Indytraveler83
Well-Known Member
Hey guys, I've ordered CuC from online retailers before, but never coral. I was nervous about ordering as I've heard horror stories about people receiving very small frags, vendor photos being wildly photo shopped and things like that. However, I've found that local coral vendors have only been able to carry greens, and Aqua SD had a massive sale for Easter with a wide variety of colors. So I jumped in and placed 3 separate orders. I'm going to break down this review into categories and rate each area out of 10.
Categories:
1) Website
2) Customer service
3) Prices
4) Packaging
5) Condition of animals
6) Size/color accuracy
Here we go:
1) Website: 8/10
For the most part it was very easy to use. Finding corals, sorting items and placing orders was smooth and simple. I was shopping during some peak sale hours, and have no issues with refreshing or anything like that. My only minor issue: Details on each item are very limited, and I found myself wishing I knew a little more about size or exact species on a few items. I saw a few Acan colonies that I wanted to buy, but didn't pull the trigger due to size concerns. That said, they were literally pushing around 1,000 frags onto the website, so I understand they can't write a lot for each.
2) Customer service: 10/10
They have an option to use Messenger to communicate with them, and my questions were answered within an hour of messaging them. I also messed up the shipping on the second order and marked it "pick up local" rather than "combine with previous order" and they fixed this without a problem. Emails were sent out informing me of the ship date, how long I had to add any other orders to it, when it shipped, and detailed shipping info.
3) Prices: 10/10
Honestly their "original price" is about in line with my local LFS, which I find surprising given their variety. The sale prices for Easter were simply crazy. I ordered 15 corals from them, 2 crabs, 1 maxi-mini nem and a starfish. Most of my coral was under $10, with the most expensive item being an Acan lord frag for $23 and the red brittle starfish for $25. The starfish was the only item I think I likely paid about what I could get it for locally, but I've also been unable to get a red variety locally.
4) Packaging 15/10
Yeah, I know, 15/10 doesn't make sense. But the way they packed this was incredible. Each item was in a numbered bag, which coordinated with the invoice. This was particularly helpful because I have 18 items on the invoice and several were similar looking items. The bags were thick enough I couldn't puncture them with my fingers (had to use scissors) and doubled bagged. The coral was folded into some semi-rigid plastic to keep it from hitting the sides of the bags, and there was no air in the bags, so I know they stayed submerged. Everything was packed in securely and tightly, and arrived when it was supposed to (small miracle given the state of the world right now). I didn't measure the temperature of the bags, but they felt warm to the touch, and similar in temperature to my tank water. Heat packs were securely fastened to the inside of the box, and they were still giving off heat when I unboxed it. Could not be happier with the organization and way the items were delivered. Even better, is the flat $30 shipping fee, with no boxing fees or anything silly like some others do.
5) Condition of animals
Non coral - 10/10
The anemone arrived open and happy looking. I was semi-surprised, as nem's I bring home from the lfs typically ball up in anger after 30 minutes. The starfish was active and in good shape, and moved quickly to shelter (as expected) once he was finally acclimated to the system. The emerald crabs were happy and hungry, and didn't even bother hiding when the hit the tank, choosing to begin scavenging in the open as soon as they reached the sand bed.
Coral - 9.5/10
Most of the coral arrived as I would expect them to appear after being in a dark box overnight, Semi-closed but healthy looking. On the positive side, all of the zoa's began opening up quickly, and within an hour were fully extended. The blasto arrived angry, but opened and extended quickly. I do have 1 favia that's browned out and very angry, but still has full flesh, so I do hope it will recover quickly. I also want to note that I dipped all corals, and did not see any bugs or pests come off of the frags.
6) Size/color accuracy
Non coral - 10/10
I first want to mention that they shipped an extra emerald crab, giving me 3 instead of 2. All three were of average size (maybe the size of a quarter). The starfish's size is not mentioned on the website, but I was satisfied with the size he arrived as. His central disk is a little smaller than a quarter, and his legs are all 2-3 inches in length. He's a medium size animal that is big enough to be noticed if he's out. I was very happy with the color of the starfish, as usually "red" brittle starfish are semi-brown, but he was closer to a burnt orange. The maxi-mini arrived about 2 1/2 inches across and in the exact green and purples hues I expected.
