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Unread 02/18/2015, 01:37 PM   #1
Zooxanthus
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new frag store

I was thinking about starting a new frag store online and when i started writing my mission statement I added that not taking corals out of the ocean was a good thing and you should buy from me hehe. but thinking about it more I realize that shipping a coral on a plane is probably the worst thing you can do. Its the worst thing a human can do as far as leaving a carbon footprint, so how can I claim to be a green company if every frag I sell leaves a carbon footprint? I wish i could think of a different way to ship.


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Unread 02/18/2015, 07:36 PM   #2
cymen
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Maybe you could be local without a retail presence? Kind of how there are now mobile mechanics that come and fix your car. You could come to my house and sell me some corals. Maybe have a route and deliver bulk goods like salt too. Probably not a lot of margin in the bulk goods but you could do well on the corals but keep the visits regular with the bulk goods?

I would actually pay a slight premium on bulk goods for that kind of service because I live in a neighborhood where packages can't be left on my stairs (they will disappear unless the neighbors see them first and take them in for me). So receiving packages is a hassle and I'd pay a little extra to not have to deal with that at all.

You would still be using oil unless you had an electric vehicle (an electric delivery vehicle seems unlikely but biodiesel seems like a potential option). Maybe it would be greener than air shipping?

If I was going to do this, I'd have a really good website that would let me ping my customers so they could see the current corals and opt-in to a visit. Then you could do your weekly rounds and drop off what people ordered (and maybe show a few if people are on the fence).

You might also make some good connections in terms of other people that are fragging but don't want to deal with any hassle and would be happy to trade or sell at a low price (to not have to deal with anything).


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Unread 02/19/2015, 10:53 AM   #3
Zooxanthus
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thats a pretty good idea =) thanks cymen


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Unread 02/19/2015, 01:50 PM   #4
nyknicks4412
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Hope you have a windmill or solar panels installed to run your tanks or the "green" thing isn't going to work. Lot of wasted water in this hobby too. Green is always a tough sell but when you bring in frivolous hobbies like reef keeping it becomes even harder.


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Unread 02/26/2015, 09:02 PM   #5
jamie1981
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Startup frag stores online are a dime a dozen it looks easy to new hobbyist. Realty is most fail with a year or don't make profit. If there was a better way to ship the large boys in the business would be doing it.
Unless you have invented a working teleportation machine I don't think your going to have much luck.
Cheapest your going to get is fedex or UPS overnight which is not cheap. Best to stay local within your club so you do not have to ship at all.


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Unread 02/26/2015, 09:04 PM   #6
jamie1981
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If you want to do it green move to FL mariculture coral and sell it locally that is about as green as you can get growing corals.


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Unread 03/04/2015, 12:50 PM   #7
Mishri
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Yep, I'm with nyknicks4412 on this. Besides, that plane will be scheduled to fly whether you ship something or not. Although the extra weight does factor into their fuel needs.

So.. if you want to claim you are green, solar or wind power, and use a bicycle made out of recycled plastic. no vehicle deliveries, even electric cars still use power from our grid which is mostly coal powered still. Plus, I don't believe electric cars are green anyway.. battery manufacturing is an issue. They need to come up with something else if they want to be "green" (subways are better than electric cars).

Bio-diesel isn't green either, because it still puts out co2, which, transportation is our primary co2 contribution... Used to be cars didn't produce co2, then in 1975 they said lets put these catalytic converters on them, then, instead of producing hydrocharbons and carbon monoxide, (hydrocarbons aren't a green house gas, and carbon monoxide is a very weak one).. so now we have far more co2 production than we used to... Hooray-at least smog is a thing of the past, smog days, I remember those when I lived in Phoenix.... It's illegal to run a car made after 1975 without catalytic converters on public roads in the US.

It's always fun watching environmentalists try to band-aid things and screwing it up in some other way... tanstaafl.


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Last edited by Mishri; 03/04/2015 at 12:58 PM.
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Unread 03/26/2015, 02:24 PM   #8
jrp1588
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mishri View Post
Besides, that plane will be scheduled to fly whether you ship something or not.
My thoughts exactly. If that plane was making a special trip just for you, sure, massive carbon footprint. A 2 pound boy of frags splitting that footprint with thousands of other packages isn't so bad though.

That being said, going out and harvesting your own stuff is about as green as it gets when you think about it.


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Unread 03/26/2015, 03:24 PM   #9
tidus10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Zooxanthus View Post
I was thinking about starting a new frag store online and when i started writing my mission statement I added that not taking corals out of the ocean was a good thing and you should buy from me hehe. but thinking about it more I realize that shipping a coral on a plane is probably the worst thing you can do. Its the worst thing a human can do as far as leaving a carbon footprint, so how can I claim to be a green company if every frag I sell leaves a carbon footprint? I wish i could think of a different way to ship.
Or go as unique as you can.. go the opposite of green!!

