Fast, reliable, and transparent shipping for all your reefing needs.
Quick Snapshot: Free Shipping Thresholds & Surcharges
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Dry Goods: FREE on orders of $39 or more ($5.99 flat rate for orders under $39).
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Live Animals, Corals, Fish & Inverts: FREE on orders of $179 or more (shipped Priority Overnight/Next Day Air). Any cart containing an ORA dropship item incurs an additional $39.99 shipping surcharge to cover overnight transport costs.
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Live & Refrigerated Foods (e.g., AlgaeBarn, Reef Nutrition): FREE on orders of $40 or more (shipped via 2-Day Air in insulated boxes with temperature packs). Orders under $40 incur a $15 box/cold pack fee.
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Frozen Foods: Incurs a flat $39.99 shipping surcharge due to specialized packaging and dry ice requirements (no free shipping threshold applies).
Where We Ship From & Multi-Warehouse Fulfillment
To get your gear to you as fast as possible, we fulfill orders from multiple distribution hubs across the United States:
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Central Distribution Hubs: Pennsylvania (PA), Illinois (IL) and Arizona (AZ).
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Partner Shipping Centers: Colorado (CO), Florida (FL), Texas (TX) and more.
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Specialty Live Hubs & Dropshipping:
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SAQ Chicago Live Facility: Most live fish and coral inventory are housed and shipped directly out of our Chicago hub and Coral Farm.
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ORA (Oceans, Reefs & Aquariums) Dropships: Live animals sourced directly from ORA are shipped via specialized overnight dropship. Any cart containing an ORA dropship item incurs an additional $39.99 shipping surcharge to cover overnight transport costs.
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Because of our multi-warehouse network, your order may occasionally arrive in multiple boxes from different locations. Look for multiple tracking number emails or log into your account and check your order tracking.
Live Animals, Corals, and Quarantine Protocols
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Quarantine & Inspection: Livestock health comes first. Fish and inverts go through quarantine and preparation for up to 7 business days after ordering. If a specimen does not look 100% healthy, we hold it back in QT rather than shipping a compromised animal.
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Live Shipping Schedule: Live animals, clean-up crews, fish, and corals typically ship Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday via FedEx Priority Overnight or UPS Next Day Air in insulated cooler boxes with appropriate heat or cold packs.
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Weather Delays: During extreme weather events or sub-freezing temperatures, live shipments may be temporarily paused to ensure survival. Once weather windows clear, live orders are strictly prioritized by order date.
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Arrive Alive Guarantee: We guarantee 100% Live Arrival. Any Dead on Arrival (DOA) claims must be reported via email with clear photos (for corals) or video (for fish) within 12 hours of delivery.
Dry Goods & General Shipping
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Same-Day Processing: Paid and standard dry good orders placed before 1:00 PM EST (Monday–Friday) typically ship out the same day. Tracking numbers update and work the very same day.
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Carrier Flexibility (USPS, UPS, FedEx): You have full control at checkout. Choose from USPS (Ground Advantage, Priority, Express), FedEx (Ground, 2-Day, Priority Overnight), or UPS (Ground, 3-Day Select, 2-Day, Overnight).
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Saturday Delivery Support: If you select and pay for eligible carrier services (such as UPS/FedEx 2-Day or Overnight), Saturday delivery options are supported where available.
Need help tracking an order, modifying items, or requesting a custom freight quote? Reach out to our customer support team at 888-700-1012 or email sales@saltwateraquarium.mom.
Details about Our Shipping Options
If you choose to pay for a shipping service, USPS, FedEx or UPS we will include the Saturday Delivery Option at no charge to you. (Example: Order on Thursday before 1pm EST, pay for 2 Day service, your package will deliver on Saturday, not Monday.)
- Orders Under $39 - Free Shipping starts on all dry good orders of $39 or more, for orders below $39 there is a flat rate shipping charge of $5.99
- Free 1-5 Day Economy - This option means we will ship with the cheapest possible option. Often UPS Surepost, FedEx Smart Post, USPS Ground/Priority or UPS Ground depending on what you order. If your order is on the high end we will often upgrade it to UPS or FedEx Ground.
- VIP Shipping - Skip to the Front - Guaranteed to ship same day by 1 PM EST. This upgrade option means we will move your order ahead of everyone else in the queue except for those customers who pay for options like Fedex Overnight, 2 Day Air, Express, etc. It's a way to ensure your order is prioritized above all the free shipping options.
