot like rock. If anyone knows what they use for material email

Me. blane@thesea.org.

The largest problem I have is definitely order taking. As I mentioned

I was never really prepared for the amount of interest people have in

Zoanthus. I’m not an entirely technical person, my inventory is in

A word doc J. When I send out my member mail to about 6300

People I get blasted with responses for about a week. Each person

Send an order, as a few start to sell my inventory changes but I

Can not get time to update the site. L I send out some alternatives

But I don’t do this full time so it may take 10-24 hours, by then

A few more orders may have gone through and the info I sent was old.

By the time I hear back with a new list, most of it is gone again.

Actually it’s a pain to buy from me at some points and I’m grateful

Msot people have not given up J.

Crakeur had suggested moving to an e commerce package as soon as

Possible *that’s real time) that will allow people to just make the

Purchase on line. This will eliminate allot of the chaos J. I’m actually

In the middle of moving the entire site to a dedicated server and was

Waiting until the migration was finished to begin this project. I’m sure

By year end I will have a working shopping cart, (fingers crossed)

Thanks again for the ideas and being patient while I work out the kinks

Of the operation.

blane

Hey, when I get some cash, I will be buying some stuff. But I want to buy lots of zoos, so it may be awhile!

Blane, could you be sure to give me some special attention?!?

sure since we are both star wars fans remind me of your post when the day comes

so, if I had had a silly little yoda avatar, would I have found those purple people eaters in my cooler?

Blane, I'm glad you finally came here and posted as I think it lets people know that you care about the post and it lets people know that you are taking steps to make things run smoother.

If you find a plug alternative, I expect a nice gift in the mail, with a small (more than three dammit) colony of funky zoos.

the last of mine started opening last night. bright green from the looks of it. I lost 3 of those orange ones. the frag split and I glued the small piece and it must have come loose during the night. C'est La Vie.

Pics will come after the weekend as I won't be home till after lights out tonight and then I'm outta here for the weekend.

I have an enormous star wars collection, so it brings

Back fond memories. I had collected from 77 to about

95. I have allot of MIB stuff, so I always make room

for fans J

On the plugs, I was looking across different industries

For molds and even a different material all together. If

Anyone know of anything I can use please mail me.

Objectives,

Trying to reduce the size of the plug in width

Trying to find molds so all are consistent.

Trying to reduce the size by depth so it’s a bit

Lighter, I am having problems with crushing

Mushrooms in the bags.

Also trying to get it to look more like rock,

Not exactly sure how garf does it but buying

Crushed coral is getting too expensive.

On another note everyone enjoys the coolers, but I

Fear with summer winding down stores don’t carry

Many in stock. I called the mfg. But they want 20

Each for a small one, so that’s out of the question.

Ideas are welcome.

blane

ok, so along with having some really nice zoos, we have learned that Blane is a nerd.

Blane, switch to the stryofoam coolers. they work just as well, cost a ton less and are disposable. or, offer a deal for money back if the igloo is returned (buyer pays the postage).

That way you will get some back and not have to keep buying them

Sweetness, my mind tricks have worked again! Well, I shouldn't say again . . .

Trying to reduce the size of the plug in width

Trying to find molds so all are consistent.

Try Old Fashioned ice cube trays. The kind that go in the freezer. You can generally get them 3 for $1. Garf (as far as I can recall) uses ice-cube trays lined with plastic wrap. I think someone else uses the bottom of styrofoam egg containers.

I am having problems with crushing Mushrooms in the bags.

I'd suggest using bits of styrofoam coolers (those that are too dammaged to ship in). Rubber band them to the back of the rock.

Not exactly sure how garf does it

Garf "Reef Plugs"

On another note everyone enjoys the coolers, but I Fear with summer winding down stores don’t carry Many in stock.

I suggest using styrofoam beer coolers. It seems that (Summer or Winter) gas stations and conveniance stores sell those.

-Sumbel.

this is the method i used, they look like cement disks. I have bought plugs from them that looked like actual rock. Not sure if they are crushing rock , or buying crushed coral (thats expensive)

on the styros the only thing i dont like is most end up in landfills

Here is an Idea for ya! I hope this doesn't sound too crazy. I recently got an order of base rock from hirocks.com. It was called a Bio-30. It is 30 lbs of small pieces of base rock that would go into a bio filter. Some of the pieces are golf ball size to baseball size pieces. A Few pieces were a little large for a nano so I busted them up into smaller pieces. There are some black and peach colored rocks that were just awsome.

Oh yeah the cost was $30 including shipping. So I got real rock for about the price of a bag of crushed coral and a bag of concrete. And I don't have to make molds or anything like that.

Just a suggestion.

that sound interesting is that the web address

www.hirocks.com

Yes.

um...crak...pics?

coming.

just an update i think i have solved the problem with the plugs

I havea a much lighter, smaller plug now looks more like rock as well.

blane

Any pics blane?

they are in a tub curing right now, i will get soem up soon.

they have the look of garf plugs but half the height.

Doing a new coral purchase search... How're your corals doin' Crak?

I only have one batch of Blane's zoos left. I lost some soon after getting them and others died in the blackout. Disregarding the blackout deaths, the ones that died shortly after I got them were a result (in my opinion) of too much glue or simply too small. I received a couple of colonies that were tiny pinpricks (3 in total) and they never really stood a chance with all the glue around them.

I love Blane's zoos and he's a real nice guy but for the price, you get very little in the way of product so the risk for death is much greater.