RobBaglieri
Active Member
Do you think the free shipping takes too long?
AQuarium Depot reviews
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tautog83
Valuable Member
back about 6 years ago the pods were a good deal, you would actually get the amount you ordered or what seemed like it at least . and when they had a trochus snails at 1.99 for nice big boys but other than that its all crappy corals from crappy wholesalers chopped up a million times . customer service was probably worst in the game it was sad.. about 2 years ago i randomly needed pods again to seed a new tank and ordered the 1000 bogo deal and this time around i swear my bag had about 60 pods in it . the whole miscroscopic ones thing is a joke which im sure there was some ones that i couldnt see but i mean in the past the filter floss they used to use was covered!!!! so that was the last time ive ordered, i was going to complain but the next day i received someones else's order that had the same crappy amount of pods in it , had his billing address on the inside but my shipping label. sorry bro if that was you
Yes, all companies ship fish/coral overnight for a reason. 2-3 days is too long for simple packaging in warm or cold weather. During the spring/fall you could possibly get away with it. Maybe.
the curious
New Member
I just made a large order...over $400. I got many different zoas, shrimp, crabs, marco, and candy cane.
First of all, the shrimp, crabs, and macro are all very healthy...whew. except that the xtra lrg hermit crabs I bought are Sooooo frigging tiny, that I can't imagine what their normal size looks like.
I am a zoa collector, and I can barely tell the variety of Zoas apart. They all look so similar, that I can hardly figure out what I am looking at. Ugh. They also didn't ship the most expensive zoas that I purchased.
The real kicker though was the red candy cane. The picture on their site is awesome. I had to have it, so I bought 4 heads. They are absolutely nothing like the pictures on their site, and neither were the yellow face zoas.
I'm gonna turn around and sell most of what I bought, and probably take a loss. I wish I had did my research before purchasing from them, but I have bought from so many online sellers, with no issues whatsoever, that I let my guard down.
Just wanted to vent and share my experience.
First of all, the shrimp, crabs, and macro are all very healthy...whew. except that the xtra lrg hermit crabs I bought are Sooooo frigging tiny, that I can't imagine what their normal size looks like.
I am a zoa collector, and I can barely tell the variety of Zoas apart. They all look so similar, that I can hardly figure out what I am looking at. Ugh. They also didn't ship the most expensive zoas that I purchased.
The real kicker though was the red candy cane. The picture on their site is awesome. I had to have it, so I bought 4 heads. They are absolutely nothing like the pictures on their site, and neither were the yellow face zoas.
I'm gonna turn around and sell most of what I bought, and probably take a loss. I wish I had did my research before purchasing from them, but I have bought from so many online sellers, with no issues whatsoever, that I let my guard down.
Just wanted to vent and share my experience.
willieboy240
Active Member
Yeah. I was going to buy from that sale also. The red candy cane in the picture sure did look nice. Was it at least a little reddish ?
Untamedrose
Well-Known Member
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I Ordered a few times from them.... with eh results but still cheaper then a lot of other places. Will give introverts are OMG small....blue porcelain I got couldn't have been even a 1/4 inch but he's grow well.
My line was drawn and stepped over for a green montipora cap frag... it wasnt just DOA...it's was dead months ago and the skeleton mostly cover in coralline! this wasnt an opps happened on the way thing. In that same order they also refunded me for not having something they shipped me ....I looked at the numbers and washed my hands. Wont ***** at them wont order from them again either.
It's a serious gamble.
My line was drawn and stepped over for a green montipora cap frag... it wasnt just DOA...it's was dead months ago and the skeleton mostly cover in coralline! this wasnt an opps happened on the way thing. In that same order they also refunded me for not having something they shipped me ....I looked at the numbers and washed my hands. Wont ***** at them wont order from them again either.
It's a serious gamble.
stevo01
R33F!N @DD!CT
This is an old thread but I want to add to it. My aquarium depot shipment came in on Friday. Ordered $140 of coral and CUC. A lot of the corals are dead or struggling to survive. The CUC is fine. But that was only $20. Pictures of death to come. For now is the picture of the corals after I got them out of their bags and into some of MY clean water within an hour of arrival. In addition the shipment took a full 48 hours to arrive. The cardboard box looked like it was sent over enemy lines, thanks UPS. No labels saying "live animals" or "this end up". Just a single label "leave at door". Inside the box were some wet paper towels, and loosely packed were my bags of "life". All the frags were on the plugs upside down and attached to the closed end with fishing line. All bage were crimped with metal bands. It seems they anticipated the box getting tossed around yet use metal bands inside the box.
