First time ordering from Blue Zoo Aquatics

[icebear]

It has been a long time since i have made an online order.

Sunday, i decided to go ahead and buy a few things, came here and saw that Tims had given a to BZA.

I was looking for some easy care shrooms and leathers to replace the ones i had loved but sold a few years ago when i had to take a break from the hobby.
They had a pretty good offering and decent prices.

They also have a deal of free shipping for livestock orders over $79.ish . I can easily blow by this, having been deprived for so long and in possession of a bit of disposable income for once! ..... and they are sending a tiny frag of random Zoanthids for free. I'll take that!

I was also thrilled to see that they had Salifert's Flatworm Exit in stock. At this time they were the only place that did.
(I had been barely keeping the 'flats' at bay for the last year or so, but when i got into the accident i was out for about 7 months and they took advantage of the situation. i had to scrub, swish, siphon like mad the first week i could walk unassisted again.)
Now i hope to utterly destroy them


So anyway, i just wanted to start a thread so i can give a great review when i get my shipment.
If i fail to post a response, we can just say that will mean i was unimpressed, but i fully expect to be able to post a glowing recommendation based on what i have researched online


One thing to note already is that i did order an item that was not available to be shipped out on my original delivery date (which was going to be today). I got a phone call last night from Dennis to let me know they would apologetically delay my order till it was right, and would Wednesday be good or what day would be better? And Wednesday is fine, so its all good. I like phone calls better than Emails, so that is a good sign to me

It works out fine cause i have a few tank preps i'd like to do and it gives me an extra day.

So, i'm waiting for tomorrow and if i can find it, i will have the camera with me.
Feels like Christmas Eve!

[icebear]

the sarcophyton still isn't in...gaah.... their supplier shorted them. that stinks, i know how that is!!!

Dennis left a message and i left a message back. i think i'll just substitute, this may work out fine

[icebear]

i didn't get to call them back with my substitution request until after hours, 9pm ET last night so i think i won't be getting my order today. if i do, i will be amazed. if not, its ok.

[icebear]

i got a call just a few minutes ago to confirm my substitution and i can expect my order tomorrow

[icebear]

well its up to FedEx right now.

and my ship notification on the FedEx website said it should be here by noon.

at about 12:20 i checked again and now it has no EDT.

not cool.

i have to get my daughter at school at 3:00 it is 2:38 right now. i just KNOW FedEx will show up for the 5 minutes i am not here. That is how my luck goes.

and there's no neighbors i trust who are home to stake out the front door for me.

[crvz]

I've left notes for fedex in these scenarios, and I've also tracked down the driver on the truck if I've missed the delivery. call the 800 number, tell them the situation, and they'll get you the pacakge. I've had really good success with this. The two times I've done it I met the driver on his route and a convenient spot for him, but it's better than having it sit in the warehouse all night to try again tomorrow.

Also, this is why I usually choose a hold-for-pickup at the local fedex or fedex-kinkos. You can pick it up at your luxury after 9am in most cases, noon at the worst. Matter of fact, I did that just today with a clamsdirect order.

[icebear]

well , good news i'm back and there was no "we tried and you weren't here" sticky note on the door- which is good in a way.

but i WANT MY STUFF!

[icebear]

wow... my tracking info says it was still in Memphis TN at 3:05pm

unless FedEx delivers until midnight, looks like i will be delivered a box of room temperature slime sometime tomorrow.
IF i'm home.

i have plans tomorrow. stuff to get done. places i need to be.

stupid FedEx

[crvz]

you'd be surprised, some things can pull it off in that little box for that long, and it's the right time of year for it. Your temps may not be way out. But contact BlueZoo if you've not already, you're looking at a refund on shipping costs from fedex at the least if it was an overnight shipment.

[icebear]

it was a "free ship for orders over $79" so i hope they can get some compensation.

i am hoping, since it was mostly just shrooms and ricordea, they will be ok since they are pretty tough. i picked this time of year to buy hoping to avoid extreme temperatures.

i will email anyway.

on his way home from work, hubby had seen a delivery truck heading in our direction... this was at 6:15, so i didn't totally give up then... but still nothing.

it stinks. i'm not sure what i will do tomorrow.

[aquawolf]

Zoas and shrooms will definitely be fine with 2 day shipping. I am not sure about what else you have in the order along with them right now. Hopefully everything will work out for you and as you stated this is definitely not the fault of BZA.

I had a friend ship me an Acan frag via UPS and it was a hold at facility package. I got to the facility and the lady tells me it is out on the truck for delivery. I said delivery where as the only address on the package is for this office. She ended up calling the driver and I had to drive out 5 miles to meet him along his route. I hope things go better than that for you.

[icebear]

I emalied Mike and he replied nicely with info on what to do when the shipment came in and what to do if stuff arrived DOA.

The box just came about 10 minutes ago (10:29am), a bit wet on the bottom, so the delivery guy noted it was damaged.

i have all the bags floating in the tank for now, the water in one of them looks pretty grungy and one of the bags appears to have leaked most of its water.

the order comes with a useful acclimation drip tube and a pipette of Seachem's Stress Guard and instructions.

As suggested, i will use the styro container for the drip acclimation process. The box leaked a bit, but the styro box was perfectly intact, so that is great.
The packing appeared quite secure and voids were filled with paper, so there was not much shifting, i think the leaky bag just had a hole in its seam, this is not unusual IME. All critters were double-bagged and 3 of 6 were labeled.




These are the items i ordered:
2 Assorted, actinodiscus rhodactis (4-6 polyps each)
1 blue-green mushrooms, actinodiscus spp (7-12 polyps each)
1 shroom grab bag 4 pack (4 polyps)
1 ricordea yuma (4-6 polyps)
Free item: assorted zoanthids (not covered by live arrival guarantee, but looks pretty good)

With the exception of the shroom grab bag (which was described as "some items not attached") the rocks the colonies are on are good sized.

it is hard to tell what is what right now, cause everything is shriveled up like bellybuttons.

i will let them float a few more minutes and then start the drip. (it has taken me about 15 minutes to type this out)

Hopefully this adventure turns out well!

[icebear]

here's a pic as they drip



i got a few loose shrooms that evacuated their rock, and the grab bag i put in a cup with holes in it so i would not get the shipped loose items mixed up with the jumpers.

i'll need to do some gluing soon.

[aquawolf]

Hopefully everything will turn out fine for you since they are all hardy corals you purchased.

[icebear]

yeah, so far so good! i put the stuff in the tank then went off to get some stuff done. the polyps are starting to uncrumple slowly, but none seem worse for the wear.

i double checked the bag water and found more loose polyps, so i had to dig around for extra bits to glue them to.

Next i have to email Mike back to tell him all is well, thanks!

and then i will get started on my next wish list because i WILL be ordering again.

when they list polyp counts as 4-6 i got more than 6. the 7-12 i got more than 7, and counting all the babies and bailers i got more than 12. from most places if they list 4-6, you never get more than 4, so this was a pleasant surprise.