I need your opinion on a YELLOW HAMMER CORAL I just purchased.. Green?

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Brian Goldstein

Brian Goldstein

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Kessil are noted for making green corals look yellow. Additionally, fresh corals from the wild that are "Yellow" are actually just a bleached green. If it's "yellow" and isn't more than you've ever spent on a coral -- it's probably not "yellow", just fresh and stressed/bleached.

The only vendors I've been 100% satisfied with is CaliKid, and Vivid. I've been to their shops, it's 100% true to life.

And @Brian Goldstein -- This will come out mean and insensitive... That's not the goal, but I'm being straight up honest here... You should be able to tell that picture is photoshopped beyond reasonable amounts. If you can't tell, then you're a grade A sucker ripe for bleeding dry. You need to learn how to spot the crap like this, and this particular example should be so crystal clear that it barely requires thought. This is MILES beyond some simple photoshop. This is extreme, and shameful.

Not trying to be mean, just not beating around the bush.

and I respect people who tell it like it is, so no worries... I can take it ;)
 

Sabellafella

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If a gel filter is serving the purpose of bringing out the corals true colors, I see nothing wrong with advertising pictures taken with a gel filter.

Here is the picture of the yellow hammer on their site, followed by the picture I took of the coral (with a gel filter).

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Agree on the gel filter used for the right application. But if a gel filter can't even bring the yellow out, I don't know what will =/ sorry about the experience man. But for them to reply the way they've done goes to show they're money hungry. If they sold millions of them and whatnot why is it green under your lighting. If it's a super ultra yellow, then why isn't it yellow.
 

Baldguy

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I've bought this exact hammer from them. I too was a bit disappointed in the color that showed up under my lights. It is not a common green hammer though. Under my lights it is much brighter than the common green hammers. which I have, and rather than green it is more yellow/green. I give them the benefit of the doubt and chalk it up to different lights. As others have said, I've gotten coral from my lfs and had it look different under my lights. I've bought "orange" hammers online that looked golden or brown under my lights. Just the way it is.
 
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Brian Goldstein

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I've bought this exact hammer from them. I too was a bit disappointed in the color that showed up under my lights. It is not a common green hammer though. Under my lights it is much brighter than the common green hammers. which I have, and rather than green it is more yellow/green. I give them the benefit of the doubt and chalk it up to different lights. As others have said, I've gotten coral from my lfs and had it look different under my lights. I've bought "orange" hammers online that looked golden or brown under my lights. Just the way it is.

Thanks for the post.

Do you still have the hammer? Maybe we could see it under your lights.
 

Rakie

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and I respect people who tell it like it is, so no worries... I can take it ;)

I'm glad. Too many people in this hobby are too sensitive! I'm the kinda person that needs to hear it in plain english to make it sink in, so I often explain it the same way so there's nothing left to interpretation. Most of us have learned this same lesson you have, sadly very often the same way. Go figure, the darkest part of the hobby are bright colors!
 

extremetang

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I have plenty of hammers in my tank. They don’t “color up” like sps corals. How you see with your lighting is how it’s going to be.
 

Nick Shades

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Omg. First off. My condolences to you for falling victim to such a terrible ruse.

However, this is a picture that you need to print out, and paste to your computer, the back of your phone, or wherever else you do your online coral shopping from.

This is a photoshop, and a terrible one at that.

I took a basic photoshop class during the days of 5.0 back in 2001. This was a textbook lesson on how NOT to brighten colors.

This person brought the limit of colors to WAY too shallow an amount. There are too many peaks and not enough midtones on this image. I am only viewing this on my phone, but it is sensorically impossible for anything to take a photo like this. I would ask what camera he chose to take a picture of this with, just so you can argue the amount, and possibly use it as a negative feedback case against them with ebay.

The other problem is that the branching does not add up. There is no way the coral you received and they sent are the same. These are two different corals, to begin with!

There also evidence of a small level pixel blur in either a smudge, or more than likely, a simple plug in, and they did not even bother to mask it, as it seems tk stretch slightly onto seams outside of the yellow spectrums, rather than just the selectable color points.

I am only viewing this on my phone, and not on my computer to zoom in and analyze it better, but I have seen celebrity fakes of Mother Theresa and Arnold Schwarzenegger on the old Conan O'Brien "what if they had a child" segments that were done better than this.

Exploit this seller, because they exploited you. Get your money back, and no one do business with this jerk ever again.

BURN IT TO THE GROUND
 

Marie7

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Hey Reefers!

So I just purchased an Australian yellow hammer. It was labeled as "FLORESCENT NEON HIGHLIGHTER YELLOW AUSSIE ULTRA YELLOW BRANCHING HAMMER" . (What a mouthful )

I just dipped the coral and its starting to open up... However, I am a little concerned.

It doesn't look nearly as yellow as displayed on the site. I paid a pretty penny for this hammer because the picture showed the coral pretty much as pure yellow. I've heard this vendor is notorious for doctoring their pics, but it looked as though this hammer had a ton of true yellow in it.

What do you guys think? Does it just need to color up some more? To me, the difference is significant. I will not tolerate dishonest vendors, period.

The first photo is the WYSIWYG photo on the site

The second photo is the same coral in my tank

Screen Shot 2018-09-11 at 4.04.03 PM.png


IMG_4769.jpeg


IMG_4770.jpeg
Definitely those are two completely different corals in color
 

ReefWithCare

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That sucks. At the same time, I’m happy you are able to cal them out. That’s the great thing when you have a vendor who isn’t a R2R sponsor. You can blast them and your experience won’t get buried in the sponsor section or comments get removed. I would chargeback the purchase.
 

Michael Llabona

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Since they are unwilling to assist. I would dispute the charge. Attach photos for you cc company to see. Pic of their hammer, pick of their hammer in your tank, pick of a true yellow hammer not Photoshopped, and a pick of a green hammer. I'd also attach price points for each so the cc company understands how they scammed. This is false advertising. It's one thing to use a gel filter. It's another to edit the photo to something that's not a true representation of the wysiwyg. Many times I feel that if a company photoshoppes their corals then it's because they lack quality and they are trying to overcompensate in order to compete with competitors.
 

Sierra_Bravo

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From their website (If you type it it must be true, right? Right?) :D

Coral Photos

All coral and other livestock photos are taken under 1000 and/or 400 Watt 20K XM bulbs with a high-quality digital camera, and accurately represent the item in our tanks. We do not "photoshop" our corals (an unfortunately common practice) to make them look better then they are.

Please note that corals WILL look different from our photos under 10K bulbs or other types of lighting. We highly recommend the use of 20K Metal Halide bulbs for the best health and coloration of corals.

Coloration is also dependent on shipping stress, water quality and other tank parameters we have no control over - so we can't guarantee an exact color match in your tank. Rest assured however that as long as you have a clean and stable tank, most corals will retain or regain their coloration.

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to email us at [email protected] or give us a call 972-757-9048. We'll do whatever it takes to make you happy.



There is generally enough info online to get a feel for a vendor and I try to do this prior to spending my money with them. You have to discount the single bad review, but if there are multiple bad experiences over several sources it's usually enough for me to look elsewhere. And don't feel shy about posting on R2R to ask others if they have any experience good or bad with a particular vendor. Chances are someone on here has done business with just about anyone that sells online.

 

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