Step 5 – Bagging the Frag

Okay, you have laid everything out, your box is ready and prepped, its now time to bag some frags.

The amount of water is one of the most important steps in successful shipping. Too many times I have received shipments were there was either too little or too much water in the bag. Remember, you are not shipping fish here so you don’t need oxygen in the bag; there is enough O2 carried in the water to support life for a short trip.

Tip:
Keep a cup handy. I like to keep a cup at the ready for pouring water into the bag. Using a cup works out much better than trying to put a bag in water and fill the bag up.

The amount of water is especially important in very hot or very cold weather. Water will do a very good job at helping insulate the coral from any temperature swings. Too little water and the coral can become to hot or cold and sloth or bleach. Too much water not only adds to you shipping cost it increases the chances of bursting a bag mid shipment.

I follow a double fill guideline; I fill up the bag with some water, place the frag in the bag and then look to see if the water is covering the coral. I make sure enough water is covering the coral and then place that much more into the bag.

The red line is the top of the coral. The yellow line is approximately 50% more water, and the green line is the 100% or double the amount of water to coral radio.

Step 6 – Sealing the Deal

Some people like to use rubber bands to seal the bag, other like those nifty C-clips and others like to just tie them up in a knot. I have had the best results using heat sealing. I just happen to have one of those food savers from Wal-Mart, I bought it for my wife a few years ago, and she never used it.

Too me, this almost guarantees your bag is not going to leak. It is very important that your bag does not leak, not only will your frag more than likely die, the water could also render a heat pack useless. And if the box gets too wet, the shipping company may refuse to deal with it and just throw it out.

I like to seal the bag as close to the waterline as possible and cut off the excess.

As you finish sealing, knotting, or clipping your bags, strategically place the frags in the box. There is actually method too this. I like to place heavier, thicker frags on the bottom and lighter, more fragile frags on the top.

Once all the frags are sealed and placed in the box it is time to secure them for shipping.

Step 7 – Securing the Pack

Your box is packed with frags, however there seems to be some spaces between the corals and the box. To ensure good stable shipping I like to really pack my bags. I don’t want very much movement while the frags are in the box. In order to prevent movement I use those little shipping peanuts to take up any room inside the zip-lock bag. I then seal the bag.

See those open spaces in the box in the corners? Those are potential space for movement you don’t want, secure those corners!

Step 8 – To Heat or to Chill

Alright, you are almost done. Now it is decision time. Hopefully you have checked the forecast for the day you are shipping, both where you are located and the destination? This will give you a good idea if you are going to need a heat or cold pack.

I wish there where some perfect formulas for figuring out when and how many heat or cold packs you will need. Originally, anytime it was above 75 degrees I would include a cold pack, anything under 70 I would include a heat pack. I have since changed my mind on this philosophy.

After reading an article by Eric Borneman on the transportation of corals ( http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-11/eb/index.php ) and additionally some test Dave (Inky) did with temperatures inside a shipping box with a heat pack, I decided to only use heat and cold packs when absolutely necessary or not ship at all.

Eric’s article shows, if package properly, the box will maintain a pretty constant temperature throughout the trip. Although I don’t totally agree with his shipping methods in the rest of the article, the data is still valuable information.

Dave (Inky) did a little test by placing a heat pack inside a foamed box and checked the temperatures throughout the day, his temperature reading where well over 100 degrees in some instances, much too hot for corals.

Now normally corals do well in the temperature in the range of 72-82 degrees, the more consistent and stable the better. If you are packing frags at a tank water temperature of 80 degrees and then add a heat pack in a small space you can really cook your corals. See this issue?

For me, if temperatures are below 35 degrees, I simply won’t ship. The same goes for temperatures over 90 degrees. However, there are a couple ways around this, but use them at your own risk.

One way is to see if the shipping company (say FedEx) will allow you the option of “hold for pick-up”. What this does is send the package to the shipping facility address and not to the buyer’s door. Once the facility receives the package, they call the buyer and the buyer comes and picks up the package at the facility. This limits the amount of time the package is in a non-environmentally controlled location.

The other option is to wrap heat or cold pack in several layers of newspaper and place a “cushion” of bubble wrap or packing peanuts between the coral and the heat or cold pack. This limits the amount of heat inside the box to just a few degrees.

When I do use heat packs, I purchase 40 hour heat packs for TB Aquaics that are meant for shipping animals, I do not use hand warmers, they get much too hot. Additionally, after I wrap several layers of newspaper around the pack I tape pack to the top lid of the box. 

Tip:
When using a heat pack, open up the pack prior to packing the corals shake a couple times to allow the chemical to mix. Sometimes it can take up to 20 minutes for the pack to get hot, and sometimes these just plain fail.

For cold packs, I basically do the same thing. I purchase sports cold packs from Wal-Mart, the type that has the chemical reaction when you pop the bubble inside of the bag and it start to cool. Please don’t use anything from your refrigerator; it’s just too cold and too heavy.

As one shipper stated to me, “once you start using heat and cold pack you get a feel of what and how many you will need, experience is the best teacher.”