ToXIc's Mr.Coral Experience

[Degener8]

yeah looks like 3 of the same to me.. and the wort part abou it is those are basic zoas..you can usuallypickup a rock of those for 10 bucks at a LFS.. nothing special about em.. I gave away some frags of em recently.

 

any idea what they were SUPPOSED to be out of the pack you ordered?

curious if there is even a similarity...

 

I am just glad his WYSIWYS 10 dollar secion is having better survival rates and you ca definately see what your getting so its easy to correct any discrepencies.

[danthenewreefman]

don't get me wrong...I'll be ordering from him again...just too cheap!!!

 

 

but when I want something fancy (ie BIG colony) I'll be going elsewhere

[d'Espresso]

I must been having good luck with mrcoral because somehow all my frags from him survived and open up nicely but will also find out how my second purchase will turn out tomorrow morning.

 

This is very good thread and this show us how useful to buy or not to buy from mrcoral. Thanks for this thread Toxic!

[GiantBen]

I have an order coming tomorrow, I'll be posting in the other Mr Coral's Coral thread.

[oceanhighz]

Well, I'm a local (lived in Baltimore about 45 minutes from mr.coral) and now I live about 2 hours, so I'll post my experience with mr coral. I used to drive out when I lived in Baltimore because he has killer deals occasionally. I've had little luck with his zoas, maybe 25% live any decent amount of time. I'll have to agree that they seem fresher than giving them time to heal at times, although this is personal opinion, and not a knock on Sonny, because sometimes my frags don't get color on the plugs, although I like to frag onto rubble, which just isn't feasible for him. I've visited a few times, and have done one online order. The LPS I have gotten from him have had a much better survival rate (only lost one or two out of 30 or more, and that could have been due to my own negligence in coral placement. The last order I got was online and nothing but chalices. Everything came in healthy and still seems to remain healthy. The color is off, but I use T5's and switching bulbs out may help that. Sonny is a very personable store owner compared to others I've experienced, and really does run a quality operation, but for some reason I will always be cautious of the zoas I get from him.

[ToXIc]

Ok I was expecting some loss but not this much. I got the package at 9:30am the following day and had it in the tank at 10am. More should have survived.

 

What I'm really pissed is the 3 of a kind.

[johnmaloney]

mt. zoa is one cool looking rock, mind if I ask where it is from? (Marshall islands, Fiji etc.. unless the vendor is online or ships...) It is definitely different, I am trying to think of how it could form...strange lines in it. Well anyway, cool rock.

[ToXIc]

It's a dead coral. Got it from the previous owner of the red sea max.

 

It's upside down.

[oceanahollic]

wow

[ramsey]

So far, my dendros are still hanging in there but they're not fully extending. They do seem to be extending more and more. I try and feed them with some coral frenzy since I think they are extending just enough to get something to eat. We'll see how it goes. I have two favias that look like they're dying but I think it's my fault. Everything else seems to be doing good. The duncans, both chalices and the scoly from my first order are doing great though!

[ToXIc]

ok.. (zipping up my flame suite)

 

reminder: everyone has their point of view.. this thread is my experience.. with a small local owned business... that from reading previous threads and my experience they are working on our complaints and complying to serve us the best they can..

 

i'm an online buyer.. you can save soo much buying online because of the no overhead of retail chains.. but yet i still believe in supporting local and small business.. for eg i know i probably spent 25% more buying stuff from my LFS when i could have gotten it from an online source.. anyhoo off my soapbox...

 

so MrCoral and myself been talking via pm for a lil and i just got off the phone with him..

now with reading some posts, Zoas arent the best to ship regardless of the supplier.. so i was expecting a small percentage of loss unfortunately i had a little more.. some of you blame un healed coral etc.. i have no clue (not that experienced)..

 

whats great is that we've worked out something, i really happy because some ppl could of said/given a number of excuses to not compensate the customer..

 

also very pleased that they will let me use my FedEx account for my shipments.. some sellers dont let customers do this because they hide cost in shipping.. look at ebay..

 

 

summary: great customer service and prices.. will continue to do business with them..

 

So far, my dendros are still hanging in there but they're not fully extending. They do seem to be extending more and more. I try and feed them with some coral frenzy since I think they are extending just enough to get something to eat. We'll see how it goes. I have two favias that look like they're dying but I think it's my fault. Everything else seems to be doing good. The duncans, both chalices and the scoly from my first order are doing great though!

