Tidal Gardens Spring Sale >>1,300+ WYSIWYG items, UP TO 90% OFF, FREE CORALS! <<

[BirdFish5000]

^ I agree with everything said there.

My order was delayed by a day due to a UPS screw-up, and the box arrived all kinds of beat up; it had clearly been severely mishandled by the shipper. Only one piece, the passionfruit acropora, was dead on arrival (boy did I make a huge mistake opening that bag, oooof the stench).

The bags were a bit cold, so I temperature acclimated for several hours.

The rest of my corals look surprisingly good for the abuse and delay at UPS's hands, likely thanks to the elite packaging (not kidding, top three packacing I've ever seen) that Tidal Gardens did.

Normally I place newly arrived corals directly where I want them to go, but considering the stress they've been through, they are on a frag rack at the bottom of the tank. I'll leave them there for at least one week.

Ben in the TG shipping department has been really good to work with, and TG has made it clear they have me covered in case the corals don't make it during their very generous DOA period.

TG has 110% earned repeat business from me in the future. Frankly, I can't believe that I waited this long to shop with them.

 

[Tidal Gardens]

I received my order from the Tidal Gardens' LS today. I am very pleased with what I received.

I ordered four acros and a monti. The corals arrived well packed. I especially liked the use of foam to float the frags in the bags so the corals were never resting on the bag itself. The corals themselves were well grown and larger than I expected . After ordering so many corals from others that use tiny plugs, I was pleasantly surprised to see TG uses much larger plugs and the corals themselves were much larger than what I have typically bought elsewhere.

Useful acclimation instructions were included with the order. After acclimation and etc., the corals are on the frag rack and looking well colored and healthy. I specifically hunted for a few nice pieces that were well encrusted on the plug and am well pleased with what I received. I've found that larger frags, especially those that have begun to encrust the plug, have higher likelihood of survival over time than tiny fresh cuts recently glued to a plug. By this measure, I think I'm off to a good start.

This was my first time ordering from TG. I read TG's blog / articles about corals and reef care and have been looking for an opportunity to buy from them. I'm glad I finally pulled the trigger and expect I will do so again.

Bottom line: Great corals, excellent value.

Thank you for everything! Instances like these are why we love what we do!

 

[Tidal Gardens]

^ I agree with everything said there.

My order was delayed by a day due to a UPS screw-up, and the box arrived all kinds of beat up; it had clearly been severely mishandled by the shipper. Only one piece, the passionfruit acropora, was dead on arrival (boy did I make a huge mistake opening that bag, oooof the stench).

The bags were a bit cold, so I temperature acclimated for several hours.

The rest of my corals look surprisingly good for the abuse and delay at UPS's hands, likely thanks to the elite packaging (not kidding, top three packacing I've ever seen) that Tidal Gardens did.

Normally I place newly arrived corals directly where I want them to go, but considering the stress they've been through, they are on a frag rack at the bottom of the tank. I'll leave them there for at least one week.

Ben in the TG shipping department has been really good to work with, and TG has made it clear they have me covered in case the corals don't make it during their very generous DOA period.

TG has 110% earned repeat business from me in the future. Frankly, I can't believe that I waited this long to shop with them.

I hope all the corals make it. Great idea on putting them on the bottom to help get settled in. UPS is generally really good for us, but every so often they do mess up. As you mentioned, you are 100% covered no matter what. Thank you again for your support.

 

[BirdFish5000]

Yeah, I was pretty surprised that UPS messed up so badly. In my experience, it has been par for the course with Fedex. I do want to add, that I had previously expressed some concern about frag size because of how the pictures make them look, but I really had no reason to be concerned. The sizes range from good to generous. TG is awesome!