What I Ordered vs What I Got

[Mical]

I'ld love to order from them but my wallet disagrees. They are super nice folks, don't get me wrong. Their stores ROCK! But I can't justify some of their $$$.

 

[Fishingandreefing]

If you're nearby I have GSP too for free.

I got them too but I was just saying. Thx tho

 

[Gw2kpro]

I haven't reached out yet, I intend to tomorrow... These have been in my tank for almost two weeks now, and I have seen zero change in the colors as of yet. In addition to that, I placed an order with Legendary corals months before, and everything they sent looked EXACTLY like the picture, (with the exception of one DOA) so maybe my expectation was high.

Let us know how they treat you. Getting ready to place another online order and have been window shopping some of their stuff.

 

[Terri Caton]

Oh, absolute best corals ever - Battlecorals. By about 100,000%
Polyps open in the bag. Put them in the tank and they act like they were never shipped.

 

[pdxmonkeyboy]

It's almost as if corals are highly sensitive organisms and would change color when put in a bag of water and flown on an airplane across the country?

It's weird. Like they are photosynthetic or something?

 

[tautog83]

The biggest concern is that's about $60 worth of corals . I looked and saw $84 for 3 stalks of clove polyps on their site no worries 30% off lolol . I mean its pest free though lol

 

[BornHandy]

It's almost as if corals are highly sensitive organisms and would change color when put in a bag if water and flown on an airplane across the country?

It's weird. Like they are photosynthetic or something?

This isn't my first rodeo, and I've ordered from other online sellers. Guess what - all of their corals are photosynthetic too - flown across the country, and arrived at my door looking EXACTLY like the image online. Additionally, one of the three looked great, and was of the same variety as one that didn't.

These have been in my tank for two weeks, polyps extending, accepting food, and by all measures - are doing well.

 

[Terri Caton]

I think the Major point here is if some sellers can ship corals to you in absolute prime condition why don't they all? There is a multiple part answer.
1. They don't care
2. They're lazy
3. Their packaging is horrible
4. Their photo are highly edited
5. Maybe they hire incompetent packers?

But, there is a responsibility to the buyer as well.

Stop buying from these subpar vendors! And if you don't get what was promised post it everywhere you can so other's won't buy from them. It's up to US, the buyers, to force them to sell and ship absolute top quality corals.

 

[robbyg]

I would always support a local LFS first and only when really needed look to online shopping.
LFS are typically there for you if you need to dispose of fish that have gotten too big / aggressive or to buy back frags etc.

 

[BornHandy]

I think the Major point here is if some sellers can ship corals to you in absolute prime condition why don't they all? There is a multiple part answer.
1. They don't care
2. They're lazy
3. Their packaging is horrible
4. Their photo are highly edited
5. Maybe they hire incompetent packers?

But, there is a responsibility to the buyer as well.

Stop buying from these subpar vendors! And if you don't get what was promised post it everywhere you can so other's won't buy from them. It's up to US, the buyers, to force them to sell and ship absolute top quality corals.

That's the whole point of this thread... I think we need a place to post pictures of what we ordered as compared to what we got.

If a coral needs time to "color up" after shipping, the forum would sort that out with "update" posts.

If a vendor sells all high quality, great colored specimens, that would be demonstrated.

If a vendor has a habit of selling based off of misleading images, that too would be demonstrated.

Over time, we would see that "purple passion backflip orangepeel" coral can only look like the picture under "this light" with "that flow", and "this much" par. We could know what was best suited to our tanks...

As a plus, I would be willing to bet that sellers would be less likely to mess with images for fear of being "outed".

As far as I can see, it's pulling the veil back on a tricky marketing practice that hurts the hobby as a whole.

 

[BornHandy]

I would always support a local LFS first and only when really needed look to online shopping.
LFS are typically there for you if you need to dispose of fish that have gotten too big / aggressive or to buy back frags etc.

I agree 100% with that, and the only reason I ever step out is my LFS's seem to always get more of what they just sold out of week after week. The variety never changes much close to me...

 

[LC8Sumi]

Point taken on the super white setting, but I'm not 100% with you on the lighting being the problem.

My kessils run as blue as they'll go in the am, white during mid day, and blue again for pm. The t-5's are dimmable, and not much more than moonlight for the am and pm settings.