 

 

edit: oh yeah ramsey my dendros are like yours only comes out a little.. from what ive read is..

1st fill some tank water into your food mix mix then just squirt them with the water. to make them open up then about 5-10 mins later squirt them with the food..

[Degener8]

ok.. (zipping up my flame suite)

 

reminder: everyone has their point of view.. this thread is my experience.. with a small local owned business... that from reading previous threads and my experience they are working on our complaints and complying to serve us the best they can..

 

i'm an online buyer.. you can save soo much buying online because of the no overhead of retail chains.. but yet i still believe in supporting local and small business.. for eg i know i probably spent 25% more buying stuff from my LFS when i could have gotten it from an online source.. anyhoo off my soapbox...

 

so MrCoral and myself been talking via pm for a lil and i just got off the phone with him..

now with reading some posts, Zoas arent the best to ship regardless of the supplier.. so i was expecting a small percentage of loss unfortunately i had a little more.. some of you blame un healed coral etc.. i have no clue (not that experienced)..

 

whats great is that we've worked out something, i really happy because some ppl could of said/given a number of excuses to not compensate the customer..

 

also very pleased that they will let me use my FedEx account for my shipments.. some sellers dont let customers do this because they hide cost in shipping.. look at ebay..

 

 

summary: great customer service and prices.. will continue to do business with them..

 

 

 

 

edit: oh yeah ramsey my dendros are like yours only comes out a little.. from what ive read is..

1st fill some tank water into your food mix mix then just squirt them with the water. to make them open up then about 5-10 mins later squirt them with the food..

 

This statement has me perplexed a little "Zoas arent the best to ship regardless of the supplier"

They are some of the heartyest corals with some more finicky than others. The most you should have happen in a properly packaged and acclimated over night shipment might be a little color loss due to shipping stress which would not be long term. Having purchased many zoa frags online from stores and hobbyists (some with very poor shipping practices) I have not lost a single zoa frag.

 

LPS and SPS frags are much harder to ship than zoas.. do you have a reference to the statement above? I am not looking to start a bytch fest about it I just want to read those experiences as well.

 

I am glad to hear that he is working with you on the 25% loss you had.. and I hope he is making right the triple send on the zoas. I am interested in what the resolution was.. how much do you have to buy or is he just going to send on his dime the replacements? or do you just need to pay shipping etc?(paying for shipping would be the standard from most dealers.. having to make a purchase to get the replacements would not be standard.)

 

If you wish to not disclose this its obviously up to you but I think many would be interested in what type of replacement policy/cost it will be for the high losses incurred.

[ToXIc]

i'll look for the references abut shipping the Zoas..the comments are scattered all around N-R

 

shipping i'm doing on my companies account.. my logistic person said on a 2 lb box standard cost $41.20 my companies cost less than half.

 

haven't ironed out credit/replacement i sent him some frags for replacement and we'll work on it..

 

one other thing i'll like for MrCoral to do when advertising the packs is state how they will be shipped. this way ppl will know how many frags will be in each baggy etc..etc.. ( i was told this is to keep the cost down on the packs which is understandable every little adds up) so then if you read the terms (so to speak) you should ##### about it..

[Degener8]

You get awesome shipping prices : )thats great.

 

The comments here on N-R I have read are scattered at best they are thgought to be a beginner coral because of how hearty they are and the conditions they handle well. You can PM me the links if you wish just to keep your thread cleaner since its a little off topic.

 

Thanks for checkin for them for me.

[treygarz]

nit picky i know... HARDY and HARDIEST not hearty. I mean i guess zoas can show love and affection?

[ToXIc]

the frogspawn is doing great...

 

 

my 2 sexys been hosting it for a while and now my 3day old pearly jawfish agrees...

[ToXIc]

sweet!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

just checked on my dendro....... check this out..

 

 

i changed the mysis/brine feeding from every other day to everyday

[basser1]

Feeding the dendro every day for a while is a good idea!

[ToXIc]

Edit: dang posted in wrong thread

[ToXIc]

pics from a 2nd purchase..

 

all open now..

 

 

dendro was from my 1st purchase the sun coral is from the 2nd