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How to Ship Live Coral Frags
Last updated on July 16th, 2024
Shipping Live Coral Frags
Are you are looking to start selling coral frags, or maybe share coral with long distance friends? If so, you'll need to know how to ship live coral frags. This will seem terrifying at first. I originally wrote this article before I had even shipped a coral as a way to get my thoughts together. Now, I've shipped hundreds of corals all across the United States! Shipping live coral is not as difficult as you may think, and I'm going to show you how.
How to Ship Coral - Bagging Coral
Before shipping live coral frags, there are a few things to think about. First is that any coral you ship needs to stay within a safe temperature range. You won't be able to maintain a perfect 78 degrees, but the goal is to keep the temperature as close as possible.
With this in mind, the more water in the bag, the more stable the temperature will be. However, the more water you ship, the heavier the box will be, and the more expensive shipping will cost. This means your best bet is to package the coral in reasonably sized bags that safely hold the coral, but also won't make the bag weigh too much. Some fragile coral may need a larger bag, or a hard plastic container. I tend to use 4"x5" bags, that are closer to 4"x 3-4" after sealing. This is usually a good compromise for water and weight, but it really depends on the coral.
If you choose to ship coral with bags, do not, I repeat, DO NOT, use zip-lock style bags! These WILL leak and the coral may not live. You will want to use fish bags, twisted, and tied, rubber banded, or stapled closed. Another option I like is heat sealed bags. These hold really well since the bag is melted shut. Either way, I strongly encourage you to double bag when you ship coral frags. This helps in case of leaks, and maintain temperature better. Another non-bag option is to use sample cups. If you use sample cups, just make sure the lid is well secured and that the cup is packed well to prevent tipping and leaking.
You can use a piece of foam on the top of the cup to prevent the coral from bouncing around. There are also 3D Printed Sample Cup Frag Plug Holders. There are really a lot of options to pick from. Just remember that some foams leach chemicals that can kill the coral. Additionally, for 3D Printed options, it needs to be ABS or PETG if you're using it in water. With that in mind, I usually don't use any of these options. On occasion I will use a small plastic cup to protect hammers and torches, but that's usually the most I would add.
How to Ship Coral - Boxing Coral
When shipping coral, remember that temperature is the most important thing to keep stable. So while you may be tempted to ship the coral in just a box, packing peanuts, or some do-it-yourself foam box, it really isn't worth it. These options usually don't hold temperature well. The DIY foam box can work, but often we forget that the corners can leak air. So ensure this is sealed well if you go that route.
I have tried the insulated box liners and while they may work in spring and fall, be warned that they do not seem to hold temperature as well as you would hope. The best option I have found are the foam shipping boxes. They can be expensive, but so can coral dying during shipping. So I strongly encourage using these shippers.
When boxing coral for shipping, the same considerations for bagging coral need to be taken into account. The larger the box, the more space you need to heat or cool, and the more expensive to ship. Meaning you should pick the smallest box possible to ship coral frags.
I use packing paper to make a safety "nest" that I place the coral in. This helps prevent coral from bouncing around, as well as adding a bit more temperature balance. I then pack the coral tightly together so that the bags can help maintain each other's temperature. Then I fill the rest of the box with packing paper.
If You Are Using Heat Packs or Ice
If you are going to need heating or cooling, I leave about 2" at the top of the box. Then I cut a piece of cardboard to the same length as the box and about 2" wider. Then using a razor blade, I cut about half of the cardboard, creating a table-like shield. Pushing this in the box, fins down, adds a separate area for heating and cooling to go. The fins are pushed down on the sides as a way to help hold the cardboard in place.
The reason for this shield is to help prevent the coral from overheating or over-cooling. The heat or ice has to change the temperature in that area, get through the cardboard, and change the temperature of the paper before contacting the coral. This really helps as it heats or cools the space, not the bags.
How to Ship Coral - Heating and Cooling the Coral
Heating and cooling the shipping boxes is probably the most important part of how to ship live coral frags. Obviously, there are some things to consider when determining how to heat or cool the coral being shipped. The biggest factor is the weather. Not only the destination, but where you're shipping from and any hubs it stops at along the way.
The most common timeline I have found with UPS Next Day Air is:
| Start Time | Duration | |
| Drop Off | 4:30pm / 5:00pm | - |
| Handling (Start Location) | 4:30pm / 5:00pm | ~5 Hours |
| Transit to Hub | 9:30pm | ~2.5 Hours |
| Handling (Hub) | 12:00am | ~4.5 Hours |
| Transit to Destination | 4:30am | ~1 Hour |
| Handling (Destination) | 5:30am | ~2.5 Hours |
| Delivery Truck (Destination) | 8:00am | ~2-4 Hours |
First, keep in mind that these steps may vary by an hour or so here or there. This is just a rough reference. That being said, you'll notice that the coral spends about 5 hours at the drop-off location, about 7 hours at the hub location, about 3.5 hours at the destination facility, and about 2-4 hours on a truck. Most of this time is indoors, but usually not well maintained for temperature. It might be a little better than outside, or it might just be out of the sun and no temperature control at all. So use the outside temperature as a reference.
