High Tide Aquatics

Ordering Live Rock Question

MarcosDelgado0

MarcosDelgado0

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I know quite a few people here have ordered live rock so I wanted to get your guys’ opinions. Since the rock is coming all the way from Florida and being shipped to the SJC Southwest Cargo Hub, what’s the best time to have it sent? Is it better to have them send it say on a Wednesday afternoon, have it land Wednesday night, for pickup Thursday morning? Or if I have them send it Thursday morning, is it possible it’ll be ready Thursday night? I’ve been doing some reading on here on past orders and it seems like the package has to be inspected by someone who usually leaves early, so I’m worried if they send it Thursday morning, then when it arrives Thursday evening there will be no one to clear it and it won’t be available till Friday? Does anyone have experience with the Southwest Cargo hub in San Jose?
 
MarcosDelgado0 said:
I know quite a few people here have ordered live rock so I wanted to get your guys’ opinions. Since the rock is coming all the way from Florida and being shipped to the SJC Southwest Cargo Hub, what’s the best time to have it sent? Is it better to have them send it say on a Wednesday afternoon, have it land Wednesday night, for pickup Thursday morning? Or if I have them send it Thursday morning, is it possible it’ll be ready Thursday night? I’ve been doing some reading on here on past orders and it seems like the package has to be inspected by someone who usually leaves early, so I’m worried if they send it Thursday morning, then when it arrives Thursday evening there will be no one to clear it and it won’t be available till Friday? Does anyone have experience with the Southwest Cargo hub in San Jose?
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Was sfo a option? Only thinking its a much busier airport maybe they have people working around the clock?
 
MichaelB said:
Was sfo a option? Only thinking its a much busier airport maybe they have people working around the clock?
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I’m sure they could send it there as well but I’m not sure what their hours are. SJC Southwest cargo hours are 5:30am-9:30pm which I feel like is pretty good. I saw a thread where @Alexander1312 had an issue with the inspector leaving early so they held his rock until the next day but I believe that was at the Oakland airport.

@Darkxerox , do you remember when we did the SBR group buy last time, where it got sent to and how the timing worked out? I remember that rock being pretty fresh still when I picked it up
 
You don't want to use SFO or OAK because they have a habit of holding things for inspection - avoid these airports for live rock shipments (this is per the tampa bay SW ladies and past experiences shipping to these airports - not sure about SJC).

SMF was great, though - they shipped early morning and I picked my stuff up that same afternoon, it was a very easy process getting air cargo since you get to avoid the main airport. I imagine SJC would be similar, but yeah it's reasonable to expect same-day pickup if they ship in the morning. I had basically ZERO die off with my rocks - they smelled great, I dropped them into my tank, and added fish and corals the same day and never saw any ammonia or any issues. YMMV depending on how long it takes, but same day is awesome if you can manage it.
 
MarcosDelgado0 said:
I’m sure they could send it there as well but I’m not sure what their hours are. SJC Southwest cargo hours are 5:30am-9:30pm which I feel like is pretty good. I saw a thread where @Alexander1312 had an issue with the inspector leaving early so they held his rock until the next day but I believe that was at the Oakland airport.

@Darkxerox , do you remember when we did the SBR group buy last time, where it got sent to and how the timing worked out? I remember that rock being pretty fresh still when I picked it up
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It was @Coral2Coral who arranged it and they came in early afternoon. SFO usually isn't bad and most of the stores I know pick their shipments up there too. https://www.bareefers.org/forum/threads/saltybottom-live-rock-order.34055/
 
Earlier the better, flights get cancelled and I suspect you're not paying for NFG (not should you with liverock)

I have never had any domestic shipment held for inspection at SFO and I have done hundreds of livestock shipments to/from there.

Edit: that was 10 years ago, the may have started inspections on FL shipments as there are a lot of things in FL the CA doesn't allow entry into the state.
 
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