Quote:
Originally posted by Reefski's
do you know who Eric Borneman is? he is the author of a book i hope you have in your library, "Aquarium Corals" he has also written many articles for Reef Central over the years. this is the method public aquariums such as Waikiki and Steinhart in SF use to ship corals.
you could ask Eric yourself your questions about shipping on the thread i linked to above.
i think perhaps you are confusing LR shipping with corals. taking sponges on LR out of water to ship IS a bad idea.
are you planning to do the experiment you suggested?
i have a further suggestion for your shipping demo. in each box put one the normal way you do and put the same coral damp as Eric recommends, side by side in the same container with your perfect boxing techniques.
now that would be a test.
Carl
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I do know who eric borneman is as well as have and use his book often at times.
Just becasue he knows a lot about soem things doesnt mean he knows everythign and doesnt say some things that may not be the best information. Just my opinion....take it with a grain of proverbial salt
I am in the middle of building a new house and propogation set up.........I will get to those tests as I have a few more on my mind with a little more bearing on them IMO anyway. I do agree with your perception of packing different ways inside the same boxes........makes it an even more level playing field if you will
short answer- assuming you are using a quality thick walled cooler sealed well so you have some real control of the environment inside the cooler......anything under 60 and over 90 I would say needs temp control help. If you use inferior packaging that window shrinks.
Personally I use hot or cold packs in anything mid 80's and higher and low 70's and lower.
There are many creative tricks you can do from how much your wrap and insulate the hot or cold pack from the corals as well as putting the hot or cold packs outside the box even, and even the thickness fo the cooler itself. Every shipping circumstance is a little different, you either have to ship lots and figure it out and/or play with different concepts at your home tio figure out what really works. We have no control of how fed ex or otherwise is going to treat this package and where it may end up sitting for extended periopds of time along the way. Plan for the worst and the temps both coming and going and you will be doing yourself a favor in the long run. You need to be especially careful with hot packs, you are playing with fire if you use them improperly. Cold packs too but I have seen a coral survive water 40 degrees under temp. 10-15 degrees over in the bags and sps especially will simply be smelly water and skeleton on arrival.
I also believe that intentionally swinging your temps on a daily basis helps makes yoru corals more resilient to shipping and the inevitable changes they will encounter. If you swing it 4 or 5 degrees daily on purpose, then when soemthing goes a little awry, or if you go to ship them they wont even notice the temp swing. If you always keep your temps at exactly the same, then when they go through a change they will not handle it nearly as well
hth