Care Level: This is an indication of a coral’s difficulty, ranging from easy to advanced. The lowest, being for beginners and hobbyists or all levels. Corals on the easy side tend to be more tolerant of less than perfect conditions. The middle is for hobbyists who have had good success keeping various types of corals healthy for a good duration of time. ‘Advanced’ may require a higher level of experience. These are corals which may demand some degree of special care or can be trickier to maintain good colour and growth long-term. If you have specific questions about a particular coral’s care requirements, please reach out to us!

Lighting: Corals require vastly different amounts of light, depending on the regions where they would be collected from the ocean. We have done our best to estimate the best approximate lighting requirement for every coral on this website. Indirect, meaning slightly shaded, or fully shaded, but still receiving some ambient light. If you own or have access to a par meter, this can mean anywhere from 50-75 par. The middle of the chart represents approximately 200-250 par, an average mid to lower tank par reading. The top of the chart would be the absolute highest point found in a brightly lit (probably SPS coral dominated) aquarium. This can range from 450-500 par.

Flow: This part of the chart ranges from passive to strong flow. ‘Passive flow’, meaning that there is no direct flow, but ambient flow still reaches the coral and that you should still see some movement via its tentacles or tissue. The middle of the chart would be a part of the aquarium where flow is steady, but not particularly turbulent. This type of flow is well suited for most LPS, especially euphyllia corals. Strong flow’ would be very high output, close to a return pump or wave making pump. This is not to say any coral should have way too much flow, as poor placement can cause a coral’s tissue to literally peel off.. We use Maxspect and Red Sea Gyre pumps, as well as Ecotech Mp40’s on out systems.

Nutrients: This chart is designed to give an indication of what each coral requires for nutrient levels (NO3 and PO4) and feeding.. Corals closer to the ‘heavy’ side of the slider, are the types of coral requiring direct feeding or a higher nutrient level. This means an NO3 level of up to 30ppm and PO4 up to .1ppm. Corals on the ‘light’ side of the chart tend to either look their best with lower nutrient levels or seem less tolerant of higher NO3, especially PO4 levels. This end of the chart would represent a NO3 levels of 1ppm and a PO4 level no more than .02ppm.

Click “add to cart” on the items you would like to purchase. Once you have made your final selections, click on the “Cart” menu and proceed to check out, setting up a new account. At this point, you will have a chance to add a coupon code (when applicable). Select shipping method (see shipping options below for more details). We accept Electronic money transfers (EMT), major credit cards and PayPal. EMT is always preferred and if used, we are more inclined to provide ‘freebies’ or larger pieces in your order.

We utilize ATI T5’s with various blue LED supplementation on our various systems. If you have any questions as to what lighting a certain piece was photographed under, feel free to send us a message. We do our best to capture colouration as accurately as possible; no over-saturation or crazy white balance adjustments. In some cases, we will photograph the coral under daylight (approximately 14k lighting) and under blue LED spectrum only.

Frag Garage is a web-sales, home-based business, located in Victoria British Columbia, Canada. We also partner with a local saltwater shop, Blue World Aquariums.

Yes, because we often eat some of the cost on our shipping and shipping supplies, we only ship orders which reach a $100 minimum. There is no minimum for orders which are placed for local pickup.

We ensure that every piece will be floated and packed as carefully as possible. In the colder months, high quality heat packs will be used. In the rare event that a coral arrives DOA (dead on arrival), please send us  a picture of the specimen within 2 hours of unboxing your order. Usually a cloudy or extra smelly bag is an indication that the coral is having a rough time. In the event that you experienced losses within the week prior to the shipment, please let us know and we will do our best to assess your case and potentially offer replacements.

Winter Months: During the colder months we suggest that shipments sent via courier to be held for pickup at a nearby Fedex/Purolator pickup location. This ensures that coral will not spend too much time on delivery vehicles. Please let us know if this is an option for you in your order notes.

It is the customers responsibility to monitor the progress of their shipment. In the case of a delay, please call the courier and do your best to remedy the situation. If you continue to have issues, please let us know and we can get involved if required. Small tip: if you call FedEx say “I am returning a call” to skip the automated process.

Conditions:
• We currently do not accept any returns/exchanges. Shipping costs cannot be refunded.
• Livestock is not guaranteed if an incorrect address or contact phone number is provided. Please double check!
• In the case of a residential delivery, the package must be signed for on its 1st delivery attempt or picked up during the business hours of the carrier on the day it arrives. That said, we usually send shipments not requiring a signature, so be sure to watch for your shipment and get it indoors as soon as possible.
• If the package is sent via airline to airline cargo, the package must be picked up within 4 hours of the flight’s landing time and within the warehouse’s business hours.
• We do not issue refunds; only replacements. If the same or similar frag is not available you will be issued store credit instead (not including the shipping cost)
• We now cover any losses or DOA’s due to carrier delays.
• Proof of a dead coral must be provided within 2 hours of receiving the shipment. Example: cloudy bag, photo of skeletons, decaying tissues, etc.
• DOA replacements are shipped at buyer’s expense or can be added to a  future order. The shipping cost will be the exact amount quoted from the courier, plus the cost of any coolers and heat packs (if required).