- USPS Options - You have the ability to choose USPS Ground Advantage, USPS Priority or USPS Express at checkout. First Class is available for any orders under 1 lbs. and is your regular mail service. USPS Priority is a 2-3 day service via the USPS regular mail but there are often delays and lost packages. USPS Express is the postal services attempt at overnight service, it's fast but often with delays.
- FedEx - You can purchase FedEx Ground, 2 Day or Priority Overnight service for your orders. Ground/Home is FedEx's normal delivery service which delivers Tuesday-Saturday. Monday is a delivery date only for commercial addresses. 2 Day is 2 Business Days Air including Saturday, Overnight is Next Day including Saturday.
- UPS - There are lots of UPS options you can pay for. All of these include Saturday Delivery outside of UPS Ground. UPS Ground is our standard shipping service and is probably the most reliable around. 3 Day Select is guaranteed in 3 days including Saturday, 2 Day is 2 Business Days Air including Saturday, Overnight is Next Day including Saturday. (If your address rural as assigned by UPS Saturday delivery may not be available.)
- Shipping Live & Refrigerated Goods - We require customers to pay a Flat Rate of $15 for all orders that include Live or Refrigerated goods when the Live goods total less then $40. We use UPS 2 Day or Next Day Air on all Live & Refrigerated goods. Once an order reaches the Free Shipping threshold for Live Goods ($40) we will ship the live portion of your order via UPS 2 Day or Next Day Air. If you have a combined order of Dry & Live Goods but pay for shipping, we will expedite the Live Goods portion of your order, the rest will ship regular ground.
- Shipping LIVE Animals - We require customers to pay a Flat Rate of $39.99 for all orders that include LIVE Animals when the live animal product total less then $179. We use UPS Next Day Air or FedEx Overnight on all LIVE Animals including clean up crews. Once an order reaches the Free Shipping threshold for Live Animals ($179) we will ship the live portion of your order via UPS Next Day Air or FedEx Overnight. If you have a combined order of Dry & Live Goods but pay for shipping, we will expedite the Live Goods portion of your order, the rest will ship regular ground. If you need the dry goods portion to be shipped expedited please reach out to us, we can send you an invoice for the cost and get it out fast.
- Any cart that ships with an ORA dropship item on it will be charged an additional $39.99 shipping surcharge to cover the additional overnight dropship cost.
- Shipping FROZEN FOODS - We require customers to pay a surcharged Flat Rate of $39.99 for any shopping cart that contains frozen food. If you buy 1x pack or 30x packs of frozen food, an additional $39.99 surcharge will be added to your shipping rate at checkout. For example if you are buying a fish and the normal Priority Overnight Shipping would cost $35, the rate you will see at checkout with any frozen food in the cart would now be $64.99. $39.99 added to the normal rate. The $64.99 cost includes one priority overnight shipment of the fish and a second shipment of the frozen food in a cooler with dry ice usually overnight or 2 day air depending on weather.
International orders have an actual shipping amount assigned at checkout depending on what is in your cart on All orders. Free Shipping is for All Orders inside the United States. If the actual cost is way over the flat rate cost, customer service will contact you to pay the difference.
Pick Up Your Order - Skip the Shipping
If you want to stop by and pick up your order, we can do that at most of our locations. Keep in mind however not every product is stocked in every warehouse. If you wish to pickup your order and skip the shipping please indicate that in the comment section of your order. Our customer service reps will then reach out to you to let you know when/where to go and if we have the items in the warehouse your near.
Customer Pickup Hours - Trsday or Friday 9am to 4pm
PA - 1685 Fairfield Road STE C, Gettysburg PA 17325
IL - 22292 N Pepper Rd Unit D, Lake Barrington IL 60010
*Shipping Exceptions
Free Shipping is inside the continuous US. Oversize or Overweight items (like Aquariums, Chillers, Rock, Sand, Salt etc) incur an additional shipping charge outside the contiguous 48 states. Also oversize or overweight items do not quality for free 2 day shipping depending on how large the items are, which warehouse they are stocked in and where the shipping address is. Same Day Shipping is not guaranteed on a select few sale dates, ie Black Friday, Cyber Monday. Live Animals do not ship free. There is a shipping charge associated with clean up crews, fish & corals because they need to be shipped overnight with the appropriate insulated cooler boxes, heat and or cold packs.