Buying coral online

GillMeister · Mar 10, 2021

How many of you have purchased frags online lately only to be disappointed with the size of the frag? When I shop at my LFS I know what I'm getting. Just this week I bought several frags online and frankly, I'm really disappointed with what I got. The frags are more like chips. If that weren't enough, the color isn't close to the images on the auction. This is the third time I've bought corals this way and by far the worst quality. A purple and yellow montipora I bought is actually gray, and half the size of my little finger nail. Is this a common problem?

jorwill · Mar 10, 2021

I’ve had no issues buying online. Especially from some guys on here. Also usually get one freebie with different online vendors.

mdb_talon · Mar 10, 2021

I have been dissapointed in my orders lately also. Had 1 good one out of three.

DDenny · Mar 10, 2021

Usually online retailers will tell you the size of the frag. Most will say 1-2”-3/4” or 3-4 polyps. Not sure who you bought through but there are several that extremely reputable. Also the shipping is extremely stressful and they will color back up once acclimated to your tank I would think.

IKD · Mar 10, 2021

Plenty of online vendors to pick from. Here is a list of a number of them.

Summary List of Online Vendors

Hi all, I've seen a few threads looking for online vendor suggestions. I'd like share my list of various places I've heard about or purchased from. I'm sure there are missing ones, so please respond and I'll keep updating to keep the list as comprehensive as possible. Happy Reefing! Note, here...

www.reef2reef.com

JumboShrimp · Mar 10, 2021

So far I have only ever ordered corals online one (1) time in 35 years. I was extremely impressed (Tidal Gardens), but they were softies— so maybe a little harder to ‘photoshop.’

GillMeister · Mar 10, 2021

IKD said:
Plenty of online vendors to pick from. Here is a list of a number of them.

Summary List of Online Vendors

Hi all, I've seen a few threads looking for online vendor suggestions. I'd like share my list of various places I've heard about or purchased from. I'm sure there are missing ones, so please respond and I'll keep updating to keep the list as comprehensive as possible. Happy Reefing! Note, here...

www.reef2reef.com

That's the problem. There are so many and finding a good one is a crap shoot. If you do find a good one you should stick with them. My last purchase was from one of the more well known sellers and I feel like I got duped out of my money.

My LFS has great quality at reasonable prices. The issue here can be a lack of selection makes you look a little harder at these online corals that look really colorful. In reality,, what you get might be a dull colored molecule of calcium carbonate and a polyp.

GillMeister · Mar 10, 2021

JumboShrimp said:
So far I have only ever ordered corals online one (1) time in 35 years. I was extremely impressed (Tidal Gardens), but they were softies— so maybe a little harder to ‘photoshop.’

Tidal Gardens was the first I tried and so far they were the best. Just got SPS from them.

mdb_talon · Mar 10, 2021

Ya i had not been buying for a couple years cause life got in the way. Now back in it and ordered from a couple of my trusted ones from before and just sorely dissapointed. Gonna have to find new favorites.

JumboShrimp · Mar 10, 2021

I’m fortunate— only 1-hour’s drive to Top Shelf Aquatics and World Wide Corals. In-person is the ultimate WYSIWYG!! Lol.

GillMeister · Mar 10, 2021

mdb_talon said:
Ya i had not been buying for a couple years cause life got in the way. Now back in it and ordered from a couple of my trusted ones from before and just sorely dissapointed. Gonna have to find new favorites.

I think the pressure to sell and turn frags around for resale in a shorter time is driving these guys to ship super small frags. Having said that, it's hard to tell you're buying a frag that's 1/4" TALL based on a picture. Seriously.

IKD · Mar 10, 2021

GillMeister said:
That's the problem. There are so many and finding a good one is a crap shoot. If you do find a good one you should stick with them. My last purchase was from one of the more well known sellers and I feel like I got duped out of my money.

My LFS has great quality at reasonable prices. The issue here can be a lack of selection makes you look a little harder at these online corals that look really colorful. In reality,, what you get might be a dull colored molecule of calcium carbonate and a polyp.

You want to check reviews on websites and forums like this. You can’t beat in person, but the selection is more abundant online. I like Top Shelf, CaliKid, SBB, and TCK Corals as a few of my favorites. I only buy WYSIWYG and over time you can tell some photo tricks that makes colors appear in a picture that you’d never see in the tank (or Google other pictures to see more natural shots of those corals.)

zukihara · Mar 10, 2021

If corals arrive alive and pea sized then it's on me. I could have asked more questions. Now, if they arrive DOA and such, then that is not on me.

anthonygf · Mar 10, 2021

IKD said:
Plenty of online vendors to pick from. Here is a list of a number of them.

Summary List of Online Vendors

Hi all, I've seen a few threads looking for online vendor suggestions. I'd like share my list of various places I've heard about or purchased from. I'm sure there are missing ones, so please respond and I'll keep updating to keep the list as comprehensive as possible. Happy Reefing! Note, here...

www.reef2reef.com

Thanks for putting this here. I was just looking them over. Battle Corals has a million dollar coral? called Fairy Food. really?

Timeless Corals · Mar 10, 2021

GillMeister said:
How many of you have purchased frags online lately only to be disappointed with the size of the frag? When I shop at my LFS I know what I'm getting. Just this week I bought several frags online and frankly, I'm really disappointed with what I got. The frags are more like chips. If that weren't enough, the color isn't close to the images on the auction. This is the third time I've bought corals this way and by far the worst quality. A purple and yellow montipora I bought is actually gray, and half the size of my little finger nail. Is this a common problem?

As a store. We usually encourage our customers to set up a FaceTime call with us to ensure them of what they're buying. I've had several customers pick out torches and Acros through this process.

JumboShrimp · Mar 10, 2021

Great tip, @Timeless Corals !

Timeless Corals · Mar 10, 2021

JumboShrimp said:
Great tip, @Timeless Corals !

Thank you our end goal is that the customer is satisfied!

zukihara · Mar 10, 2021

Timeless Corals said:
Thank you our end goal is that the customer is satisfied!

Wow. I will check into this service. Impressive!

Timeless Corals · Mar 10, 2021

zukihara said:
Wow. I will check into this service. Impressive!

We're always here to help!

CoralScape123 · Mar 11, 2021

GillMeister said:
How many of you have purchased frags online lately only to be disappointed with the size of the frag? When I shop at my LFS I know what I'm getting. Just this week I bought several frags online and frankly, I'm really disappointed with what I got. The frags are more like chips. If that weren't enough, the color isn't close to the images on the auction. This is the third time I've bought corals this way and by far the worst quality. A purple and yellow montipora I bought is actually gray, and half the size of my little finger nail. Is this a common problem?

Some companies use very small plugs and heavily edit the pictures. I was in the Tidal Garden live sale and they mentioned how certain websites use mini plugs while they don't. Now, before a live sale, I check here for their previous sales. Happy buyers will show their new coral. ticked off people won't or will show tiny frags. I'll trust a company w/ a lot of ppl showing off the coral they bought from a previous one.