shipping corals

[Chad Vossen]

i'd like to get the rundown on shipping corals around the USA.

how to deal with weather?

who to ship with, what shipping methods, packing methods...

i feel more comfortable shipping in spring and fall due to the often mellow weather. but the middle of summer and winter have been a no ship time for me. i'd like for these seasons to be fair game for me too.

thank you!

[Chad Vossen]

i have shipped my larval traps around the world, and recieved really good feedback on my packing. i want to ship corals and someday fish, and get the same kind of feedback. i wont ship anything live outside the US, hehe.

[Boker420]

The majority of what I ship goes out in the winter. I try and only ship when it is at least 20-25 for the high and no more than 10 for the low. And hopefully warmer at the destination. I use 24hr hot packs with 3/4" pink foam insulated boxes. I only ship FEDEX due to issues I've had with UPS. I use 2mil - 3" and 4" wide 12" long poly bags and always double or triple bag frags. Try to use the least amount of water as possible (usually 4"- 5" or so in the bags I use) and the smallest box to lower the shipping cost. Fill voids with packing peanuts and put a plastic bag in the insulated box first and then the frags to help seal the heat in.
Hope this helps.

[Chad Vossen]

that is very good information, thank you.

[IIOHAB]

To ship livestock with fed ex you are supposed to use a fed ex certified live animal shipping box:):) who does that:beerchug::beerchug:

[mrbill]

If you use packing peanuts do not use the new style (corn starch?) that dissolve when they get wet unless you have everything bagged so there is absolutely no way the packing peanuts can get wet.

[benihana]

I ship pretty much the way boker does, except I use the 40 hour heat packs, that way if something does get delayed, there is a better chance of it surviving.

Also, the main thing I do is to check the weather of where the corals are going to. Most of the time it is fine, but you want to steer clear of any issues with weather that may cause a delay (snow, ice storms, etc...)