Coral sales in the frigid north

[cdness]

Fargo, ND has had a record high temperature of 114 F and a record low of -48 F in the same year. That's a span of 160 degrees in a single year, which leads to some challenging roadblocks when looking to ship corals.

Here's the issue: I am currently running out of customers for my coral frags locally and I am building up a good supply which is overflowing the frag racks. I would like to consider opening up frag sales to people online at R2R but I am a bit worried about the temperatures in this area. We are getting deeper into winter and the temps are sharply dropping into the below zero temps.

Should I even attempt winter frag shipping or just not ship until spring?

What precautions should I take to increase my chances at a successful shipment of coral frags in the frigid cold temps?

Any advice would be awesome... I would be shipping SPS, LPS, Softies, and zoas.

 

[Fragtastic Reef]

Alot of people prefer to ship in the winter than in the summer. Its easy to add a few heat packs to the box, just make sure you use an insulated box also of course. Add an appropriate amount of heat packs to the box based on temp.

 

[returnofsid]

Ship in a well insulated styrofoam box, with 48 hour heat packs. Drop off shipment at shipping location, as late as possible, and you're good to go!

Do a practice run. Package up some corals and ship them to yourself.

 

[nixer]

not just any insulated box stick to the thicker insulation. also make sure you allow for air for the heat pack to work.
i wouldnt ship in the coldest or hotest

 

[Just Clownin Around]

All good advice.

 

[cdness]

Sounds good! Thanks for the advice.

Do you happen to know a good place to source some styrofoam cooler boxes without ordering them from Uline or similar company? Maybe a type of business that gets them in all the time that can be convinced to let some go? I know they can get pretty expensive through uline...

Once I get my new tank stabilized, maybe I'll go to the R2R forums and find a couple volunteers to accept a coral pack for super cheap just to give shipping a shot.

 

[mainereefer]

for boxes, go to your lfs they will give them to you and they have plenty

 

[nixer]

for smaller boxes id try a pharmacy

 

[H@rry]

Make sure you use as small a box as you can because FedEx will charge more for bigger ones. They have a formala for computing what they call a "dimensional weight" for the space it takes up on the aircraft. Dimensional weight is calculated by multiplying the length by width by height of each package in inches and dividing the total by 166, rounded up to the nearest pound. If I send an empty box that measures 11 x 7 x 7 I will pay for 4 pounds.

 

[Kyle22]

4good info here this kind of helps. I myself am a little worried about sending a package for the first time. Where is the best place to buy 48 hour heat packs?

 

[Lateral72]

Use plenty of heat packs. Make sure they are up to temp before shipping the package. Chances are the corals will be going to an area warmer than where you are.

4good info here this kind of helps. I myself am a little worried about sending a package for the first time. Where is the best place to buy 48 hour heat packs?

I use aqpkg on ebay (search for user name). Quick shipper and prices are very fair IMHO.

 

[H@rry]

About Heat Packs

I always use a heat pack during cold weather.


Many people have a false impression about the use of heat packs when shipping coral frags. Heat packs consist of iron powder, charcoal, salt, vermiculite, and water. They generate heat via the oxidation (rusting) process. This can only occur in the presence of oxygen. I ship frags in a cardboard box with all the edges taped shut. Inside the cardboard is a plastic trash bag to prevent any leakage that may get the box soggy and Styrofoam pieces cut to fit inside the box for insulation. There is no way oxygen from outside the box can enter once it is sealed. Once the heat pack consumes the oxygen that was in the box when it was sealed it cools off. That’s the simple truth.

Heat packs are available ranging from the 6 hour hand warmers to some that will last up to 30 hours. I think the ratio of ingredients is how this is achieved. The hand warmers get hotter than the long lasting ones. This is absolutely not what we want when shipping frags. They can get over 110 degrees. I always use the longest lasting ones I can find. I conducted tests on two boxes containing bags of water packed like I pack for shipping. One box had one of the commercially available heat packs sold for shipping livestock and the other had a long lasting heat pack from WalMart. Each box had a digital thermometer inserted through the side so I could monitor the temperature. I kept a log of the temps for 24 hours. I moved them from inside to outside and then back in. Within an hour of being packed both started cooling off to ambient temperature. There was no difference.

Heat packs would be ideal for shipping something like reptiles where there would be air exchange between inside and outside. The best protection for coral is a well insulated box that prevents air exchange with the outside and having the box held at FedEx for pickup.

Sometimes the people I ship frags to tell me that “the heat pack was still warmâ€. I ask them if they checked it as soon as they opened the box. Invariably they opened the box and laid the lid aside, picked up the bags and admired their new frags, and began the acclimation procedure. Some time later they start to clean up the shipping supplies and notice the heat pack. They feel it and “it’s still warm!†Nope, it’s “warm again†after being exposed to oxygen.

 

[Rudy16189]

To make it saver hold at location for pick up !

 

[robert]

Harry is right, I re-ran much the same test with identical results - after little more than an hour the heat-packs went cold. They consume all the available O2 in the shipping box within the first hour or two and after that are essentially worthless. The first hour or two the corals are probably sitting at the drop-off point, likely a heated facility where the added heat does little.

When the corals are out for delivery, sitting on the truck or tarmac is when you need the heat and by that time the heat-packs are long O2 starved - it doesn't matter how-many you've got stuffed in the shipping container...

In my tests, double boxed, each box with 0.5" expanded foam insulation (1" total), the interior water which started at 80 degrees, lost 10 degrees per hour when placed in a chest freezer. 1,2 or 3 40 hour heat-packs made essentially no difference - once the o2 in the box is gone, it's all down to the R factor of the insulation.

Extruded foam is better than expanded - the thicker the better - it's a race against time. With 1 inch expanded foam insulation, expect at best the corals to arrive at 60 degrees if they are out for delivery for two hours in sub-freezing temperatures. Double the thickness - use extruded instead of expanded - maybe you'll hit 60 degrees after 4-6 hours - that is if the corals arrived at 80 degrees.

As Rudy says - hold for pick-up if at all possible - if a buyer doesn't want to pick-up, they should expect cold corals.

 

[Ninjapotamus]

+1

heatpacks are not effective beyond the first few hours. They run out of O2 long before they are actually needed and go cold. The best protection is the thickest possible insulation and hold for pickup.

 

[H@rry]

You guys are preaching to the choir now. I'm really surprized to find the number of very knowledgable reefkeepers who don't understand how a heat pack works. I was reeding a post last week where someone was criticizing the Wal-Mart heat packs as being inferior.

I even did some tests a year ago using Hydrogen Peroxide. I put some H2O2 soaked cotton in an open container inside the box to see if it would release O2. No better.

Again, as others have said:

1. Pack late in the afternoon
2. Use insulated boxes
3. Use a heat pack (it does help on the front end)
4. Hold for pickup at FedEx.

 

[brian_reefragr]

I work for a couple of veterinary hospitals and there are so many different size foam boxes that we just throw away. Those of you looking to save some money can get really good foam shipping containers from places like this. The boxes are literally just tossed, and if anyone were to ask someone on my staff they would be happy to go grab a couple for them. Just something to maybe try.