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While I have no need for them given I don't frag anything ATM, I may be more likely to purchase / trade something via shipping if it was in one of these! At buyers expense of course. $5 isn't much to pay to know your new purchase is much less likely to be doa.
Hello everyone,
Here are a few teaser shots of the prototype and some video's showing how heavy duty these things are. They will be able to be purchased via The Reefuge Store for personal use at $5 each. These will also be used in the Coral Program, however the cells used for the program will not be able to be purchased.
This is what the cell looks like when it is stripped of everything else. A sturdy, clean looking polycarbonate cell.
This is what the cell looks like with the holding foam sitting inside of it. Foam colours will range from cell to cell. Securing a frag to the foam can be done by using the frag tiles which plug right in, or you can use elastic bands to secure your frag, rock, etc. Both ways work fine.
There are no frags around here, so for the sake of the experiment I got the next best thing. This is a bit of a plant, and will be used as an example frag.
This is the "frag" sitting on the holding foam. Again, real frags will be secured either by frag tiles, or with a rubber band. The foam will also have handles to lift the frag in and out of the cell.
This is what the cell looks like with everything inside of it. At this stage, it is safe to place it inside an Australia Post 500g satchel and send it off. However, we have movies to make, so we will hold onto it a little longer.
This is the cell being thrown into the air and landing on grass. As you can see, it is fine.
This is the cell being thrown into the air and landing on concrete. As you can see, it is fine.
Opinions and feedback would be great :)
EDIT: If you purchase frag cells, please do not abuse them. This testing was only done to see if they stood a slight chance with being posted.
Thanks.
Here are a few teaser shots of the prototype and some video's showing how heavy duty these things are. They will be able to be purchased via The Reefuge Store for personal use at $5 each. These will also be used in the Coral Program, however the cells used for the program will not be able to be purchased.
This is what the cell looks like when it is stripped of everything else. A sturdy, clean looking polycarbonate cell.
This is what the cell looks like with the holding foam sitting inside of it. Foam colours will range from cell to cell. Securing a frag to the foam can be done by using the frag tiles which plug right in, or you can use elastic bands to secure your frag, rock, etc. Both ways work fine.
There are no frags around here, so for the sake of the experiment I got the next best thing. This is a bit of a plant, and will be used as an example frag.
This is the "frag" sitting on the holding foam. Again, real frags will be secured either by frag tiles, or with a rubber band. The foam will also have handles to lift the frag in and out of the cell.
This is what the cell looks like with everything inside of it. At this stage, it is safe to place it inside an Australia Post 500g satchel and send it off. However, we have movies to make, so we will hold onto it a little longer.
Opinions and feedback would be great :)
EDIT: If you purchase frag cells, please do not abuse them. This testing was only done to see if they stood a slight chance with being posted.
Thanks.
awesome test videos i was scrolling thinking...hmm you can tell us how decent they are but show us...then scrolled bit more lol and theres the video...even i was like hmm not sure about that foam holding it in...but ye test proved me wrong...although one thing im a bit curious about is obviously the person using it would need to fill up a lot more in case the thing is laid on its side and the air bubble causes the coral to be out of water?
Hello @leodb89,
I highly doubt that the coral will remain in air for long. Between splashing and whatnot, it is very likely the frag will remain under water. It should be as good as current methods. However, we are going to do a fair few test runs (shipping frags) before these become available.
Thanks.
In all fairness this is not an original idea. @NiCd saw it somewhere and they are no longer available. We decided to make our own, but with some adjustments, such as making them really strong.
Thanks.
Look great for long pieces like acro and LPS and softies. I'm unclear how plugs and rock based plugs will stay within the foam securely as the test was with a piece of grass but these look very promising. I'm sure the testing is just starting so I'm watching with an open mind. I'd be interested how the temp holds up with the frag cell material and a post bag as well.
The frag cells will bring a new way of shipping frags around the country I think. As for the temp issue, no matter what you put a frag in there will always be a temp problem. In winter you will still need a heat pack of some kind, in summer there will need to be another option, like no shipping when 3-4 40deg days straight lol.
Lots of potential to send frags that many reefers would not normally send. :)
Depends on the frag. There's plenty of things you can move without a heat pack... as they can easily overheat (and potentially kill) in small packages as they can avoid getting too cold. If you put a material thats 40C+ inside an insulating vessel (ie foam box), what happens when the heat radiating from the heat pack fills the entire volume? You expose the contents to rising temps to about 40C, then it slowly drops off depending on the insulating efficiency of the vessel. In a larger box with a lot of water it's going to take a lot longer for the heat inside the vessel to affect the water, and the heat pack will probably cool before it becomes an issue. For a frag you would generally have a very small volume of water which is going to (over)heat a lot faster and risks doing far more harm than good. There's far more logic and looking at weather reports, packing appropriately and making sure it gets where it's going overnight!
If we were the US, where winters involve snow measured in feet, and we experienced constant sub zero temperatures, heatpacks would be necessary for everything!
Still trying to find a decently small and accurate enough data logger to prove this lol.
I'm pretty sure I read something a while ago about how foam insulates extremely well against 40degree heat during shipping. And with the heat, the packed air insulates really well as well hence why shops pack bags full of air. The cells would travel best inside a foam box unless the material they are made of is insulating.
EDIT: Additionally, water insulates well against outside air temp but not direct sun. eg. my garage was 30 degrees yesterday but the tanks were still at 26 degrees with not much surface agitation. No air con or chilling was on either. But, as soon as the sun hit the garage wall the tanks were on, they started to heat up. Then air con got involved.
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