There are countless products on the market that claim to improve colour, promote growth and coral health. Some may or may not have a distinct impact on our systems, but rarely make a profound difference. It is our philosophy to keep expensive additives to a minimum and stick to the essentials. Most of the colour in corals is going to come from sufficient nutrient levels, stable water chemistry and exposure to strong light. Micro and trace elements are important, but often can be replenished by regular water changes (with a good quality salt), Ca/Alk additives which contain trace, calcium reactor media, etc. For this reason, the only additives we use on a regular basis, outside of the ‘major three’ (Ca, Mg, carbonate), are: amino acids (Brightwell or Fauna Marin) Iodine (often removed via carbon) and ESV Bionic Nitrate to keep No3 in range. Addition of bacterial strains can be helpful when starting a new system, but nothing beats using healthy live rock from an established reef.

We maintain parameters via combination of calcium reactors and dosing bulk additives for the ‘major three’. We find that there are benefits to both methods; Ca reactors for the consistent addition of balanced elements and dosing for its fine tun-ability. Breaking down reactor media also helps add Po4 to the system. No3 and Po4 are tested weekly. Protein skimmers are often turned off, sometimes for weeks at a time, to maintain sufficient nutrient levels. Feeding daily with a variety of good quality frozen foods also helps play an important role. It is important to keep in mind that every system is very different in terms of its nutrient uptake, so what works for one system, my not be right for another.

SPS System: calcium 440, alkalinity 8-8.5, magnesium 1350, salinity 1.025, Po4 .03-07, No3 5-10
LPS System: calcium 430, alkalinity 8-8.5, magnesium 1350, salinity 1.025, Po4 .05-.1, No3 10-15

After water chemistry, water flow is the next most important aspect of a thriving reef. It’s important that every coral, regardless of its ideal flow requirement, has active flow passing through and across its entire surface. The best way to gauge the amount of flow for an individual coral is to look at its growth structure and polyp extension ‘PE’. SPS corals often form networks of tightly knit branches. In order to achieve flow through every part of the coral, they require quite a bit of well distributed, strong current. Dead flow areas can lead to issues like STN (slow tissue necrosis), whereas flow that is too high can damage coral tissue and restrict PE. Often SPS corals will grow into their environment, so once flow for a system is established, it is important to not change anything too significantly. Always observe polyp extension in order to know whether a coral is getting too little or too much flow. LPS corals generally require quite a bit less flow than SPS. It is important to monitor PE, as a LPS polyp will only open part way if it’s receiving too much flow.

Most corals are safe to handle when placing in your aquarium, however, we strongly urge the use of latex gloves and eye protection, especially when handling zoanthid and Palythoa species. Frag Garage does not take responsibility for any bodily harm caused by the mishandling of coral purchased through our website.

In some cases, yes. We offer coral wholesale to registered retail businesses only. Our coral wholesale will only be offered on items of which we have excess stock. If you want to have a look at our coral wholesale price list, please send us an email with the subject ‘coral wholesale’. Wholesale orders will typically be shipped via West Jet or Air Canada Cargo services.

There are coral suppliers in various parts of the tropics who export around the world. The majority of coral suppliers today are found in Indonesia (Bali, Jakarta, Java), but also Australia, Tonga, Vietnam, Fiji and the Solomon Islands.

In Bali, the first mariculture (marine culture farm) was started by Vincent Chalias, at Bali Aquarium, around 20 years ago. Many coral suppliers have copied this format, where an otherwise empty lagoon is converted into a coral growing sanctuary. The coral in these facilities are fragmented from broodstock colonies, which are carefully selected for their species, colour and growth form. These coral colonies are cut and glued to smaller disks, then tagged for species identification and grown out until they reach a size ready to export (typically 5-10cm). Mariculture farms bring other marine life to the area, as they inevitably create an artificial reef, as well as attract tourism and provide jobs for many locals. We consider this the most ethical and sustainable way for coral suppliers to export coral.

There are many coral suppliers and exporters in Australia. Because the Great Barrier Reef is so far offshore, mariculture is less of a viable option, so the farming of coral tends to be done at land based facilities. Wild corals are sustainably collected, under the careful restriction of the Australian government.

We do our best to import coral as little as possible, since everything has a carbon footprint. Our goal is to provide 100% aquaculture coral only within the next 10 years.

Please let us know when you place your order which day you would like us to ship. We ship Monday, Tuesday and Wednesdays ONLY. If you specifically want your corals to arrive on a Friday and there is a shipping delay, resulting in the corals not arriving until the following week, this voids the DOA guarantee. There is no reliable courier service offering weekend deliveries.

Orders placed will be shipped as soon as possible, however, in some cases when corals need to be cut and healed, we ask for 1 week heal time minimum. We will let you know if this is the case once you place your order.

We will hold orders for a maximum of two weeks after an order is ‘ready to be shipped’. If you have a special request for us to hold your corals longer, we will negotiate a fair holding fee. During this time, in the rare event there is a crash or incident in our systems, we are not liable for corals we are holding beyond the two week time frame.

To add to an existing order of which the shipping is already calculated or hit the free shipping threshold, please select ‘Local Pickup or Addition’ at checkout.

If you are adding to an order in which the total is pushed up to the free shipping threshold, please let us know and we will send you a coupon code to make up the difference.