As for the hub location, you rarely know what this will be unless you ship often. I find that most of my coral leaving the midwest goes through the UPS hub in Louisville, KY. With this hub being somewhat close to Wisconsin, and more importantly, it is usually along the way to the destination, I tend to just use the source and destination temperatures, but will check the hub to make sure nothing extreme is happening.
When picking heat, ice, etc. here is a cheat sheet that I use (at the time of writing this). Keep in mind, this isn't an end-all-be-all, but more of a reference to work from.
So if it's leaving Wisconsin and it's going to be 40 that night, and tomorrow at 11:00am it will be 80 in Florida, but it will be 60 at about 5/6 am in Florida, I will use a heat pack because the box needs the heat early in the travel for most of the travel. It will only be in the higher heat for a few hours and the heat pack will be reduced heat.
Consider things like placing heat packs on the outside of the box if needed as well. That will help prevent the box from getting cold, but won't be as warm as when the heat is in the box. I do this when the temperatures are in the 60 degree range where it is borderline.
The most popular heat pack I have found has been the UniHeat 40+ Hour Shipping Warmer. There are 20 hour options, however, it is safer to use the 40+ hour option in case the shipment is delayed or the heat pack doesn't function for the full time.
The UniHeat 40+ Hour Shipping Warmer has an average surface temperature of 100 degrees F. Meaning you want to keep the heat pack separated from the coral to prevent overheating. When you ship coral with heat packs, you may want to wrap the heat packs in news paper or packing paper to help maintain the right temperature. One tip for keeping the heat pack away from the coral is to wrap the heat pack in paper, and tape it it the top of the container. This will help keep the coral at a reasonable temperature. I usually make a cardboard separator packed with kraft paper underneath to keep this separation, as mentioned in the boxing coral section.
Cooling Live Coral when Shipping
If you are shipping in high temperatures, or in the middle of summer, you may want to keep the temperatures of the coral frags lower than the outside temperatures. For this, you will use a similar concept as the above heating ideas, but use ice. I freeze small bags of water that I heat seal closed. Giving more control over how much ice is needed for shipping. I may crush the ice if it is hot when leaving, but going to cool down quickly. The crushed ice melts quicker and cools faster, but won't last as long.
Finally, you will want to fill all of the remaining space in the shipping box. This may be with foam, news paper, or kraft paper. Filling the remaining space prevents the coral from moving around during shipping. Protecting your coral from the shipping process itself.
How to Ship Live Coral Frags - Video
I put together a video explaining how I pack and ship live coral. I'll put some other videos below as well, though I find that some larger businesses' videos can be intimidating because they have setups that are seemingly too clean or too perfect, or even too expensive. So this is a real video of what I do as a small business. Forewarning, I use a text-to-speech software because it's never quiet enough to record speaking...
How to Ship Live Coral Frags - Chaos Aquaculture
Mike at Chaos Aquaculture does a GREAT job explaining how to package and ship coral like a pro.
How to Ship Live Coral Frags - Packaging - Tidal Gardens
Since even I don't trust just one, or even two sources, here is another video showing how Tidal Gardens packs coral for shipping.
Shipping Live Coral Frags
In terms of actually shipping the coral, you will need to decide which shipping service to use. What you will want to do, is ensure you are shipping with next day shipping. You may even want to consider choosing a shipping method with the "hold for pickup" option. This will keep the coral in a heated/cooled facility to prevent the coral from sitting in the harsh weather. Whatever you do, do not choose the "saver" or "late" options, or even worse, 2-day. The price difference is VERY small, and not worth the risk for the coral. It also leave a bad taste with the customer when you're willing to risk everything over $10.
The later in the day you can ship, the better. This minimizes the amount of time the coral is in a bag/container, as well as at the facility.
How to Test Shipping Live Coral Frags
Shipping coral can be terrifying at first. One way to prepare is to test the process itself. You can set up a box like above, with a bag or container of water, but no coral. Set the box in the back of your car to simulate the driving. After 18 hours, set the box outside for a couple hours. Unpack the coral and check the temperature of the water. This should help you determine if your coral shipping method is ready for the big time!
Conclusion
This article covers how to ship live coral frags and colonies. There will always be some trial and error. Hopefully this article was enough to put your mind at ease and open up the options for sharing corals. If this article was helpful, please share it with others! If you have other information, tips, or tricks you want to share, please message me with the form on the Contact Me Page.
About the Author
John Krenzer
John is a Software Engineer with a passion for saltwater aquariums, as well as the founder and president of Reef Stable. He started in the aquarium hobby as a child with a 20 gallon freshwater aquarium. His interest in aquarium life grew and in 2008, John set up his first saltwater aquarium.
Today, John maintains an over 300 gallon reef tank system, consisting of a 120g reef and a 210g reef. These large tanks are contained within the same system, sharing a sump as a means to reduce total maintenance and increase total water volume.
John writes articles for the blog as a means to learn about more reef aquarium topics. These articles act as a reference for the readers as well as himself. John updates these articles frequently to provide additional information or make corrections as new information becomes available.
If you would like to request an article, tank tour article, or to collaborate, let me know via the Contact Me Page!
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