I wanted to order my LR from Harbor Aquatics since I've heard great things of them and they seem really nice over the phone. I placed an order for 70 pounds of fiji today which comes out to $280 (reasonable price). But the shipping to Brooklyn, NY was $120+!!! Is there any place closer to NY with similar quality fiji live rock?
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LR shipping cost.
- Thread starter IcantTHINKofONE
- Start date
give JP a call at 203-217-9763 or email him at [email protected]
he owns Justphish.com in waterbury CT, and I can guaruntee you'll get cheaper shipping and awesome rock. You can check out his site @ www.justphish.com
If you'd like, you can even go up to his place and hand pick your rock.
he owns Justphish.com in waterbury CT, and I can guaruntee you'll get cheaper shipping and awesome rock. You can check out his site @ www.justphish.com
If you'd like, you can even go up to his place and hand pick your rock.
I think I'm gonna give JP from JustPhish a chance and get some from him. I've heard great stuff about him and his merchandise from his site and from a search of threads on this board. He even offered to meet me halfway down the road so I can get it to my tank ASAP and save the shipping costs. Great first impression, I must say.
Don't know if you are close to an airport or if Harbor can ship it this way, but if you can get it shipped regular air frieght and pick it up yourself, you can save alot on the shipping cost. I did this once for LR and the shipping was only $40 for the first 100 lbs. and then an incremental charge after that.
why do you need to ship rock overnight?
To minimize dieoff, especially if getting a quality cured LIVE rock like from places like Harbor Aquatics or Paragon Aquatics. If you're paying the markup for good cured rock I'd want it in my hands as soon as possible. That's why I like locally grown Florida rock. It's picked and shipped and all sorts of critters survive the trip.
Airfreight is the way to go. Yes, you should ship live rock overnight. Otherwise, you are looking at more die-off on whatever living organisms are on the rock. Especially in the heat, you do not want your "Live" rock stewing somewhere- you could open it to a big, stinky mess.
Yes, it is true that at some point it has probably been in transit for much longer- but when you get Live Rock from a quality supplier like Harbor Aquatics, you are getting properly cured rock that you do not want to have to cycle all over again because too much stuff is rotting on it or inside it.
Harbor comes very highly reccomended and I don't think you can go wrong there.
Yes, it is true that at some point it has probably been in transit for much longer- but when you get Live Rock from a quality supplier like Harbor Aquatics, you are getting properly cured rock that you do not want to have to cycle all over again because too much stuff is rotting on it or inside it.
Harbor comes very highly reccomended and I don't think you can go wrong there.
Actually, we ship everything priority overnight. Standard overnight isn't good enough for us.danmhippo":1ucjvlh5 said:Standard overnight rate for 70Lbs for $120 is about right.
The published rate from me to Brooklyn for 70, according to: http://www.fedex.com/servlet/RateFinderServlet
Priority Overnight: $170.85
Standard Overnight: $152.75
Those rates include the current 2.0% fuel surchage (sic) currently in place but does not include any insurance. Also, FedEx tacks on an additional $1.35 for residential delivery.
We get a substantial discount, almost 30% off published, from FedEx becuase of the amount of shipping we do with them and we always pass this onto the customer. I can't do much else to help offset the high cost of overnight shipping. Another thing to keep in mind, when we you order 70 pounds of rock, the actual weight of the shipment is about 5 to 8 pounds higher due to the weight of the heavy duty insulated boxes we use along with water that gets trap inside the rock when pulled from the system.
Airfreight to NYC is difficult because, quite frankly, alot of people don't have cars to go to LaGuardia or JFK to pick up rock. If they do, it is always a PITA fighting with traffic. I use to do alot of aquarium service in NYC and it was a nightmare.
i still think 2 day air is more than sufficient for rock, live or otherwise. and at least in my area, whether i have something sent to me fedex overnight priority or standard overnight, it arrives to my door at exactly the same time and by the same delivery guy.
