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Coral Vue Hydros

The Official "How to Ship Coral" Thread


mvite

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Oh yeah?

 

I am a HUGE fan of the 6x12 bag---1/3 full of water. Of that 1/3 water--14/15ths of it are water and 1/15th is air.

 

It's been rockin for me. Maybe it's summer shipping???

 

As a rule---corals aren't terribly "dirty". I don't know how much respiration goes on with gas exchange. The need for air sometimes causes areas that coral can get stuck in if the box is jostled while shipping. I fear that air exposure causes problems.

 

Snaz--I think you better hire Calfo for a private presentation. :o

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  • 4 weeks later...
petsolutions

This has been an interesting thread to read, it's funny how we are all going to the same place but we use a different road to get us there. Meaning, all of our shipping methods vary just a little bit.

 

I hope you guys don't mind me poking my head in here and saying hi, I'm John, the Live Deliveries Manager at Petsolutions.com and as soon as the fine folks here at the site get our check we'll be a sponsor with a banner up. I've been in the hobby coming up on 25 years now, and in the industry about 12 years with about 2 of those years here at Petsolutions. Anyhow, we ship out a few thousand boxes of live items each year and there are certainly a lot of methods out there to do it. Corals are much easier to deal with than fish, that is for certain.

 

We use heat and cold packs when the situation calls for it, but sometimes we don't use them at all if the temperature doesn't require it. We use solid styro boxes, about 1.25 inches thick that are packed inside of a corrugated cardboard box. Our pickups for UPS are always evening pickups, in Ohio it's about 5:30pm Eastern and on the west coast its about 5pm Cali time.

 

Now, I may have missed this in your shipping discussion, but something entertaining to think about is that all of your boxes shipped overnight through fedex or UPS go to central sorting hubs the majority of the time before heading to their final destination. So, something to consider other than where it's going and where you are shipping from is where it's going to be sorted at which is often where it spends the most time. Also, consider whether the shipper you are using is sorting your boxes in a climate controlled or non climate controlled situation. Once upon a time I know that one of the shipping companies used to actually sort boxes outside on the tarmac, whether it was 110 degrees or 75 degrees.

 

If you ship with UPS and the package is overnight, the box is probably headed for the sorting facility in Kentucky, even if that overshoots your destination and it has to back track to get to its end location. A lot of strange things happen to your packages no matter what shipper you're using. We've used both FEDEX and UPS over the years.

 

There was an article a while back in one of the fish magazines, for the life of me I can't remember which one, but it talked about shipping brain corals half way across the world wrapped only in wet paper towels with no other water and that they had a much higher survival rate than shipping them in water. They were shipping from around the area of Guam (I spent time living on Guam and in Florida as well as a kid) and they were shipping to the U.S.

 

A lot of interesting studies have been done over the years, but honestly I don't know that any of them have ever given absolute definitive evidence of "such and such" method is the end all be all of packing, and all other methods are inferior.

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If you ship with UPS and the package is overnight, the box is probably headed for the sorting facility in Kentucky, even if that overshoots your destination and it has to back track to get to its end location. A lot of strange things happen to your packages no matter what shipper you're using. We've used both FEDEX and UPS over the years.

 

Some nice info there. I especially enjoy the above quote ;) Seems like my packages get places much quicker than expected because of that sorting facility - 2 day air is nearly always overnight.

 

At what temp do you start using cold packs, and have you noticed any difference in DOA claims because of use (or lack of use) of cold packs?

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Hey John--WELCOME, my man!! :welcome:

 

The purpose of this thread is to have peeps stick their ideas in---so we can get a better understanding of what works and what doesn't.

 

Keep the good ideas coming!

 

Ice seems to be a hot topic lately.

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:happy:

 

I just got some Tubbs blues from a guy in MN off of frags.org. He shipped to me in PA with no insulation. Just zoas in a bag in a box!!! They still aren't open---but they look fine and the water was reasonable. They were shipped Express. I will keep you posted on this one. I wouldn't ship without any insulation.

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Lame---

 

That<Cool

 

Vertigo--surprise surprise--wolv did it again. I think there have been threads about his shipping. He should just try and get some ideas here instead of wasting peeps time, money and coral.

 

Make sure you leave him a feedback thread.

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Mvite, Hello...the issue I had at one time was with Nray203, it wasnt my shipping to him but his shipping to me. They arrived in a gel form like melted. I ship everything in double bags and I take almost all the air out of the bag and then twist the top of the bag and tie it off with either a rubber band or twist knot with tie. I use foam padding and dont do much shipping in the winter because of the problems with the cold weather. I pad sometimes with foam peanuts if its loose at all. I would like for you to make a correction on this post. me and MDeth were almost closed on a trade and this is just uncalled for. period.

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Hey vertigo next time tie the bag in a knot because the twist thing is makes the bag prone to leaking ;)

Thanks ReeFur, I will do! :) Thanks

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oh and vertigo get rid of the sandwich bags and get some other bags go to you nearest lfs and ask them for bags they bag fish with those will do.. :)

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I have to agree, I do need some new supplies but I used the best thing I had handy, they were name brand! :) and I did double them but I do agree. Tomorrow is a new day and I am getting fresh supplies, I have alot of up coming frags that I will be trading, not selling! Thanks guys for the advise! :)

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I have to agree, I do need some new supplies but I used the best thing I had handy, they were name brand! :) and I did double them but I do agree. Tomorrow is a new day and I am getting fresh supplies, I have alot of up coming frags that I will be trading, not selling! Thanks guys for the advise! :)

 

Let me know and I will be happy to do another trade with you :)

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Hey Weetabix7, nothing. Just clearing up that deal that I had a problem with back with Nray203 back in the winter when he shipped out some trashy zoos, I am sure that you remember! :) We had you to be the middle lady on that one to make sure that everything went ok! TY again for that!

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Hey vertigo, I don't feel like PMing you again...but make sure to use a part of an extra fish bag, and wrap the candycane in it. This way it doesn't get all irritated...

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Heh, that's funny. I think that's the candycane that originally came from my tank. :lol:

[/quote

It was man that thing colored up so nice! And has grown SO much!

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Thanks for the sticky Adin!!!

 

Oops sorry vertigo--I was mistaken.

 

You are a great person to transact with.

 

On with shipping talk--less bantering about someone killing coral with sandwich bags!!!

Edited by mvite
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