24k Holly Grail

[ARichied]

How did I do? I payed $200 for this piece? Good or over paid? Be honest please and thank you!

 

[shookONES]

Idk how to take nice pics with my phone, but this might give you an idea. Left is a regular blue tip, middle is 24k hg, and right is Mancini 24k. Tough to get the difference in a picture, but looks so much more bright and yellow in real life.

 

[ARichied]

1st class aquarium, also known as 1st class reef. Jay and 1st class are both in Staten Island and carry high end corals.. with the Mancini cc24ks

Awesome! Glad to hear, I read a lot of reviews. I never bought online so glad to know for future buys as well. Thanks for the knowledge, very much appreciated

 

[ARichied]

I misread, sorry, I thought you asked if you overpaid, and was answering “no” because I paid even more. Mine is supposed to be here Wednesday, so we shall see

You will have to share once you get it and it settles in! Congrats!!

 

[ab-774819]

Idk how to take nice pics with my phone, but this might give you an idea. Left is a regular blue tip, middle is 24k hg, and right is Mancini 24k. Tough to get the difference in a picture, but looks so much more bright and yellow in real life.

You got a mancini? I've been dieing to have one but it's a bit out of the budget

 

[VintageReefer]

Grails are hard to photograph. They are best described as a neon / bright green with a yellowish gold “sheen” or iridescence that doesn’t get captured in photographs easily.

Cotton candy and Todd’s a torch and green torch may be bright or neon green but they lack the trick - the gold shine

Then you have my favorite. The yellow variants. There’s no trick here. They are different shades of bright yellow to neon yellow

Torch of the gods - purple base fading into solid neon yellow tentacles with neon green tips

Dragon tamer - more of a natural yellow with greens that run along the length of the tentacles (looks like a dull blue in my photo but in person it’s like hunter green)

Banana grail - neon green mouth and solid yellow tentacles

 

[Cichlid Dad]

https://worldwidecorals.com/collections/vics-picks/products/banana-grail-torch-2429
I'm sorry but these things are getting ridiculous in prices.

 

[Thuan]

Holy grail with pink tips is even harder to pick up with camera

 

[Kodock]

https://worldwidecorals.com/collections/vics-picks/products/banana-grail-torch-2429
I'm sorry but these things are getting ridiculous in prices.

For those interested.. There are so many different “banana” grail variations floating around now, but the main ones have a green base/mouth, yellow sweepers with blueish tips. It’s normally a Malaysian torch, or Malaysian Banana Grail. That WWC banana grail just looks like a indo grail variant to me, not enough yellow and a much darker blue/purple tips.

I just got a frag of the “true” banana torch pictured, not a grail per se, but abundant yellow. The other “banana” is a 24k gold that just happens to have a bit more yellow.

https://reefchasers.com/products/malaysian-banana-grail-wysiwyg-copy
https://coralstop.com/products/hj4-1-12-2025?gQT=1

 

[Rick Csekme]

How did I do? I payed $200 for this piece? Good or over paid? Be honest please and thank you!

Its a beautiful piece. The aquatic store by my home just got three small ones in and they are asking $299.00 each. I really want one but think that $299.00 is a little high for the size. I would be all over the $200.00 price you paid. My opinion, you did good.

 

[VintageReefer]

https://worldwidecorals.com/collections/vics-picks/products/banana-grail-torch-2429
I'm sorry but these things are getting ridiculous in prices.

1) that’s because it’s wwc and they have some of the worst pricing when it comes to anything “high end” that they can’t easily duplicate a billion times in their farms

2) that’s not even a banana grail. It’s a normal holy grail with a bit more yellow. They slapped the word banana on there and are trying to make more money on it.
A banana grail does not look anything like this in person and doesn’t have the green look at all.


View attachment 3987325 View attachment 3987326

Price - I paid 375 shipped for mine April 2023. Expensive, yes, but not 800+ like wwc wants for their knock off



View attachment 3987330

Worth it to me, in less than a year…

View attachment 3987331

I centerpiece coral in my tank, it’s only gotten better and better

My newest was 350 for single head and I negotiated for 300 shipped

Here with a typical green HG

View attachment 3987333

View attachment 3987335
One has yellow if you look at it the right way or have lighting a certain way. The other is full yellow. All the time.