For me it has always been best to have rock delivered air freight but where I live it is a breeze to pick up air freight. I can't imagine paying for cured rock and anyone trying to ship it 2nd day. By the time it got there it would not be cured anymore for sure with all the die off. I even paid to get my raw fiji rock delivered air freight transhipped to minimize the die off. I ended up with several large porite colonies and zooanthids colonies as well making it through the transhipping. I got my rock through Paragon and the way they do their transhipping the rock is only out of the water for about 24 hours. I had minimal die off (to minimal actually as I ended up battling sargassum for months) but the rock smelled fresh and was crawling with microcritters as well.
FWIW, Nathan
FWIW, Nathan
I hope no one mis-interpreted my original post. I just wanted to know if there was something near me of quality. I didn't think Harbor Aquatics was ripping me off at all. I wasn't asking if they were. I just wanted to make this clear that I have nothing against Harbor Aquatics and $120 seems resonable according to other stores as well. Just wanted to clear it up in case anyone thought differently :wink:
Reef Splendor (sponsor here to) is just upstate a bit. Probably about 1 hour drive north up the Taconic (right at the I84 interchange). They don't have walk in hours but you might be able to arrange for live rock pickup if you give them a call.
I was rumbling through the live rock vats yesterday. They have 8 massive rubbermaid tubs (500+ gallons each perhaps) full of various live rock shapes. They have rocks as big as 30 to 40 lbs each which is hard to find (4 of them filled up a 120 gallon tank).
Dunno if it will help or not but, ask for Dan, let him know I sent ya.
I was rumbling through the live rock vats yesterday. They have 8 massive rubbermaid tubs (500+ gallons each perhaps) full of various live rock shapes. They have rocks as big as 30 to 40 lbs each which is hard to find (4 of them filled up a 120 gallon tank).
Dunno if it will help or not but, ask for Dan, let him know I sent ya.
i still think 2 day air is more than sufficient for rock, live or otherwise. and at least in my area, whether i have something sent to me fedex overnight priority or standard overnight, it arrives to my door at exactly the same time and by the same delivery guy.
Sure, if you don't want the rock to be cured when it gets to you. I believe the original poster wanted cured rock. Why send rock second day or overnight when you can get it tanked within an hour of picking it up and three hours topped from being taken from the water?
Also, someone else mentioned rock taking a week to get to the vendor. When I get rock shipped to me, it's shipped air freight which from origin to destination is usually two days (to me anyways) or three days tops.
Some places may store their rock out of water for who knows how long and ship it. I know there's at least one place locally who does it, bet dollars to donuts there's more. I wouldn't stand for getting rock which was left out as I don't think any customer would either if they obviously got some poor rock.
HTH
-JB":35rrv0f6 said:You should try and find someone who will ship to an airport for you. I had 260 lbs of LR shipped this way, only cost me about $70. Airport is the way to go.
Make sure your local airport allows live freight. My local airport does not. (yeah I know it's rocks, but they may still give you a hard time if the shipper declares it as "live"). You are pretty much limited to Delta Air Cargo (may have a few other options). Shipments tend to stay out on the run-way for a while. They only ship air-cargo when they have left over room. Find out what the cargo terminal window hours are at your airport. Often it has limited hours. If your shipment arrives after the window closes your out of luck. And much like luggage sometimes it never arrives -- and the tracking system isn't the best.
Usually shipping via air-cargo works, just be aware there are lots of steps along the way where things can go wrong.
Hey Rich,
He's lucky being in Brooklyn. There should be many options for shipping at Kennedy airport. Most of the LFS in the NY area get their shipments from there. He should easily be able to pick up the rok without a hassle. I know lots of people who have done it from Kennedy, I picked mine up at MacArthur, and found the process quite painless.
He's lucky being in Brooklyn. There should be many options for shipping at Kennedy airport. Most of the LFS in the NY area get their shipments from there. He should easily be able to pick up the rok without a hassle. I know lots of people who have done it from Kennedy, I picked mine up at MacArthur, and found the process quite painless.
-JB":na8xu9t2 said:He's lucky being in Brooklyn. There should be many options for shipping at Kennedy airport. Most of the LFS in the NY area get their shipments from there. He should easily be able to pick up the rok without a hassle. I know lots of people who have done it from Kennedy, I picked mine up at MacArthur, and found the process quite painless.
Yeah, if he uses a NYC airport he should be fine. They were given as options to me when I needed some air cargo. I drove north instead (Stewart International) -- much less traffic.
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