Aqua SD Order Appreciation Post

[bradleym]

I don't usually take the time to do this, but I had such a stellar experience with @AquaSD this week, I just had to. I was looking at their site, and I saw a "strawberry anemone", which I decided I needed to buy. I love anemones, especially unusual ones, so thois was a pretty neat opportunity. During checkout, I noticed that you could, up until the day your order shipped, add to the order and avoid an additional shipping fee. I also knew about their eBay auctions, so this got my attention. I reached out to them by email, and sure enough, eBay auctions applied! One week later, when my order shipped, my 1 anemone had turned into FOUR. As it turns out, they get unique anemones in pretty regularly, and a few days after my initial order, they got in a big order of waratah anemones and listed many of them on eBay. They had some other cool things on their site that I was thinking of going back for, but after going overboard on eBay auctions I couldn't convince myself to add them.

My order shipped out on a Wednesday, and was at my door by 10am Thursday morning. In addition to carefully packing the livestock, there was a separate sleeve to protect the invoice, which came with pictures in case I forgot what I ordered.

There was an outer bag tied around the individual bags, probably to make extra sure it was contained in case of a leaky bag. It had a fair amount of water in it, but none of the bags had any leaks, so I guess this was just a result of the packing process.

Upon opening the bag I found each of my anemones labeled with a number that matched the invoice. They were all open and very healthy from the moment I opened the box. The water was clear and clean, and it looked as if they had been bagged very securely. Each bag had absolutely no air in it, and was taught, meaning it couldn't have lost any water since it left their facility. They were sealed with metal clips, which I'm not a fan of, but it does add a level of professionalism and the results are hard to argue with. It was at this time that I realized, on top of my 4 anemones, they threw in a free coral frag! Very cool! Especially given the amazing deals I got on some of the auctions.

 

[bradleym]

On top of being healthy, the orange waratah and convict LTA were both impressive in size, and barely fit into their bags. After getting them temperature acclimated, I was able to get some pictures of them under reef tank lighting, and they were exactly what I was hoping for:

All in all, this was a great experience. None of the anemones deflated during acclimation, and have stayed 100% healthy for the last few days since I got them. Between the quick communications, the flexible order combination policy, and the awesome health of the anemones, I feel confident I would do this again.

P.S. the freebie is doing well also.