where to buy Ice pack?

[Azurel]

Bryan from Pure Captive is the dirst one I have seen use the Capri Sun frozen as an ice pack. That is where I got the idea and have used it with good success. I think the high sugar content makes it thaw a bit slower then just water. They are pretty cheap as well.......

 

[JGoslee]

Thats a great idea. I wouldn't mind drinking a tasty capri sun while unpacking my frags.

 

[fishes2889]

hahaha that is an awesome idea!!! I love caprisun......

 

[I-K@ndY]

I did that to Marcel when we did the trade .. cuz he told me so!

 

[Reef Goddess]

Or if you want to get real ice packs (lol) as well as a lot of other good shipping stuff, go to superiorenterprise.com . A customer turned me onto them. They have an $8.50 flate shipping rate no matter how much you order!

 

[jessp]

i read somewhere else of people using the flavor-ice popsicles that are contained in the plastic tubes

 

[Hypertek99]

Yep i use caprisun and it works great.

 

[jessp]

i successfully used the capri sun method this week and it worked well.

 

[mvite]

Guys--I am torn on ice packs. I can't be sure that they help because the ice is cold at first--and then melts when you need it most.

I'm not sure that ice will kill unless it's in direct contact while shipping (Someone once rubberbanded an ice pack to my hammer.....that died)--but I don't know if you are wasting your time with ice or not.

I don't mean to rock the boat---I have shipped a lot of frags--and I don't use ice. Actually, someone asked me to once or twice--so I did---but I don't as a general practice. I was dying to learn more from practical hands-on experiences---Do all of you use ice?

 

[Awesome Aquatics]

Yo Adrian?

 

[Awesome Aquatics]

GD screen names!!!!

 

[Reef Goddess]

ice

Mvite,

I always use ice packs when shipping to an area that has a day time temp of 82+ degrees. In the past when I was still learning to ship well I didn't and had a lot more doa's.
I usually check my customer's zip code on weather.com and do the hour-by-hour report. This will give you a good idea of what conditions you need to pack for, instead of going into it blind. I used to think doing this was too much of a hassle. But now I know better and it takes a lot of the guess work out of shipping.

When shipping larger corals, I wrap the ice pack in a sheet of newspaper then bag it and then bag the corals and it together (hope this isn't confusing).
For frags or smaller corals I usually bag up the frags, then place them in a 3mil bag alone. Then I take my bagged ice pack and place it in the box with them. That way the ice pack keeps an ambient temp in the box without chilling the actual frags much.
I don't know for how long a capri sun stays frozen, but the ice packs I use probably stay frozen for maybe 4-6hrs wrapped.
Using ice or heat packs when shipping corals is really more about maintaining the same water temperature throughout the shipping process instead of trying to "cool" the water the corals are in. I've shipped to areas with 100+ and -10 below temps with success.
I've found that shipping corals requires a lot of trial and error, but I'm pretty happy with the system we've worked out now.

If you have any questions let me know. ;]

 

[mvite]

RG--thanks for your insight! I think the biggest thing we all have together is the WORLD'S LARGEST CORAL SHIPPING TRIALS!!!

When I ship, I keep "stability" in mind. Ice confuses me because like you said---6-8 hours and it's melted---so the temp of the ice pack is essentially the same temp as the coral water.

I am always under the assumption that we need the cold from the ice--later in the shipment---not at the beginning--because the temps are fine when we first drop off.

I wish there was a time released ice pack that would get cold after 10-12 hours.

Thanks again for your experiences---that's why places like this are so great. We can combine our experiences for all of us to better understand our hobby!!

 

[Awesome Aquatics]

Oh hey--Reef Goddess--Mvite is me---He is I and I am him--

WELCOME! I see you have made the leap from ebay as well. Or---if you have left like me--you probably call them "FEE-Bay", right??!!

Again--Welcome and best of luck!!

 

[Reef Goddess]

So you have a "me, myself, and I" complex huh? lol Glad I could be of help. Trust me, it took us a long time to figure out the best way to ship things.

Yeah, I'm happy to have a website, but I definately haven't "left" ebay. Its expensive, but its always been really good to me and its nice to have that to fall back on during the summer when the website won't sell my corals alone. ;] Its also been great for cheap marketing since I have 800+ people signed up to my store newsletter.
I mainly opened the website for my more impatient customers that don't want to wait and compete with other people for the corals on auction. Hopefully they'll compliment each other.

 

[BigBadZoaDaddy]

i read somewhere else of people using the flavor-ice popsicles that are contained in the plastic tubes

LOL that was me where did you read that!! LOL Almost always the orange one? I roll them in bubble wrap and tape them to the top of the cooler, works VERY well IMO, I just sent some out the other day have to ask greyfox and balagen how they tased.

You want to talk cheap!! Those things are like $5 for 100 or somethin, I don't know the wife buys them for the kids in BULK I swear! LOL

 

[ReefDoctor]

Goto your local VETs office.. explain what you do.. they get MANY many Ice packs each week with thier vaccinations and just throw them away... My vets office just gives them to me for free... this is also a great resource for free insulated shipping boxes

All free of charge and very proffessional looking

 

[mvite]

Yo Chris---HOLY CRAP--GREAT IDEA!

you can almost smell my burning footprints to the vets office!!

Chris--do you use ice regularly in the summer?

 

[ReefDoctor]

Yes EVERY summer shipment of Micros HAS to have cold packs.. the micros handle cold really well But melt at about 86 heat is the micromussas enemy... But a package thats 40 does just fine


Ya the vets used boxes and Ice packs are primo... I collect them and just refreeze them... For smaller shipments I cut them on a Tile saw and repackage them for the smaller boxes I often use

Glad you like that

 

[mvite]

I do--that's a great idea. And since I pump money into the vet like crazy--I can see it being easy to get.

I appreciate all of the input on shipping with ice--because as a shipper it intrigues me. (Footnote: Life may have gotten a little boring if one is intrigued by "shipping with ice", btw.....)

I guess I don't see many instances of it killing anything so it must be ok since most peeps separate it from the coral.

Just fundamentally it confuses me because you would think that the water is always going to end up at the same temp when it arrives because the ice should have melted along the trip.