So I placed an order through LA and it happened to be from their 3 facilities (LA, WISC, & FL). I believe Diver's Den stuff originates out of WISC, most non-DD fish from LA, and ORA stuff from FL.
Haven't ordered from LA in years and years, but they had a fish on DD I couldn't find anywhere for awhile, so I bit the bullet and added corals to round out the order.
Overall experience... eh. First off, the fish from Los Angeles (shipped to me in Vegas) probably froze to death, DOA. The box had a cold pack in it that was in direct contact with the bag. The pack wasn't taped to the lid or in any way separated from the livestock bag. They were quick to refund, no questions asked, but I still felt really bad about the fish passing. I'm not the flush and try again type when it comes to this hobby. I asked about the cold pack, and the rep just gave me a cookie cutter response regarding weather and temperature policies. I mean, they shipped overnight from LA to Vegas, which has been in the 70's all week. A cold pack?
The ORA frag arrived without any heat or cold pack, which I would think was correct. Ordered a Crazy Plum frag, and it arrived about as brown and light as any brown SPS could be. I hate playing the Will It or Won't It Color Up game. Again, haven't ordered from LA in years and years, didn't know what to expect. I'm pretty spoiled mainly buying from WWC. Do I have any basis for a complaint here?
The SPS piece, I'm betting it is wild, looks great after dipping. Polyps starting to extend after about 4 hours under light. I never get too excited about wild colonies because of how much variability there can be, but I'm as happy as can be expected regarding the coral from the WISC facility.
I'm not 100% sure how much the shipping water's parameters change during transit, so this might not be anything. I tested all of the bags anyway and was blown away. The FL water was most surprising with 350ppm Ca, 5.2 dKH, 1120ppm Mg. The WISC coral shipping water was 400ppm CA, 6.4 dKH, 1280ppm Mg. If you guys could shine light on water parameter changes during transit that would be helpful.
Another bit of good news is the DD fish that arrived started eating after only a few hours in the tank. I've read bits here and there that DD fish are held onto much longer before being sold certain helps them acclimate to eating in tanks.
June's 15% off coupon is SAVEONLA btw.
Haven't ordered from LA in years and years, but they had a fish on DD I couldn't find anywhere for awhile, so I bit the bullet and added corals to round out the order.
Overall experience... eh. First off, the fish from Los Angeles (shipped to me in Vegas) probably froze to death, DOA. The box had a cold pack in it that was in direct contact with the bag. The pack wasn't taped to the lid or in any way separated from the livestock bag. They were quick to refund, no questions asked, but I still felt really bad about the fish passing. I'm not the flush and try again type when it comes to this hobby. I asked about the cold pack, and the rep just gave me a cookie cutter response regarding weather and temperature policies. I mean, they shipped overnight from LA to Vegas, which has been in the 70's all week. A cold pack?
The ORA frag arrived without any heat or cold pack, which I would think was correct. Ordered a Crazy Plum frag, and it arrived about as brown and light as any brown SPS could be. I hate playing the Will It or Won't It Color Up game. Again, haven't ordered from LA in years and years, didn't know what to expect. I'm pretty spoiled mainly buying from WWC. Do I have any basis for a complaint here?
The SPS piece, I'm betting it is wild, looks great after dipping. Polyps starting to extend after about 4 hours under light. I never get too excited about wild colonies because of how much variability there can be, but I'm as happy as can be expected regarding the coral from the WISC facility.
I'm not 100% sure how much the shipping water's parameters change during transit, so this might not be anything. I tested all of the bags anyway and was blown away. The FL water was most surprising with 350ppm Ca, 5.2 dKH, 1120ppm Mg. The WISC coral shipping water was 400ppm CA, 6.4 dKH, 1280ppm Mg. If you guys could shine light on water parameter changes during transit that would be helpful.
Another bit of good news is the DD fish that arrived started eating after only a few hours in the tank. I've read bits here and there that DD fish are held onto much longer before being sold certain helps them acclimate to eating in tanks.
June's 15% off coupon is SAVEONLA btw.
