Shipping corals is a frequently discussed topic in our hobby. Many aquarists shy away from shipping for fear of doing something wrong and harming the animals. Since the majority of sales at CommunityCorals are processed via shipping, the topic of correct shipping is of course very important to us. Here we are proud to have found reliable sellers with our active farmers who know how to ship corals. And we realize that it's not that complicated if you know how to do it.
In this article, we would like to give prospective farmers and other interested marine aquarists an understanding of how to ship corals correctly.
The super interesting video from FaunaMarin TV, in which the topic of shipping is discussed, especially in the winter months, is certainly a good place to start. The picture also shows how corals are packed correctly. Of course, our farmers are also welcome to submit videos later 😉
Other useful information can be found in the CommunityCorals packaging guidelines. Below is a small excerpt with the most important points
Satisfied customers are CommunityCorals' number one goal. The most important point to achieve this goal is to deliver healthy and undamaged animals to the customer. For this it is extremely important that our corals are packed and shipped as best as possible. To achieve this goal, the following guideline is intended to support. If you have any other suggestions or comments, I'll be happy to include them.
The most important rules
- Each coral must be individually wrapped to prevent the animals from stinging each other
- Contact of the frag with the outer walls of the transport container should be avoided
- Each coral must be packed in an additional waterproof outer packaging. (Urine beaker + plastic bag, 2x plastic bags, or similar)
- A styrofoam box must always be used. In addition, at least one heat pack must be used, at least in the cold season.
- The transport containers with the fragn must be firmly padded and placed in the middle of the package. All gaps must be filled with newspaper or similar in order to fix the containers in the package and to cushion impacts from the outside.
- A master carton with padded spaces around the styrofoam box is recommended.
Please see the link below for full packaging guidelines PACKING POLICY
Do you want private outside of CommunityCorals ship corals, we recommend you our partner www.jungle-express.de
Furthermore, we have an example from one of our farmers, who once described how shipping is handled here. As you will notice, every farmer has his own little tricks to try to make shipping even safer. 😉
I now pack almost everything like this:
- Styrofoam overhead.
- The styro is clamped in the cup (I somehow don't like bags) so that the coral cannot hit. I first make a small hole in the styrofoam. It has to be the right size! I then put the plugs in there and usually fix them with a rubber band. . But you can tell if the plug is well inserted in the Styro. And Styro is not just Styro. I've already received some that absorbed water and was very soft. I always get a big block with 20 mm plates.
- Acros or “Schleimer” in larger cups and additionally with activated carbon and med. Oxygen. Industrial Styrobox. (Rarely these homemade ones)
- Crumpled newspaper at the bottom of the box.
- Padded cup with newspaper and wrapped in warming blanket (golden rescue blanket from first aid kit) in the box. I take the thermal blanket to buffer the temperature changes a bit. I don't know if it really brings anything, but it really makes something! unwrapping corals wrapped in GOLD!! It costs almost nothing. I always get 3-4 boxes out of a blanket.
- Padded it again with newspaper and the heat pack on top.
- Where the heatpack is attached, one/two small holes in the box. When it gets even colder, I wanted to close the Styro box without a heat pack. Pack tightly in a box with a few inches of air to the box and then two three heat packs into the box. I think the heat packs have more air and hopefully it won't get too warm in the box.
Another farmer once photographed his packaging tool. Here, too, copying is allowed!
Shipping corals in hot temperatures
As we know, corals are temperature sensitive animals. Most of the time, however, we think about the fact that the animals are packed as warmly as possible in the colder months. To ensure the temperature here, we use a heat pack as previously described.
But what about coral shipping in the warm months? Few worry that the temperatures in the package could get too warm. The fact is, however, that corals are more likely to withstand water temperatures that are too cold than too warm. So how do we ship in summer? Here, too, there is a good current video from the dealerFauna Marin that I would like to recommend to you. If you pack corals in this way, you don't have to worry about failures. With this type of packaging, the corals can stay in the package for up to 48 hours without being damaged.
In addition to the usual securing of the corals with a lot of padding, the special feature of shipping corals in summer is a replacement heat pack. And what is better here than water ice? 2-3 water ice well placed in the package at a distance from the corals lead to a cooling effect in the package and the customer is happy about the nice addition on arrival. Alternatively, if no water ice is available, a small PET bottle can be placed in the ice compartment and enclosed in the package with plenty of newspaper. As always, it is important that there is no direct contact with the shipping bags.
Another tip that ensures a constant water temperature and is therefore relevant in both summer and winter is the correct placement of the shipping bag. You can see that I talk a lot about bags since I'm no longer a fan of cups. The reasons why include the following: Several bags can be placed in a larger outer bag, which means that the individual bags touch. The advantage here is that the water temperature of the individual bags regulates each other. The water mass that is connected in this way simply remains more stable in terms of temperature than several individual small amounts of water.
Conclusion
I hope the post will also help you to process your coral shipment to the satisfaction of the recipient. In order to make shipping as gentle as possible, we recommend using the shipping service provider GO! Express & Logistics. Booking a shipping is for everyone Click HERE possible. Have fun trying! Of course, as always, we would appreciate opinions and comments on the subject.
PS We still have a few pictures of our farmer Tropical Reef get submitted later. Of course, we don't want to withhold this from you either.
Regards,
Dominique
A very nice and successful contribution! Above all, a helpful article if you want to bring your own frag safe with you in the future.
What I also find interesting would be an indication of how long the corals can remain in a shipping package described in this way without being damaged (if one can say it at all in general)
Greetings to the team!
Tanya
Hello, thanks for your comment. Normally corals should not be transported longer than 24 hours. However, if there is sufficient water and thus oxygen available and the temperature is right, some animals can make it longer if in doubt. But fortunately the animal couriers reliably deliver within 24 hours 🙂
Sources of supply for all the required stuff would also be interesting.
Of course here at CommunityCorals 🙂
Do you have any tips on where to get “cheap” boxes, cardboard and leak-proof cups?
Hello, unfortunately difficult. As far as I know, Storopack is the cheapest source for larger quantities.
And cups that are tight? Urine cup clear, but sometimes you need something bigger.
I use and recommend bags here. This always with double security so that no water can escape. For smaller fragn several small bags in a large eg. In this way, the temperature between the individual bags can also be adjusted through contact. Look here: https://www.communitycorals.de/farmer/aquaristik-jn/