Hey Coral Master
I'd pay for greyhound shipping for some free frags and try dry shipping.
PM me LMO

Sorry, we will not allow "vendor ratings".

I could try that out. If you want to do Greyhound. Would be interesting as it would be an 18 hour trip for them I think. I'd prefer LPS though I don't think you sell LPS...? If not, digis would be nice.

My expeirience with online 1 online vendor was alittle dissapointing aswell,
the vendor had shipped with zip locks and a cardboard box with styrochips in it 2 out of 8 leaked suprising to say that all made it, although I will say that there could've been alittle more care put into shipping as this is they're buisness and if they wanted a repeated customer then they should've cared more.

I am not very expeirienced in shipping as this is not a buisness for me but I shipped some stuff out and took the best care to ship it. I used 1 bag with a larger piece of styrofoam in it, lots of water and mounted about 7 sps frags on acrylic rods and stuck them a few inches apart. I believe they all arrived well and am pretty proud for a beginner shipper...

If I had smaller bags I would've gone with seperate but I found my method to work aswell.

It's a pretty well understood method that never really caught on for some reason. You can wrap in wet paper towel strips of plastic to reduce jostling with an ounce or so of water to maintain humidity. The idea is that when the shipping water starts to foul the problem quickly compounds itself as the nasty water causes more tissue loss. Things encrusted on the plugs that die off can cause problems too, less of an issue if shipped dry.

I move pretty much everything this way but some LPS. I found that some things like euphyllia and xenia didn't take to well to it, they lived but took a while to recover, I raft those. Anemones do really well damp as well. I've tried packing like this at the store a bit but people usually look at me like I'm insane so I stopped.

Greg Sean B and I were thinking of ordering some stuff from you soon. Shoot me a PM and I'll give you some tips, then we can try it.

I would guess that the reason that it did not catch on is because the overall success rate was not that high. Also, when shipping different species/varieties of coral, you may need to ship with water anyway so the potential savings in shipping would be reduced significantly.

It is interesting though, because some feel that the best way to acclimatise your new corals is to get them out of that "contaminated" shipping water ASAP, while others recommend floating, dripping ect. over an extended period.

We've got Anthony Calfo to refer to again. He's about the most authoratative voice I listen to. For sure, his opinion is fish and corals (generalizing) get out of the bag double-quick. Inverts, maybe not. Regarding dry-shipping anemones, probably yes.

I imagine that the reson dry-shipping didn't take off was fairly simple: the average punter can't see it as a good idea -- initially it seems cruel, irrational, or cut-corner cheap. Too much effort is required to explain it, so people get what they expect.

Good references, and I agree with you Anthony Calfo is a great resource.

Another reason it didn't take off (maybe)...who is losing corals during shipping anyway??? I personally made a couple mistakes when I first started shipping and learned a couple things (and had to replace pieces that did not survive), but have since since had nothing short of great results shipping. And I in no way invented a new way of shipping, I only follow what other people have done with success in the past.

Procedures for fish though are much different that corals/frags because of the change in pH.

Sorry I don't ship greyhound unless there is no other means. It takes an extra 90 minutes out my day I don't have to travel across town and fight traffic. I prefer to use a courier that provides door to door service. Better for everyone that way.:biggrin:

Please see above.

LOL don't try shipping Seriatapora dry, that experiment's already been done! The replacement coral I promptly received from the Vendor is doing well.