# Is heat patch really necessary ?



## Vic (5 Dec 2014)

Hello...

I have my tank full of crs and F1 and would sell some of them. I have polystyrene sheets to do the packing but was wondering if the heat patch is really necessary for the current weather..(dec-Jan) I know it would be ideal but if anyone have practical experience and tell me if with a good packing sealed with polystyrene is not enough to send them...

Cheers
Vic


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## Claire (5 Dec 2014)

In this weather it is necessary. It got below freezing here last night and considering they are likely to be sat in a van or unheated warehouse then I would say it's essential.

I got a coral delivered 3 weeks ago that had a heat pack in but it had only been a 12 hour pack, so by the time the coral got to me the water was cold. Luckily the coral survived (they're pretty tough once all closed up), but for an extra couple of quid that people are happy to pay, it's not worth risking posting without.... In my opinion anyways!


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## Lindy (10 Dec 2014)

I agree with claire,  you can get them on ebay. I got some 30 hour heat packs on ebay for posting fish and they worked a treat.


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## tim (19 Dec 2014)

ldcgroomer said:


> I agree with claire,  you can get them on ebay. I got some 30 hour heat packs on ebay for posting fish and they worked a treat.


+1 if you weren't using a heat pack, I wouldn't buy from you this time of year.


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## AverageWhiteBloke (19 Dec 2014)

Would be good if someone posted up a description and some pictures of the proper way, or the least traumatic way of transporting shrimp.  I have quite a number of RCS and won't post any through lack of knowing the correct way. 

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## BigTom (19 Dec 2014)

Yeah I had some double bagged, double poly boxed, well insulated and heat packed fish delivered by 24 hour courrier this week and they were still down from 25 to 18 degrees when they arrived. You really need heat packs this time of year. 

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## Claire (20 Dec 2014)

Next time I get a coral order I'll put some photos up of how they're shipped. Basically double bag them (often with a little moss for them to hold onto), into the poly box and surround with newspaper, then tape the heat pack onto the inside of the box lid. Make sure the heat pack is separated with a little newspaper from the bag with the shrimp in so there's not a direct hot spot on their bag. Tape up box with plenty of fragile tape and you're good to go


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## AverageWhiteBloke (20 Dec 2014)

Cool, now I just need to find where to get a poly box and heat pads from.


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## Lindy (28 Dec 2014)

I buy cardboard boxes, heat pads and sheets of polystyrene on ebay. Cut the polystyrene to line the box. It is best to not have it completely air tight as the heat packs need air to react with. I received some fish in a fantastic polybox, with 2 heat packs, that was totally air tight. The fish were cold. The heat packs started to heat up once i took them out and stayed warm for 2 days.


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## Claire (1 Jan 2015)

Yeah that's a good point. I poke a couple of holes in the box if it's one of the sealed polybox types with a screwdriver or something lol.


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## Trevor Pleco (3 Jan 2015)

interesting thoughts on the heat pack, being from a warmer climate one of the main concerns with freighting shrimp internationally was trying to keep them cool so that cold packs and breather bags were the order of the day...


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