The misrepresentation is astounding!

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SaltISlife

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Lol nothing special about a torch coral? I was at the west coast coral show this weekend and there were 20 vendors there with every coral under the sun. But you know what booth stole the show? The vendor who had the high end torches. I walked around and looked at everything there and nothing even compared to the torches. Nothing. No filters or anything, they were the most beautiful corals there with your own eyes. I do agree there is color manipulation going on and price gouging forusre around here. Also I have some 50 dollar torches next to some $500 dollar torches and they are not even remotely close to one another.
I dont think anyone is doubting that. Ive seen real dragon soul torchs in person. Like 10 of em grouped together. They looked way better thsn garden variety torchs for sure.

But what most people are talking about are photo manipulation.

Big venders like Jason fox do this as well not just the little guys on this forum.

Have you seen how edited Jason foxes corals are ? They look fake with heavy saturation and contrast added to them.
 

N.Sreefer

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Online v in my tank
 

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ca1ore

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But what most people are talking about are photo manipulation.

Big venders like Jason fox do this as well not just the little guys on this forum.

Have you seen how edited Jason foxes corals are ? They look fake with heavy saturation and contrast added to them.

This has been an 'issue' for years .... nothing new to see really. I can certainly understand how this would be difficult for new reefers to navigate, because they don't know any better, but are they the target buyer for a $500 torch? Probably not! Experienced reefers ought to know by now the games that get played; heck many of the tank pictures I see here on R2R are similarly manipulated. So, either buy at a show, once those things return - and bring a daylight spectrum flashlight - or accept that they will look very different under more typical lighting choices.
 

Bleigh

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To be fair zoas can vary quite a bit based on light and water conditions.

Agreed. My zoas look different in my two tanks. One is smaller and isn't dose at all, just water changes and has a less expensive light. The other tank gets all the goodies and has radions. The zoa patterns and colors fade in the smaller tank. If I move them back to the bigger tank, they'll get all the colors and patterns back in about a month. Not sure if it's flow, lights, trace/aminos or a combination.
 

elysics

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Supply and Demand applies in a perfect information marketplace. It has nothing to do with ripping people off.
Faked images or wrongly applied names aside, what information are people missing with genuinely good looking corals like nicely colored torches? That they could get them from private sellers for a fraction of the price if they look and wait long enough? That's always the case in pretty much any field, but people want goodies served to them now, without looking hard or long, especially if it's about the currently hyped thing and keeping up with the Joneses.
 

alain Bouchard

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some people just love to brag about how much they paid for their coral. I often sell 6 inches frag from a myagi tort I have for around 30$ and it may take a while for me to sell, while other time, I see people asking 50$ for a 0.5 inch frag, and it sells right away... And its not about the coloration and the health of the piece.
 

Opus

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Supply and Demand applies in a perfect information marketplace. It has nothing to do with ripping people off.

Like the people here in Texas that are receiving $1000 to $5000 bills for the electricity they used last week to keep warm. Supply and Demand worked a little too well.
 

laverda

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Lol nothing special about a torch coral? I was at the west coast coral show this weekend and there were 20 vendors there with every coral under the sun. But you know what booth stole the show? The vendor who had the high end torches. I walked around and looked at everything there and nothing even compared to the torches. Nothing. No filters or anything, they were the most beautiful corals there with your own eyes. I do agree there is color manipulation going on and price gouging forusre around here. Also I have some 50 dollar torches next to some $500 dollar torches and they are not even remotely close to one another.
If it was like there past shows, the room was so blue, it took your eyes 5 minutes to adjust when you walked in. Not to mention being blinded when you left. There was no white light on in the place, except a few flashlights people were smart enough to bring. That is not the natural setting our corals grow in with very few exceptions. Most come from fairly shallow waters.

I bought a coral under similar conditions once, paid at least twice what I would have if had seen it under white light. It did not look anything like it did at the show when I got it home. I was very disappointed and felt ripped off. I turned off my white LEDs and cranked up the blues and still nothing close to what it looked like there. Spent a couple hours trying adjusting my LEDs to get the look I paid for without any luck. I am not new to the hobby and asked to see it under white, but the vendor made some excuse about not being able to adjust the light. That should have tipped me off. To be honest if I had seen it under white light or even less extreme blues I would not have bought it for half the price.
 

Tamberav

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I have been doing trades lately and I very much enjoy it.

Here is some of what I got in my last trade. It didn’t cost me any money. Look at the size of those frags

I also got a skimmer with trades and some really cool huge decorative dead coral skeletons.

928D92DC-F270-49F9-9179-F614A293025C.jpeg

7693DCBB-7713-4667-8DC1-2FB4535E0C28.jpeg
199AB1F5-3E21-4FC6-80AD-1FF1707917C7.jpeg
 

Stuartmercer

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I feel like we could have many more new hobbyists if the prices werent jacked up to unrealistic prices for a brown pally photoshopped as gold. If people respected and think about others in this hobby instead of thinking about self gain, we could do a lot more as a community.
 

burningmime

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Like the people here in Texas that are receiving $1000 to $5000 bills for the electricity they used last week to keep warm. Supply and Demand worked a little too well.
I think you misunderstood what I was trying to say (or I worded it poorly). If you're misrepresenting a coral in photos, that's *not* a perfect information marketplace, so supply and demand does not apply.
 

OrangeCountyReefer

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If it was like there past shows, the room was so blue, it took your eyes 5 minutes to adjust when you walked in. Not to mention being blinded when you left. There was no white light on in the place, except a few flashlights people were smart enough to bring. That is not the natural setting our corals grow in with very few exceptions. Most come from fairly shallow waters.

I bought a coral under similar conditions once, paid at least twice what I would have if had seen it under white light. It did not look anything like it did at the show when I got it home. I was very disappointed and felt ripped off. I turned off my white LEDs and cranked up the blues and still nothing close to what it looked like there. Spent a couple hours trying adjusting my LEDs to get the look I paid for without any luck. I am not new to the hobby and asked to see it under white, but the vendor made some excuse about not being able to adjust the light. That should have tipped me off. To be honest if I had seen it under white light or even less extreme blues I would not have bought it for half the price.
I am just confused do you guys run your tanks at 100% whites or use cheap LEDs? Ive literally NEVER had the experience you described, the items I got this weekend looked better in my tank than they did at the show. I spent a large dollar amount on one piece and I think my money was well spent.
 

Opus

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I think you misunderstood what I was trying to say (or I worded it poorly). If you're misrepresenting a coral in photos, that's *not* a perfect information marketplace, so supply and demand does not apply.

I got it. It is the same way with the electricity. There is no way to know what you are being charged for what you are using (not perfect information).
 

laverda

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I am just confused do you guys run your tanks at 100% whites or use cheap LEDs? Ive literally NEVER had the experience you described, the items I got this weekend looked better in my tank than they did at the show. I spent a large dollar amount on one piece and I think my money was well spent.
I am not running all white, but more white than most sales photos are taken under. Way more white than an vendor at CFM! I have good quality LEDs. My LEDs are adjustable on multiple channels. I run them more blue for dawn to dusk simulation.
I normally will not buy a coral without seeing it under white lights first. I am glad you are happy with your purchase.
 

SaltISlife

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Like the people here in Texas that are receiving $1000 to $5000 bills for the electricity they used last week to keep warm. Supply and Demand worked a little too well.
Well fortunately for them with a state of emergency declared i doubt anyone will actually be paying those electric bills
 

Opus

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Well fortunately for them with a state of emergency declared i doubt anyone will actually be paying those electric bills

Who knows how it will work out. Our electric company has already said they are going to spread the increase out over "several" billing cycles.
 
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