Shipping Corals

[cocoaandme]

What is the cheapest carrier service to ship corals overnight? And what's the best way to do it? Thanks.:celeb1:

 

[Dooly]

Cheapest is USPS with fish bags, best way is specimen cups with fedex.

Usps has failed me 2 out of 5 times.

 

[cocoaandme]

What are specimen cups? You mean those styrofoam cups?

 

[TankRazr]

Not UPS

Not UPS

What is the cheapest carrier service to ship corals overnight? And what's the best way to do it? Thanks.:celeb1:

I'll tell you this much...I just lost a $1500 dollar box of coral sent UPS at clients request....Never again. If I've done it correctly you can see in the photos a brand new shipping box they destroyed before the package ever left the hub in Ontario and what shape the coral was in when they finally returned the package to me exactly one week after I dropped it off for a next day delivery...

Fedex is your best bet for live coral IMO

 

[cocoaandme]

Hmm that's very uncool. I've had problems with UPS as well. I wonder what is going on with them. I thought they were pretty good.

 

[mr_cali]

I've personally shipped out 8 large coral packs via USPS overnight with 8/8 success rate. I know I'm just one person but that's my experience. I double bag the corals, top that with a triple sealant bag, try to keep each coral in separate bags (as much as possible)
and ship them in styrofoam lined cardboard boxes with newspaper in the boxes to ensure that the bags down shift much if mishandled.

Also, the price of shipment is highly affected by the weight of the coral you pack. If you want to lower the price of shipping, you might want to consider the size of rocks that you attach the coral to and the amount of water volume you are using. Good luck buddy.

 

[marfuerte]

I've shipped sps/monti's, mushrooms and rbta's "dry" with wet cloth towels (no water to foul) via UPS. There are good threads on shipping sps and nem's dry. I've had two major issues with Fedex with broken boxes and damaged dry goods with no resolution. I know most swear by Fedex but UPS or USPS outperform them ime.

 

[ryno726]

If you are shipping to someone down in socal, USPS has a $10 flat rate box that gets there overnight. Its not guaranteed though. I had luck with it this last week. double bagged and then put all those in a bigger bag, use newspaper to keep corals from shifting in box. Also, don't put a ton of water in the bag.

 

[stevensun]

Fedex delivered me a broken package with live fish in it too. It was an order with LiveAquaria from their LA facility so the packaging shouldn't be the cause and it was a fairly short route. One of the bags and the styrofoam box were broken so the bottom of the cardboard box was all wet.

 

[dflad]

It depends on where you are shipping. If you are shipping in SoCal and you are not around the holidays, you cant go wrong with USPS priority on small packages. If you are shipping SPS or something that needs to get there next day, you should ship via Fedex.

 

[cocoaandme]

Cool cool. Lots of good information. What is a good amount of air to leave in the bags? And where are the threads on shipping sps and anemones dry? Can that be applied to other corals?

 

[dflad]

nothing should be shipped dry. the least you can do is wrapping your corals in moist towel/newspaper and then double bagging it. I personally would not do that with anything except maybe acans, and even then probably not. Its better not to chance it. The water is an insulator, so their temp will stay balanced a bit more with more water.

 

[isseym328]

for sure do not ship sps and anemones dry. Those are the two most sensitive pieces out there for shipping. Always overnight these two critters and make it 10:30am delivery if possible.

 

[johnwah]

w t h shipped dry??

 

[cocoaandme]

Yeah I've never heard of it before but it sounds interesting.

 

[bromion]

I have not done it yet, but I have read a lot about shipping. Some say "dry" shipping is the best way -- where you wrap the corals in moist paper towels/newspaper. Some says it's a terrible idea. From what I can discern as consensus, it really depends on the specimen you are sending and how far it has to go.

For shipper, I know USPS in some delivery areas has a hold-at-office next-day option, where the package will arrive at the local post office the next day for pickup by the recipient. Not available in all areas, though.

Good luck!