Sand sifters

[Sophie"s mom]

I will ask my LFS to get one in for me! Not even seen one for sale where I live!

I got mine from Reef Cleaners.com but the shipping is insane.

 

[PharmrJohn]

A sandsifting starfish has been mentioned, but I cannot agree with it. Those guys do SUCH a good job they plow through a sandbed and eventually starve out in a tank your size. I've been thinking about getting one for my upcoming 204g set up. But I'm even nervous about that........

 

[Fish Fan]

I got mine from Reef Cleaners.com but the shipping is insane.

This is interesting. I've ordered from ReefCleaners in the past, and they had excellent shipping terms. Most, but not all, critters could be shipped by relatively inexpensive USPS 2-3 Day Priority Mail, with free shipping somewhere around $75. I'm looking at their site now, and it says all orders must be shipped via overnight delivery. I wonder if this is a temporary thing, or a permanent change. I hope it's not the later.

 

[Jakey_cakey1]

I got mine from Reef Cleaners.com but the shipping is insane.

Yeah I’m not really a fan of shipping I think it’s abit cruel and expensive!

 

[Sophie"s mom]

This is interesting. I've ordered from ReefCleaners in the past, and they had excellent shipping terms. Most, but not all, critters could be shipped by relatively inexpensive USPS 2-3 Day Priority Mail, with free shipping somewhere around $75. I'm looking at their site now, and it says all orders must be shipped via overnight delivery. I wonder if this is a temporary thing, or a permanent change. I hope it's not the later.

Yeah that was always my thought as well. But I just ordered some new CUC from them a couple weeks ago, and now you pay shipping, regardless. I was surprised. But I guess its just a sign of the times.

 

[carri10]

Rather counter intuitively, I'd strongly go against a sand sifting starfish, for 2 reasons
1) I think the general consensus is you need a large tank that has a lot of life in the sand bed.
2) ( the counter intuitive bit), I think my sandbed became cleaner when I got rid of my sandsifting starfish. I genuinely think it was eating all the microcrustations and other life that you don't see, that were tirelessly working in the sandbed. Once the star was gone, it took a couple of months, but I saw a real improvement in the sand bed.

 

[Sophie"s mom]

Rather counter intuitively, I'd strongly go against a sand sifting starfish, for 2 reasons
1) I think the general consensus is you need a large tank that has a lot of life in the sand bed.
2) ( the counter intuitive bit), I think my sandbed became cleaner when I got rid of my sandsifting starfish. I genuinely think it was eating all the microcrustations and other life that you don't see, that were tirelessly working in the sandbed. Once the star was gone, it took a couple of months, but I saw a real improvement in the sand bed.

This, to me at least, makes a lot of sense.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

I got mine from Reef Cleaners.com but the shipping is insane.

That's been my reason from not ordering from a lot of people. I respect the business and understand that they have to use overnight shipping to ensure everything arrives alive. However, it is hard for me to cough up $40-$50 shipping fees when I'm only ordering $20 worth of livestock.

 

[Sophie"s mom]

That's been my reason from not ordering from a lot of people. I respect the business and understand that they have to use overnight shipping to ensure everything arrives alive. However, it is hard for me to cough up $40-$50 shipping fees when I'm only ordering $20 worth of livestock.

Exactly! That is why I didn't mind when they had a limit set, after which shipping was free. So I always waited to order until I knew I could hit that limit. First, they raised that limit to $75. from $50. But now, there is no limit, you just have to pay the shipping. I feel this will prevent quite a few folks from ordering. Instead they will deal with whatever they are able to find locally.

 

[Jakey_cakey1]

That's been my reason from not ordering from a lot of people. I respect the business and understand that they have to use overnight shipping to ensure everything arrives alive. However, it is hard for me to cough up $40-$50 shipping fees when I'm only ordering $20 worth of livestock.

Agreed

 

[Fish Fan]

Exactly! That is why I didn't mind when they had a limit set, after which shipping was free. So I always waited to order until I knew I could hit that limit. First, they raised that limit to $75. from $50. But now, there is no limit, you just have to pay the shipping. I feel this will prevent quite a few folks from ordering. Instead they will deal with whatever they are able to find locally.

This is a real bummer, I used to really like ReefCleaners. I just reached out to them to ask if this is a permanent change; I'll report their answer here. Hopefully it's not permeant, I also don't like paying $50 to ship $20 worth of snails that frankly would be fine in some damp paper towel for many days to weeks.

 

[Sophie"s mom]

This is a real bummer, I used to really like ReefCleaners. I just reached out to them to ask if this is a permanent change; I'll report their answer here. Hopefully it's not permeant, I also don't like paying $50 to ship $20 worth of snails that frankly would be fine in some damp paper towel for many days to weeks.

Yes, please do let us here know what there response is. Thank you for reaching out to them

 

[Fish Fan]

Yes, please do let us here know what there response is. Thank you for reaching out to them

Well I heard back from John at ReefCleaners. He says the Post Office is undergoing changes that has resulted in many delays. He said they tried for months trying different Post Offices and even bringing shipments to the regional hub, but they still had delays. This looks to be a permanent change, at least for the foreseeable future.

 

[Sophie"s mom]

Well I heard back from John at ReefCleaners. He says the Post Office is undergoing changes that has resulted in many delays. He said they tried for months trying different Post Offices and even bringing shipments to the regional hub, but they still had delays. This looks to be a permanent change, at least for the foreseeable future.

Well this sucks, and it will certainly affect when and where I by my CUC from. Other than new set ups, and very large tanks, I doubt anybody will be willing to pay more for shipping than for what they are actually ordering. IT's bad for us, as well as Vendors.

 

[Fish Fan]

Well this sucks, and it will certainly affect when and where I by my CUC from. Other than new set ups, and very large tanks, I doubt anybody will be willing to pay more for shipping than for what they are actually ordering. IT's bad for us, as well as Vendors.

I fully agree, and I feel bad for ReefCleaners, I don't know how this will go for them. They have some packages with free shipping, but unless you are starting a new tank, I don't know who's going to order those. I really don't know if there's any other option for low-cost critters now.

 

[Sophie"s mom]

I fully agree, and I feel bad for ReefCleaners, I don't know how this will go for them. They have some packages with free shipping, but unless you are starting a new tank, I don't know who's going to order those. I really don't know if there's any other option for low-cost critters now.

Agreed! I love ReefCleaners. John has always been nothing but nice, and everything I have ever gotten from him, I have been very happy with. But I can not justify spending $50. to order $20. worth of CUC. It's bad, because I know in the end, this will ultimately hurt his business.