Dry Shipment of Live Rock

[captbunzo]

Eric,

I just finished reading your article in Reefkeeping on shipping of corals dry. VERY FASCINATING!

I will have to keep that in mind next time I buy a coral from a LFS an hour or two from home. I'll have to request it be bagged dry and just watch the look on the face of the retailer. Maybe I'll have to bring a printout of your article, just to back me up.

Anyhow, I was wondering if the same principles regarding success of shipping corals dry may also apply to the shipping of live rock.

I have bought rock from LiveAquaria.com once. It was shipped in styrofoam, wrapped in wet newspaper. It seemed to come through very well.

What are your thoughts?

 

[EricHugo]

Depends on what is being shipped. Corallines and sponges may not do so well, but other things may do better. Live rock ofte suffers from really extended dry or moist times, plus being often previously blasted of much of its life. But, as I mention at the bottom of the article, the live rock send expeditiously and moist from Gulf View with bivalves, urchins, sponges, corals, bryozoans, algae crabs, etc all did extremely well and nothing was lost from the shipping or after placing it in the tank.