Care & shipping
How we pack and ship your coral, what to do the moment it arrives, and the water it's been growing in.
Shipping
How your coral travels
Orders are packed the morning they go out. Each frag is dipped, bagged in tank water with extra air, double-bagged and set upright in an insulated box.
| Option | Days | Cost | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Next-day tracked | Mon to Wed | £14.95 | Anywhere in the UK, tracked and delivered the day after dispatch. |
| Collection | Fri & Sat | Free | In Edinburgh, by appointment. Bring an insulated bag or cool box. |
We don't ship Thursday to Sunday. A box stuck in a depot over a weekend is the main cause of losses, so we'd rather wait.
On arrival
Acclimating your frags
Open the box with the room lights dim. Most coral is stressed by light shock more than anything else.
- Float to match temperatureFloat the sealed bags for 15 to 20 minutes. Don't let tank water mix in yet.
- Dip each fragUse a coral dip at the maker's dose for 5 to 10 minutes, gently blasting with a pipette to dislodge any hitchhikers.
- Rinse in tank waterSwish in a clean container of your own tank water. Discard the dip and the bag water.
- Place it lowPut every frag on the sand bed or a low rock, out of direct flow.
- Move it up over a weekRaise SPS a little every couple of days towards the PAR on its listing. LPS and softs can usually stay where they settle.
Our water
What our coral is grown in
These are the targets across all three of our grow-out systems. The closer your tank is, the faster a new frag will settle.
| Parameter | Our target | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Salinity | 1.025 SG | 35 ppt. Match within 0.001 when acclimating. |
| Temperature | 25.5 °C | Held within 0.3 °C. Keep your bag-float below 2 °C difference. |
| Alkalinity | 8.0 dKH | Dosed continuously. The parameter SPS react to fastest. |
| Calcium | 430 ppm | Balanced two-part. |
| Magnesium | 1350 ppm | Checked weekly. |
| Nitrate | 5 to 10 ppm | We keep some nutrients for colour and polyp extension. |
| Phosphate | 0.03 to 0.08 ppm | Never zero. Ultra-low phosphate bleaches SPS. |
| pH | 8.0 to 8.3 | Daily swing, with CO2 scrubbing on the skimmer. |
Lighting
Light by coral type
PAR is the amount of usable light reaching the coral, measured in µmol/m²/s. Every listing shows the range that frag grew under.
Upper rockwork, strong turbulent flow. Acclimate upwards over 7 to 10 days.
Lower to mid rock or sand bed, gentle flow so tissue can inflate.
Adaptable. Mushrooms prefer shade; zoas colour best around 100 PAR.