People love that new and exciting thing.. your thing can be "Buy a coral and get a LEAD WEIGHT TOO!" make that package weigh as much as possible and ship it on the smallest planes you can, or hire your own plane for every package, and see if you can have the pilot block off roads of running cars to do some deliveries..

To play with the big cats you gotta be ready to rumble..


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Unread 03/26/2015, 03:56 PM   #10
jrp1588
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Originally Posted by tidus10 View Post
Or go as unique as you can.. go the opposite of green!!

People love that new and exciting thing.. your thing can be "Buy a coral and get a LEAD WEIGHT TOO!" make that package weigh as much as possible and ship it on the smallest planes you can, or hire your own plane for every package, and see if you can have the pilot block off roads of running cars to do some deliveries..

To play with the big cats you gotta be ready to rumble..
Opening headline of your website:

Diamond-Platinum Frags
The Gold Standard in Fragging

Every frag is hand-delivered by myself in a hand crafted mahogany box lined with the most supple of beaver pelts. Each box contains its own thermostatically controlled microenvironment perfect for the safe delivery of your coral. The moment you order, I will begin fueling up our company SR-71 Blackbird, furnished with the finest of interior materials to insure an exceptionally fast and luxurious journey to your home.

Each mother colony receives daily tissue stimulating massages, and is fed only the finest pureed Beluga caviar, and each grain of salt that goes into the water was blessed by the Pope himself.

Our lighting utilizes the reflected reflected off the moon's surface at night. Light is collected in a massive array of reflectors, and directed towards our growout tanks, ensuring ample light, and filtering out the harmful wavelengths found in raw sunshine.

Our systems utilize the finest of F1 race car engines, modified to output to a propeller to move water, insuring a naturally turbulant reef environment.

Finally, every order includes, gratis, a vinyl applique of our logo, and a picture of Scarlett Johansson playing beach volleyball.


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Unread 03/26/2015, 07:58 PM   #11
tidus10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jrp1588 View Post
Opening headline of your website:



Diamond-Platinum Frags

The Gold Standard in Fragging



Every frag is hand-delivered by myself in a hand crafted mahogany box lined with the most supple of beaver pelts. Each box contains its own thermostatically controlled microenvironment perfect for the safe delivery of your coral. The moment you order, I will begin fueling up our company SR-71 Blackbird, furnished with the finest of interior materials to insure an exceptionally fast and luxurious journey to your home.



Each mother colony receives daily tissue stimulating massages, and is fed only the finest pureed Beluga caviar, and each grain of salt that goes into the water was blessed by the Pope himself.



Our lighting utilizes the reflected reflected off the moon's surface at night. Light is collected in a massive array of reflectors, and directed towards our growout tanks, ensuring ample light, and filtering out the harmful wavelengths found in raw sunshine.



Our systems utilize the finest of F1 race car engines, modified to output to a propeller to move water, insuring a naturally turbulant reef environment.



Finally, every order includes, gratis, a vinyl applique of our logo, and a picture of Scarlett Johansson playing beach volleyball.

With a business plan like that, who WOULDN'T buy your corals‽


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Unread 03/26/2015, 08:19 PM   #12
jrp1588
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jrp1588 View Post
Opening headline of your website:

Diamond-Platinum Frags
The Gold Standard in Fragging

Every frag is hand-delivered by myself in a hand crafted mahogany box lined with the most supple of beaver pelts. Each box contains its own thermostatically controlled microenvironment perfect for the safe delivery of your coral. The moment you order, I will begin fueling up our company SR-71 Blackbird, furnished with the finest of interior materials to insure an exceptionally fast and luxurious journey to your home.

Each mother colony receives daily tissue stimulating massages, and is fed only the finest pureed Beluga caviar, and each grain of salt that goes into the water was blessed by the Pope himself.

Our lighting utilizes the reflected reflected off the moon's surface at night. Light is collected in a massive array of reflectors, and directed towards our growout tanks, ensuring ample light, and filtering out the harmful wavelengths found in raw sunshine.

Our systems utilize the finest of F1 race car engines, modified to output to a propeller to move water, insuring a naturally turbulant reef environment.

Finally, every order includes, gratis, a vinyl applique of our logo, and a picture of Scarlett Johansson playing beach volleyball.
I wish I could edit that...so many errors. It hurts me.


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Unread 03/27/2015, 09:15 AM   #13
ryeguyy84
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reduce your carbon footprint with $$$$$. places like terrapass. with enough $green$ you can be Green


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Unread 03/29/2015, 09:02 PM   #14
tkeracer619
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I would suggest starting out by becoming a frag supplier for your lfs. If your corals are good they will always be in demand. If this works out consider shipping.


