M&C Posted March 19, 2012 Share Posted March 19, 2012 I just wanted to see where everyone bought their corals and what their experiences were with online retailers in general. Unfortunately, I don't have the greatest lfs in my area, so I've been ordering most of my stuff online. I recently ordered some corals from vivid aquariums after hearing nothing but great things about them; however, the trumpet coral they sent me was covered in aiptasia... I'm a little ticked off at that to say the least (how did they not notice that before shipping?). For anyone who regularly buys from them, was this just an unlucky 1/100 incident? Are there better online retailers? Or is this just normal when you buy online? Btw, from now on I'm going to quarantine new corals instead of just giving them a dip... So lesson learned Link to comment
The Saltwater Kid Posted March 19, 2012 Share Posted March 19, 2012 It's hit or miss really. I personally have ordered from Vivid before and was happy with the frags i got and had no issues with them. Who knows, maybe it was the "new guy" who packaged your order . I don't know where you're located but Cultivated Reef out of Maine has some decent stuff, prices and reasonable shipping costs (especially if you're in the Northeast...$19 overnighted. I know a lot of people order from Liveaquaria (Drs. Foster & Smith) with good results. Like I said, basically go by word of mouth and than try it for yourself and form your own opinion. It might not hurt to give Vivid a call and let them know how disatisfied you are. Good luck!!! Link to comment
Rollenbor Posted March 19, 2012 Share Posted March 19, 2012 Vivid is a great place to buy from. Though I only live a few miles from them and haven't ordered from them online. They really took care of me. I bought a Indo Eleagance from them and it died in less than a week. I was able to take it back and they game me store credit no problem. I ended up getting an Aussie Eleagance and it has looked amazing since. I have bought plenty of coral from them everythings has always been great so that one was maybe just a fluke? Im sure they will take good care of you. Link to comment
theSHIMMY Posted March 19, 2012 Share Posted March 19, 2012 I had just did a large order from Cultivated Reef and couldn't be happier with what I got. I spent $250 getting different frag packs and easily ended up 350+ worth of corals. Link to comment
JamesHL88 Posted March 19, 2012 Share Posted March 19, 2012 I have ordered from saltwaterfish.com and liveaquaria.com and have nothing but good experoences. I kust today placed an order with pacific east aquaculture. They have some great deals and i wanted to give a sponsor a try. So ill post a feedback for them when my order arrives. Link to comment
cuboy Posted March 19, 2012 Share Posted March 19, 2012 I've ordered from the following places with success. 2x coral morphologic - great deals on rics. team up with a few people around your area to meet the $250 total purcahse to get free shipping. 2x mr coral multiple times - sometimes the pictures and th frag you get dont look exactly the same. but none the less, I've had a good experience with them. Sometimes he runs a deal so 18 frags for $130+freeshipping. Even if he accidently grabbed an incorrect frag or two, or the picture and the frag I got werent exactly the same, you can't complain about $7.25 a frags. sps are small, but acan and zoa are always a treat. Out of the 36 frags i've gotten, 2 frags arrived DOA and 1 more was open for a few days before it melted away. 2x fantasticfrags multiple times. one of my favorite places a few years ago when it was just starting up. I got out of the hobby for a few years so I haven't ordered from here in a while. They use to have great pricing, but now, I no longer see prices on their site. Not sure if it's not in stock to sell, or inquiry only type sells. Link to comment
solefald Posted March 19, 2012 Share Posted March 19, 2012 Local store AquaSD.com does a ton of on-line and eBay business. I am not affiliated with them in any way, shape or form, but I can vouch for the guy. He is legit. Link to comment
apgaug Posted March 20, 2012 Share Posted March 20, 2012 I've had mixed experiences ordering online. Liveaquaria has large pieces, but I ordered coral from them only once and it resulted in zoa eating nudis AND flatworms. Mr. Coral netted me aptasia. Both of these were early on when I didn't think I needed to dip corals, but even so I probably wouldn't order again based on those experiences. The third time I ordered corals online was through philyouraquarium.com and that turned out great. Great prices (especially in the wheel and deal section) and everything showed up in great shape and is still doing well. Try the livestock forums here and look for local clubs that have frag swaps. Link to comment
M&C Posted March 20, 2012 Author Share Posted March 20, 2012 Thanks for the replies. I just looked at the torch coral I ordered from them at the same time and I see what appear to be a couple baby aiptasia growing on it. I was hoping the trumpet coral was just a fluke but now I've found aiptasia on 2 frags. Not cool. If they're on 2 of my frags, then they are likely all over the frag tank these 2 came from. I think I'm going to call them tomorrow Link to comment
ccapasso Posted March 20, 2012 Share Posted March 20, 2012 I've purchased from Mr Coral and PYA. At this point, I would highly recommend PYA (http://www.philyouraquarium.com/). Sponsor here, great products, great service, etc. Not nearly as happy with my Mr. Coral order as I am with my PYA order. Link to comment
Koston Posted March 20, 2012 Share Posted March 20, 2012 Good reputations: SexyCorals CherryCorals PhilYourAquarium LiveAquaria VividAquariums AquaSD CoralMorphologic People with mixed/not so good reputations: MrCoral AquaCon (never buy from them, all I hear is crazy horror stories. They comitt fraud as well and steal your money. They are graded F on the BBB) Link to comment
Chrisl1976 Posted March 20, 2012 Share Posted March 20, 2012 . Both of these were early on when I didn't think I needed to dip corals, but even so I probably wouldn't order again based on those experiences. Not dipping your corals is like not wearing a condom. You never know what you might bring home unexpectedly. A well trusted friend, best vendor in the country, you never know what crawling around their tanks. Link to comment
not_so_nano Posted March 20, 2012 Share Posted March 20, 2012 Sad part is that a QT tank packed with peppermints in the only 85% chance your not going to spread aptasia to your DT. I said it before and I will say it again, only places I will order from are Liveaquaria.com and Petco.com for more expensive corals or larger orders for the fact that they offer quality livestock and always take care of you with MONEY BACK for 14-30 days with little or not questions asked. ANY other place I have found only gives you store credit. Again, as I have stated before, If am not happy with a order I probably will not want to order from a particular place again, thus IN STORE credit us useless. Plus I dont feel the need to take 20 pictures of the item IN ITS RETAIL BAG as proof of DOA. How the hell are you going to see the coral let alone know it is DOA thru 3 heavy layers of plastic bag and a blackout sleeve ? LoL....Rediculas that these small time, basement coral businesses can not offer a real refund. Link to comment
nystang Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 AquaCon (never buy from them, all I hear is crazy horror stories. They comitt fraud as well and steal your money. They are graded F on the BBB) It's good I found this post and did some more research on Aquacon because I was close to order some corals on line and Aquacon was one of my choices. Their website has great pics and some corals that other sites don't have. I found a lot of horror stories about them. Link to comment
LebaneseDlight Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 It's good I found this post and did some more research on Aquacon because I was close to order some corals on line and Aquacon was one of my choices. Their website has great pics and some corals that other sites don't have. I found a lot of horror stories about them. Their website has looked the same for 5 years. I doubt they have updated it much since then, and I bet most of the site is out of stock/inventory. Link to comment
GTi Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 3 great orders from Cultivated Reef and 1 from Phil Your Aquarium. Link to comment
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