The livestock - 12 polyp frag of red people eater palys were broke off the plug. Most of all the corals I ordered were zoas/palys. 10 polyp frag of Blue eyed monster are mostly good shape, there are a few dying polyps. 10 polyp frag of PeaPie palys 2 have opened up, and it's looking like the rest are going to melt. 30+ polyp frag of fruit drop zoa 5 that have opened, several that are melting, and some that haven't opened or started melting. On a frag of 5 yellow polyps I see one that might survive. The 10 polyp frag of Barney zoas are all healthy, oddly. The 10 polyp frag of long hair green eye girls has one polyp that opens and looks healthy. The 30+ polyp frag of morning glories have about 8 that look healthy, a few that are melting, and a bunch that are closed. This is odd, on the morning glory frag are an additional 4 yellow polyps one of which does not look well. The single sps a green slimer acro arrived dead. A 1"x1.5" orange and blue Australian chalice looks to be ok for now.
That's the current status. Keep in mind this tank is or at least was perfectly healthy and all live was thriving/growing. No tank issues. I also did a slow acclimation to water and light.
The acro was DOA, red people eaters I had 6 that survived currently at 12, blue eyed monsters were fine, pea pie had 2 that lived recently at 5, all the fruit drop died, yellow polyps came back strong 20+, Barneys had 2 polyps survive, green eyed girls survived, morning glories fine, and the chalice is almost completely dead now.
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stevo01
R33F!N @DD!CT
I decided to give Aquarium Depot another chance. I think going with the free shipping was a poor decision on my part. So this time I opted to pay for 1 day shipping. It was discounted for ordering $99+. Shipped out Thursday evening and arrived Friday around 2:30pm EST. The package was delivered by UPS regardless of choosing 1 day shipping. It's safe to say now that AD only uses UPS for shipping.
This time around I bought 3 zoa frags, 8 mushroom frags, 2 lettuce nudi's, 2 Hawaiian fanworms, and 1 sun coral frag.
The zoas look about as healthy as last time. I give them a 50/50 survival rate. All the mushrooms are ok as of now. Mushrooms are very hardy coral, and I would have been really suprised to see any dead. One of two fanworms were DOA. The 2 nudi's look to be fine, but I know little of their natural behavoir. Lastly, the sun coral looks a little rough. I'm being patient with it since I know they are not photosynthetic. It's a single head and arrived totally pulled into the coralite skeleton. Last night it looked like it was starting to come out, but never fully extended. It's questionable and I give it a 50/50 chance.
So there you have it. I'll contact support for the dead worm and possibly a dead dendro and some lost zoas. Overall, a better experience from the last. Here are some pictures. Enjoy!
Conclusion - If your buying from AD pay for 1 day shipping, dip your corals, and pray everything lives! Out of 5 stars I'd give these guys 2.5 stars. Haven't dealt with their customer service yet so that could change.
1. I cut the bags open and and their water to the container. This is just the 1st container. Pre dip.
2. The long Pyrex dish has 2 caps of Coral Rx and 6 drops of Lugols. (I wasn't sure how much Lugols to use). I was not able to find Bayer in time for this. To the right are two separate rinse bowls. Initial dip was for 15 minutes, and both rinses were for 30 minutes each. No, I didn't dip my fan worms
3. Two Hawiian fan worms. Can't tell which is living and which is dead right?
4. Two hitch hikers came in on a frag of zoas. These were ID'd as scale worms. Thanks R2R!
5. Close up of a scale worm
6. All the frags in dip solution.
7. Dead fan worm. After I put this in my tank my cleaner shrimp went right for it. It pulled the dead worm right out of its tube and was eating it. This is why I LOVE cleaner shrimp! He knew it was dead but it would have been days until realized.
This time around I bought 3 zoa frags, 8 mushroom frags, 2 lettuce nudi's, 2 Hawaiian fanworms, and 1 sun coral frag.
The zoas look about as healthy as last time. I give them a 50/50 survival rate. All the mushrooms are ok as of now. Mushrooms are very hardy coral, and I would have been really suprised to see any dead. One of two fanworms were DOA. The 2 nudi's look to be fine, but I know little of their natural behavoir. Lastly, the sun coral looks a little rough. I'm being patient with it since I know they are not photosynthetic. It's a single head and arrived totally pulled into the coralite skeleton. Last night it looked like it was starting to come out, but never fully extended. It's questionable and I give it a 50/50 chance.
