Buy Corals online?

[Diesel]

You spend easily $150 or more on corals if you buy online or from the sponsors.
That is if you look for something unusual.
Shipping is standard overnight for livestock around $50 if you ad a 10 poly Blue hornet to it you'll between $100/$150.
If you looking into eagle eye zoas I recommend to not buy online but at a LFS.
And welcome to a nice and wonderfull hobby.

 

[Duc1098]

I've bought from Jason Fox about two months ago. It was my first experience buying online and it went horribly wrong. Jason did everything right, but FedEx messed up the shipping and I got it a day later. Jason however replaced the entire order as long as I paid shipping even though he was not liable to replace anything. His prices seem a little high, but he really has quality stuff and is a great guy to deal. I would definitely buy from him again.

 

[Djannel]

So I just received the order from SaltCritters, packaged excellent and on time. The chalice looks good and healthy.

The only disappointment was the mystery coral, I believe it looks like a blue mushroom, which became unglued in the shipping process and it's very, very SMALL. It's a disappointment because the mystery coral was listed like this:

Do you like a little Mystery in your life?Well this is just for you!What will it be? We will never tell.Spend as little or as much as you want!Spend $30 and you could receive one Super Nice coral or ten nice corals.Your mystery coral will be worth atleast what you spend but usually it will be worth more!Could be something off the site or something we Haven't listed yet!​

I guess my expectations were too high....

Overall, I will stick with local LFS for now. The money paid for shipping alone was not worth it, IMO.

 

[Djannel]

This is the mushroom,

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[Nano0424]

That's great the chalice is doing well! Sorry about the mystery coral!

Thanks for keeping me updated with your purchase!

 

[Mark L.]

Pros - Find corals you can't get locally.

Cons - shipping, potential die off in shipping, receiving a 1/2" speck when you see a beautiful mother colony in pic, color manipulation in pic vs actual coral color.

But to me, that one Pro out weighs all the cons. I love me some Jason Fox corals and I can't find them locally. I bought some at MACNA 2012 and they are actaully doing great in my tank. I've ordered from him also and had no issues.

 

[Pkunk35]

The only real con i see is that due to shipping and online pricing, generally you spend more when you purchase online...but in my eyes 100% worth it b/c the selection online is obviously greater than anyone's LFS. That said, I always try to support my LFS when i can.

Most vendors here on R2R are great and certainly have the best looking corals. Some suggestions are JasonFox, WWC, Vivid, UniqueCorals, AquaSD.

 

[dougers31]

Looks like that mushroom will expand to a decent size once it gets fully acclimated... How much did you pay for your mystery? If its $5 you prolly got what you paid for depending on color etc.

This is the mushroom,

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[Djannel]

I'm not bothered by receiving the mushroom, just had a higher expectation because of the description of the mystery coral. I guess that the more you spend the better the mystery coral will be?

Either way I might give the site another chance, just won't order the mystery coral anymore, his prices are very good and the shipping is dirt cheap as well for Next Day Air delivery before 10:30 am.


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[lofty78]

I'm not bothered by receiving the mushroom, just had a higher expectation because of the description of the mystery coral. I guess that the more you spend the better the mystery coral will be?

Either way I might give the site another chance, just won't order the mystery coral anymore, his prices are very good and the shipping is dirt cheap as well for Next Day Air delivery before 10:30 am.


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I'd wait till it comes out full to judge completely... there are some really sick shrooms you can't find at any LFS... and in the right conditions the grow quick... that said.. I have yet to buy live anything from an online suppler.... but with all the eye cany going on here, it won't be long before I do.

 

[ReefPops]

I think buying online is great. The pros definitely outweigh the cons. Starting with the cons: you're not seeing it in person and can only see what's pictured, can be pricey, shipping and sometimes you have transactions that don't work out the way you hope. I have found that most vendors on here are excellent. It's also important to ask questions. People often say what they get is different than what is pictured, but you have to pay attention to the lighting and make sure you know the person/vendor or at least know them to be good.

The pros are definitely there and I have bought a lot of my corals online. You really get a larger variety and there are so many corals you just won't see locally, or at least not as often. You can have items held for pickup in most situations which eliminates some of the risks with shipping. Price can be a pro/con. Some items are cheaper and some are a little more. That really depends and it also will depend on how much you really want something.

Overall, I would definitely recommend ordering online. I have had very few issues that weren't resolved to my liking.

 

[Djannel]

I agree, my other mushrooms are growing like crazy and the new one should grow without any problems. In terms of the eye candy, there are some crazy stuff out there, and like you, I will commit again to another online buy.

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[KillerCorals]

Cons: Shipping Price

 

[cymaster007]

Online vendors I like for buying coral-
AQUASCAPERS | Morphologic Aquaculture
Your Reef Aquarium Supply Home
www.[B]uniquecorals.com[/B]/
Coral Fanatics - Suppliers of rare sps frags, corals, and zoanthids.
REEFKOI CORALS, SPS, LPS, Zoanthids
Home
Vivid Aquariums | Tropical Fish Store in Los Angeles for Reef Aquariums
MrCoral.com

I have gotten coral from all of these vendors and they have all been healthy & high quality

 

[dorky]

I'm thinking about buying corals from the online vendors I brought corals online n half em die the next day which is not good. N I heard tht some vendor have if a corals die within 10-15 days they will replace it which is what I like best about it

 

[Djannel]

Luckily, that has not happened to me yet, I just finished another purchase with mr.coral thru EBay and everything went well. The corals are happy and have opened up just fine without any problems.


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[FishLipz]

I'm to the point now that I have a handful of people I buy things from and none of them are my LFS (which is a scary place, BTW). Shipping costs are only going to get worse with the price of gas going up so I try to buy enough at a time where I get above the free shipping limit. I've also gotten to the point of trying to use vendors on the east half of the country because shorter distance to travel USUALLY ends up in less shipping problems. I only buy WYSIWYG if possible, and I've learned over the years what a coral will really look like in my tank instead of the Jimi Hendrix looking pics done with photoshop and LEDs. My go to places are WWC (low free ship amount and located east coast), Battlecorals (if you like SPS, you will NOT find anyone better than Adam to deal with...period), Blue Water Tropicals (love their LPS and based out of Texas), and Live Aquaria (not the cheapest, but bar none the best customer service I've ever had).

 

[Djannel]

Definitely agree with the East strategy. LFS just don't have enough selection and the prices are usually hiked up. Only time I use the LFS is to buy my ATI bulbs.


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[tj51]

I have had success with Liveaquaia. The pieces seem to be a tad bit larger then described, and pricing is good. Unfortunately they seem to be putting more and more in Diver's Den and adding a premium, and where I see this as an advantage for a fish, not sure how beneficial for a coral, just my opinion

 

[coldhybrid]

Saltyunderground saltcritters and saltwaterfish.com are really good avoid reefs2go for fish ive had bad experiences with them back to back now inverts and coral are fine just not fish