Coral - 8.5/10
**I'll start by saying I run VERY heavy blues most of the time. Due to this, I know that all of my coral won't arrive looking exactly as it did in the photo. I know that many of you run blue heavy lighting as well, so I'm hoping this will be an accurate review for those of you who run similar lights. **
As far as size, all corals ranged between "as expected" or larger in size than I thought. They seem to use the two more standard frag plug sizes, (about nickel sized and half dollar sized). The ones on the smaller frag plugs are overgrown, going over the sides of the plugs. The ones on the larger frag plugs fill out about 80% of the plug. I didn't receive any micro-frags like some other vendors have been rumored to send out. 100% happy with the size of all the corals I received. They also shipped me an extra monti frag, which I found pretty cool after talking with them on their thread about trying to start a "monti garden."
As far as color, it seems to vary by item. I would say that the intensity of the colors is accurate on their website, and I doubt they use much, if any photo shop to display pictures. I would bet that if you visited their facility, all of the coral would look exactly the same as it does on the website. However, under a heavy blue tank, some colors aren't quite the same. The biggest variation comes with the ASD Aquaman Monti, that appears pink with red polyps on their website. Under heavy blue lighting, it is more of a blue/green with red polyps. I should have expected that lighter colors would wash out to blue, and don't blame them at all. This is just a fair warning for people with similar lights. The ASD decorated Giraffe zoas appear on their website as having yellow centers with the edges of the polyp's turning a maroon. In my system, they are yellow, transitioning to green and then finally blue on the edges. The yellow under heavy blues is actually more intense than on the website, and I do like the look of them in my system better. Again, I know much of the distortion is due to my lighting.
The most pleasing items were anything with pink in them. The Cheeky Lord acan frag looks exactly as pictured (my favorite piece), the pink monti's are indeed pink, and the photos of the flame skirt and sweet combo zoa's don't do justice to how intense the pink can be. The zoa's and the acan are particularly striking and neon colored. The Forrest Fire Digi certainly earns its name as well. Anything I ordered that was blue/green looked exactly as it did on the website. The pics of the UFO Psammi, the teal eye blasto and the Aussie Turbinaria look exactly as I got them. I truly believe Aqua SD is taking good, accurate photos of what they have. I just also think that their lighting is a little different than the blue's many of us tend to run, so expect a bit of a color shift to blue/green on the lighter tones.
Overall Experience: 9.5/10
My complete experience with them was far above expectations. Put simply, I could not have acquired this many quality frags for this price any other way. Customer service and packaging is top notch, animals are very healthy and the overall experience was positive. The only improvements I would wish for is a little better info online of a few of the larger/ more expensive items, especially sizing. I would say I am going to buy from them again soon... but I already have no idea where I'm going to place all these frags!
Categories:
1) Website
2) Customer service
3) Prices
4) Packaging
5) Condition of animals
6) Size/color accuracy
Here we go:
1) Website: 8/10
For the most part it was very easy to use. Finding corals, sorting items and placing orders was smooth and simple. I was shopping during some peak sale hours, and have no issues with refreshing or anything like that. My only minor issue: Details on each item are very limited, and I found myself wishing I knew a little more about size or exact species on a few items. I saw a few Acan colonies that I wanted to buy, but didn't pull the trigger due to size concerns. That said, they were literally pushing around 1,000 frags onto the website, so I understand they can't write a lot for each.
2) Customer service: 10/10
They have an option to use Messenger to communicate with them, and my questions were answered within an hour of messaging them. I also messed up the shipping on the second order and marked it "pick up local" rather than "combine with previous order" and they fixed this without a problem. Emails were sent out informing me of the ship date, how long I had to add any other orders to it, when it shipped, and detailed shipping info.
3) Prices: 10/10
Honestly their "original price" is about in line with my local LFS, which I find surprising given their variety. The sale prices for Easter were simply crazy. I ordered 15 corals from them, 2 crabs, 1 maxi-mini nem and a starfish. Most of my coral was under $10, with the most expensive item being an Acan lord frag for $23 and the red brittle starfish for $25. The starfish was the only item I think I likely paid about what I could get it for locally, but I've also been unable to get a red variety locally.
4) Packaging 15/10
Yeah, I know, 15/10 doesn't make sense. But the way they packed this was incredible. Each item was in a numbered bag, which coordinated with the invoice. This was particularly helpful because I have 18 items on the invoice and several were similar looking items. The bags were thick enough I couldn't puncture them with my fingers (had to use scissors) and doubled bagged. The coral was folded into some semi-rigid plastic to keep it from hitting the sides of the bags, and there was no air in the bags, so I know they stayed submerged. Everything was packed in securely and tightly, and arrived when it was supposed to (small miracle given the state of the world right now). I didn't measure the temperature of the bags, but they felt warm to the touch, and similar in temperature to my tank water. Heat packs were securely fastened to the inside of the box, and they were still giving off heat when I unboxed it. Could not be happier with the organization and way the items were delivered. Even better, is the flat $30 shipping fee, with no boxing fees or anything silly like some others do.