So there you have it. I'll contact support for the dead worm and possibly a dead dendro and some lost zoas. Overall, a better experience from the last. Here are some pictures. Enjoy!
Conclusion - If your buying from AD pay for 1 day shipping, dip your corals, and pray everything lives! Out of 5 stars I'd give these guys 2.5 stars. Haven't dealt with their customer service yet so that could change.
1. I cut the bags open and and their water to the container. This is just the 1st container. Pre dip.
2. The long Pyrex dish has 2 caps of Coral Rx and 6 drops of Lugols. (I wasn't sure how much Lugols to use). I was not able to find Bayer in time for this. To the right are two separate rinse bowls. Initial dip was for 15 minutes, and both rinses were for 30 minutes each. No, I didn't dip my fan worms
3. Two Hawiian fan worms. Can't tell which is living and which is dead right?
4. Two hitch hikers came in on a frag of zoas. These were ID'd as scale worms. Thanks R2R!
5. Close up of a scale worm
6. All the frags in dip solution.
7. Dead fan worm. After I put this in my tank my cleaner shrimp went right for it. It pulled the dead worm right out of its tube and was eating it. This is why I LOVE cleaner shrimp! He knew it was dead but it would have been days until realized.
RobBaglieri
Active Member
Great. I ordered the red candy cane. Cant wait to see it. is it even red? I also ordered the cherry bomb zoas. I hope they are as nice as the pics (I doubt it).
the curious
New Member
Cherry bombs were super tiny, and didn't look quite like the pics. And my red candy cane has no red that I can see. Looks more like a kryptonite, but not as nice as the colony of it that I already have.
stevo01
R33F!N @DD!CT
This is what the red candy cane looks like...
With AD, the corals are very dull at first. There was some loses mostly in zoa species, I'm assuming sps is a joke. Over time in a healthy tank the ones that survive brighten up and grow. The mushrooms all look to be good so far. Got 8 species from 3 genus. The sun coral seems to be improving. It almost came out last night. It may be fully extending in darkness. They are potential gems in the rough. Look at it as a cheap score with a challange involved. I can't stress enough about dipping corals from AD tho. Not just because of hitch hikers but for infections and necrosis too.
Looks like your pea pies had about the same survival rate as mine did. I've got 6 polyps right now. 3 survived from the origional shipment. I think I had 9 total to start. But they are big and bright now.
1. Cherry bombs zoas 10 polyps - there are more than 10 polyps on the frag but I'll be lucky if 5 survive. In tank since Friday.
Blue eyed monsters zoas - I have a frag in my 20 doing fine but this one looks a little rough. Looking like a few will survive.
Fruit drop zoas - these didn't do well in my 20g but this frag looks pretty good. There are a few dying.
the curious
New Member
I am still in the process of getting credit from AD. I received another shipment today, of the back-ordered items from my order. There was no barrier between the corals and the 3 freezy bags that they put into the Styrofoam container. All of the coral bags were very cold to the touch, and all the corals look awful, and will surely be completely dead soon.
I will say that the purple and green ricordia I received is beautiful. I am asking them to just ship me a bunch of ricordia to replace the dead or misrepresented corals. They want to give me store credit, but they no longer have the 50% off sale going on. I am hoping that they will honor the 50% off deal for these replacements. I was told, "In a situation like this I can reship them", but, at this point, i don't really trust them to ship me anything that is more sensitive than mushrooms.
I will say that the purple and green ricordia I received is beautiful. I am asking them to just ship me a bunch of ricordia to replace the dead or misrepresented corals. They want to give me store credit, but they no longer have the 50% off sale going on. I am hoping that they will honor the 50% off deal for these replacements. I was told, "In a situation like this I can reship them", but, at this point, i don't really trust them to ship me anything that is more sensitive than mushrooms.
stevo01
R33F!N @DD!CT
Seeing how your only in GA I would think they wouldn't bother putting any packs in. My last one came with no packs of any kind. I agree stick with the mushrooms. Sorry for your troubles bud.
RobBaglieri
Active Member
My order came in on Wednesday. Everything looks ok. The red candy can is not red. The Cherry Bomb Red Zoas do not look like the picture. I ordered a large red blasto, the initial reason for my order in the first place, the blase was "back ordered". Now I have an $89 credit with a company that I am not sure I want to order from again. If you dont have it in stock, dont advertise it. 8>()AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHgggg
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