 

[ChiCity]

^ this!

true og banana torches look like the one above…
they have white tips and are rather rare.

there are so many fakes out there,
people just slapping names on things because it’s hype…
if its the sort of thing that matters to you, it’s good to know what sets the true grail corals apart from all the knockoffs you’re going to encounter in this hobby…
and for banana torches it’s always white tips

 

[VintageReefer]

And if you want to get into “rare” or unique torches then there are good ones out there but you need to hunt or have a connection that hunts for you. I have all of these (except one that’s arriving next week) and not one was over 400$

Electric Yellow with neon green tips

Yellow with purple and white tips

Sun god - bright yellow and teal tips

Banana

Princess peach grail - spectacular in person - mint green blending into a gold with purple tips

Asian sungod next to a Copper/orange

The orangish one in the last pic I’ll have by next week

Point is 800$ for a grail with “a little extra yellow” is ridiculous.

 

[KrisReef]

What don’t you see? Difference between typical green torch like cotton candy or Todd’s torch and higher end ones like grails?

I can’t believe my own eyes, I can’t decide which one I like better and they are all pretty but not all are amazing either.
I bought some nice ones and they have done ok but they don’t look that special under metal halides with T5 and led blues to supplement.

 

[VintageReefer]

I can’t believe my own eyes, I can’t decide which one I like better and they are all pretty but not all are amazing either.
I bought some nice ones and they have done ok but they don’t look that special under metal halides with T5 and led blues to supplement.

What about under t5 + led blue

 

[Kodock]

And if you want to get into “rare” or unique torches then there are good ones out there but you need to hunt or have a connection that hunts for you. I have all of these (except one that’s arriving next week) and not one was over 400$

Electric Yellow with neon green tips

Yellow with purple and white tips

Sun god - bright yellow and teal tips

Banana

Princess peach grail - spectacular in person - mint green blending into a gold with purple tips

Asian sungod next to a Copper/orange

The orangish one in the last pic I’ll have by next week

Point is 800$ for a grail with “a little extra yellow” is ridiculous.

What would you call DREEFs banana torch? Lol

 

[VintageReefer]

What would you call DREEFs banana torch? Lol

I am not a fan of dreef and I asked some questions about the accuracy of his photos on a “banana” torch and in the photos it was orange. He then said that the coral was actually a dark gold and it looks like the photos - a contradictory statement. I asked If he had a mother colony or larger frag so I could see what it grows into (frag for sale was very small) and he basically told me I should take my business elsewhere because he wouldn’t want me to get it and be disappointed.

This is a way of admitting the particular coral doesn’t look like the photo, without admitting it

Then when I told him I’ve never had a vendor tell me to take my business elsewhere he said that he wasn’t rude to me at all and he’s sorry if I took it that way


The whole convo exchange was off putting and he made my decision for me - to move on and buy elsewhere. I would use caution with this guy

That said. The banana in the photo above, appears to be a dragon tamer or Indo 24k variant

 

[shookONES]

You got a mancini? I've been dieing to have one but it's a bit out of the budget

I saw one at FCA when I was picking up my 24k hg and avalanche hg (IMO nicest torch in his collection). I couldn’t believe how nice they were in real life. A few weeks later, I made it happen. No regrets HAHA

 

[Kodock]

You will have to share once you get it and it settles in! Congrats!!

It hasn’t opened up all the way yet, since I just acclimated and dipped it. It is more directly under the lighting but still significantly brighter than the other torches. There is a regular indo green and a “cotton candy” green torch in the background. That should be a fair reference of what I’d expect from a holy grail. The camera really can’t capture the additional glow this thing has. The banana looks like a more yellow jester with a hint of orange, but it’s got 3 chunky head and may look different when I move it higher.. so I’m pleased with it so far. Fingers crossed they acclimate well.

 

[ARichied]

It hasn’t opened up all the way yet, since I just acclimated and dipped it. It is more directly under the lighting but still significantly brighter than the other torches. There is a regular indo green and a “cotton candy” green torch in the background. That should be a fair reference of what I’d expect from a holy grail. The camera really can’t capture the additional glow this thing has. The banana looks like a more yellow jester with a hint of orange, but it’s got 3 chunky head and may look different when I move it higher.. so I’m pleased with it so far. Fingers crossed they acclimate well.

Oh yeah! That’s way brighter!! Awesome pick up, wait til tomorrow when it’s acclimated fully and happy! Congratulations

 

[shookONES]

Finally figuring out this reef photography thing. 24k is there in the middle. You can see how much more yellow it is compared to the blue tip up front.