5) Condition of animals
Non coral - 10/10
The anemone arrived open and happy looking. I was semi-surprised, as nem's I bring home from the lfs typically ball up in anger after 30 minutes. The starfish was active and in good shape, and moved quickly to shelter (as expected) once he was finally acclimated to the system. The emerald crabs were happy and hungry, and didn't even bother hiding when the hit the tank, choosing to begin scavenging in the open as soon as they reached the sand bed.
Coral - 9.5/10
Most of the coral arrived as I would expect them to appear after being in a dark box overnight, Semi-closed but healthy looking. On the positive side, all of the zoa's began opening up quickly, and within an hour were fully extended. The blasto arrived angry, but opened and extended quickly. I do have 1 favia that's browned out and very angry, but still has full flesh, so I do hope it will recover quickly. I also want to note that I dipped all corals, and did not see any bugs or pests come off of the frags.
6) Size/color accuracy
Non coral - 10/10
I first want to mention that they shipped an extra emerald crab, giving me 3 instead of 2. All three were of average size (maybe the size of a quarter). The starfish's size is not mentioned on the website, but I was satisfied with the size he arrived as. His central disk is a little smaller than a quarter, and his legs are all 2-3 inches in length. He's a medium size animal that is big enough to be noticed if he's out. I was very happy with the color of the starfish, as usually "red" brittle starfish are semi-brown, but he was closer to a burnt orange. The maxi-mini arrived about 2 1/2 inches across and in the exact green and purples hues I expected.
Coral - 8.5/10
**I'll start by saying I run VERY heavy blues most of the time. Due to this, I know that all of my coral won't arrive looking exactly as it did in the photo. I know that many of you run blue heavy lighting as well, so I'm hoping this will be an accurate review for those of you who run similar lights. **
As far as size, all corals ranged between "as expected" or larger in size than I thought. They seem to use the two more standard frag plug sizes, (about nickel sized and half dollar sized). The ones on the smaller frag plugs are overgrown, going over the sides of the plugs. The ones on the larger frag plugs fill out about 80% of the plug. I didn't receive any micro-frags like some other vendors have been rumored to send out. 100% happy with the size of all the corals I received. They also shipped me an extra monti frag, which I found pretty cool after talking with them on their thread about trying to start a "monti garden."
As far as color, it seems to vary by item. I would say that the intensity of the colors is accurate on their website, and I doubt they use much, if any photo shop to display pictures. I would bet that if you visited their facility, all of the coral would look exactly the same as it does on the website. However, under a heavy blue tank, some colors aren't quite the same. The biggest variation comes with the ASD Aquaman Monti, that appears pink with red polyps on their website. Under heavy blue lighting, it is more of a blue/green with red polyps. I should have expected that lighter colors would wash out to blue, and don't blame them at all. This is just a fair warning for people with similar lights. The ASD decorated Giraffe zoas appear on their website as having yellow centers with the edges of the polyp's turning a maroon. In my system, they are yellow, transitioning to green and then finally blue on the edges. The yellow under heavy blues is actually more intense than on the website, and I do like the look of them in my system better. Again, I know much of the distortion is due to my lighting.
The most pleasing items were anything with pink in them. The Cheeky Lord acan frag looks exactly as pictured (my favorite piece), the pink monti's are indeed pink, and the photos of the flame skirt and sweet combo zoa's don't do justice to how intense the pink can be. The zoa's and the acan are particularly striking and neon colored. The Forrest Fire Digi certainly earns its name as well. Anything I ordered that was blue/green looked exactly as it did on the website. The pics of the UFO Psammi, the teal eye blasto and the Aussie Turbinaria look exactly as I got them. I truly believe Aqua SD is taking good, accurate photos of what they have. I just also think that their lighting is a little different than the blue's many of us tend to run, so expect a bit of a color shift to blue/green on the lighter tones.
Overall Experience: 9.5/10
My complete experience with them was far above expectations. Put simply, I could not have acquired this many quality frags for this price any other way. Customer service and packaging is top notch, animals are very healthy and the overall experience was positive. The only improvements I would wish for is a little better info online of a few of the larger/ more expensive items, especially sizing. I would say I am going to buy from them again soon... but I already have no idea where I'm going to place all these frags!