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Unread 03/30/2015, 11:01 PM   #15
jaketuff
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!!!!Ideeer!!!!

Bottle it up in a glass bottle, throw it in the ocean. The half life of the glass is beyond 10,000 years. It is ample time to get to the East Coast here for me. The Bill of Lading at the harbor for my 250th generation offspring will need to be on a biodegradable drive as well - of course, but not too too short term so it will be ready in 2265. I will pay for it today. Don't want to see my progeny paying the $1.2B for this frag in the future.

OR... or... maybe realize that the plane that could've shipped your frag actually was flying anyways whether you placed your 1/4 lb package on it or not. Oh and the Prius will end up on a junk pile too... the half life of Lithium is what???

Looking forward to Spring racing season! CARBON FURY BABY!!!!


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Unread 03/31/2015, 03:51 AM   #16
SparkyTuna
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Elite Reef in Arvada CO. buys and trades all livestock. Very nice store for Colorado.
Store video


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Unread 03/31/2015, 04:29 AM   #17
waucedah_joe
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jrp1588 View Post
opening headline of your website:

diamond-platinum frags
the gold standard in fragging

every frag is hand-delivered by myself in a hand crafted mahogany box lined with the most supple of beaver pelts. Each box contains its own thermostatically controlled microenvironment perfect for the safe delivery of your coral. The moment you order, i will begin fueling up our company sr-71 blackbird, furnished with the finest of interior materials to insure an exceptionally fast and luxurious journey to your home.

Each mother colony receives daily tissue stimulating massages, and is fed only the finest pureed beluga caviar, and each grain of salt that goes into the water was blessed by the pope himself.

Our lighting utilizes the reflected reflected off the moon's surface at night. Light is collected in a massive array of reflectors, and directed towards our growout tanks, ensuring ample light, and filtering out the harmful wavelengths found in raw sunshine.

Our systems utilize the finest of f1 race car engines, modified to output to a propeller to move water, insuring a naturally turbulant reef environment.

Finally, every order includes, gratis, a vinyl applique of our logo, and a picture of scarlett johansson playing beach volleyball.
roflmao


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Unread 03/31/2015, 03:57 PM   #18
tkeracer619
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Elite Reef in Arvada CO. buys and trades all livestock. Very nice store for Colorado.
They are right around the corner from me, a great shop! Also check out Aquatic Art inc, worth the drive and limited hours. You will be impressed, I promise.


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Unread 04/01/2015, 05:57 AM   #19
SparkyTuna
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They are right around the corner from me, a great shop! Also check out Aquatic Art inc, worth the drive and limited hours. You will be impressed, I promise.
Thanks for the info Just looked up there website, looks very promising, thanks again.


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Unread 04/01/2015, 10:15 AM   #20
tkeracer619
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looks very promising
YW, The pics do no justice. He is also just setting up another huge frag setup. I think its 10 or 12 feet long.

If you want to check it out I'm probably headed down there this Saturday. I'm in Westminster right off 36, you could drive down and catch a ride the rest of the way if you want.


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Last edited by tkeracer619; 04/01/2015 at 10:21 AM.
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Unread 04/06/2015, 11:38 AM   #21
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Good to know about CO stores. I am a native of Monument (off touring the world with the military) but I look forward to building an ocean in the mountains some day.


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Unread 04/09/2015, 02:55 AM   #22
SparkyTuna
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tkeracer619 View Post
YW, The pics do no justice. He is also just setting up another huge frag setup. I think its 10 or 12 feet long.

If you want to check it out I'm probably headed down there this Saturday. I'm in Westminster right off 36, you could drive down and catch a ride the rest of the way if you want.
Sorry, lost track of this thread. Me and my girl was going to try to get down there in a week or so. Only problem is im on duty Saturdays, so trying to do it during the week sometime. I work to dam much, lol. We are heading to the Downtown Aquarium today, gonna sign up for the scuba diving


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Unread 04/09/2015, 11:27 PM   #23
tkeracer619
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No worries, I am pretty sure AAI is closed to the public during the week but they do appointments. Give them a call because they may have changed the hours since I last checked. We are fortunate to have the local stores we do. Many good shops.

The aquarium is pretty cool. How was the dive? . I'm hoping to get to go diving and scrub some fake corals once my knees heal.


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Unread 04/10/2015, 03:55 AM   #24
SparkyTuna
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We just went to register, we get to go diving next Thursday. It should be fun, a bit small, but for Colorado I will take it. I use to do a lot of diving at the New England Aquarium, I was a volunteer for years to clean tanks. I do miss it, but at least we got something here I will let ya know how it goes.


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Unread 04/23/2015, 07:34 AM   #25
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Maybe have a small donation from each order to offset the carbon footprint?


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