For what its worth, I see fantastic colors all day on most specimens. Additionally, there is ZERO blue on the turbinaria, no matter what light i hit it with.

Here is a pic taken just for this post (full white), and there is color-o-plenty for most of my frags. Oh, and just for the fun of it, I challenge you to find that blue heron!

Nice tank:)
I also have A360we’s and t5’s (for 3 years). I’m really speaking from experience. You are right that the corals you have recieved are far from how they should look like. I don’t want to take that from you, and 100% agree.

but:)

I’ve experimented with the whole ATI bulb range and Kessil color (lol) range over the years. What I’m trying to say here is that purple+ bulbs will bring out the brown color even more a lot, so it is adding to the trouble a lot And so will the Kessils above 30% color. Even if that was a totally healthy frag.
I wish I had a camera that I could shoot pictures of my tank for you with the Kessils on different color settings & with different t5 bulbs, for you to see what I’m talking about. But my camera won’t go above 8000k, and that’s still in the corals look brown under it range. I can change the colors of my corals instantly from decent to everything is brown, just by swapping out bulbs or twisting the kessil color knob.

This is the best I can do:

white light:



kessils 100% color:


kessils 30% color:


t5 only (actinic and blue+):


shots were taken in a 30s window.
now pay attention to the red plating monti, for example. It went from ugly brown to super cool red/pink just by recieving different spectrum. Also note the added brown tint between the 30% and 100% kessil color pictures. Once again, I’m not saying lighting is your only problem here, what I’m saying that purple plus bulbs and high color settings on the kessil aren’t helping it.

 

[Indytraveler83]

Want to know more about said lighting, please. :)

I run heavy blues with a white period for a short time in the middle of the day.

I have no idea what this other shop runs. They say it's just older blackboxes, but I don't believe them.

 

[BornHandy]

Nice tank:)
I also have A360we’s and t5’s (for 3 years). I’m really speaking from experience. You are right that the corals you have recieved are far from how they should look like. I don’t want to take that from you, and 100% agree.

but:)

I’ve experimented with the whole ATI bulb range and Kessil color (lol) range over the years. What I’m trying to say here is that purple+ bulbs will bring out the brown color even more a lot, so it is adding to the trouble a lot And so will the Kessils above 30% color. Even if that was a totally healthy frag.
I wish I had a camera that I could shoot pictures of my tank for you with the Kessils on different color settings & with different t5 bulbs, for you to see what I’m talking about. But my camera won’t go above 8000k, and that’s still in the corals look brown under it range. I can change the colors of my corals instantly from decent to everything is brown, just by swapping out bulbs or twisting the kessil color knob.

This is the best I can do:

white light:



kessils 100% color:


kessils 30% color:


t5 only (actinic and blue+):


shots were taken in a 30s window.
now pay attention to the red plating monti, for example. It went from ugly brown to super cool red/pink just by recieving different spectrum. Also note the added brown tint between the 30% and 100% kessil color pictures. Once again, I’m not saying lighting is your only problem here, what I’m saying that purple plus bulbs and high color settings on the kessil aren’t helping it.

WWC says the photos are in white light....I spoke with them by phone today, and even WWC says the corals "should" look like their respective photos.

Beauty of a tank btw.

 

[Terri Caton]

I agree 100% with that, and the only reason I ever step out is my LFS's seem to always get more of what they just sold out of week after week. The variety never changes much close to me...

I don't have an LFS that sell coral (or many fish for that matter) so I'm forced to buy on-line.

As far as lighting goes, we all know corals look best under Blue/Actinic lights. I want to see pics under white lights! What does it really look like without fancy lighting? A few vendors already do that and I love it.

 

[Indytraveler83]

Nice tank:)
I also have A360we’s and t5’s (for 3 years). I’m really speaking from experience. You are right that the corals you have recieved are far from how they should look like. I don’t want to take that from you, and 100% agree.

but:)

I’ve experimented with the whole ATI bulb range and Kessil color (lol) range over the years. What I’m trying to say here is that purple+ bulbs will bring out the brown color even more a lot, so it is adding to the trouble a lot And so will the Kessils above 30% color. Even if that was a totally healthy frag.
I wish I had a camera that I could shoot pictures of my tank for you with the Kessils on different color settings & with different t5 bulbs, for you to see what I’m talking about. But my camera won’t go above 8000k, and that’s still in the corals look brown under it range. I can change the colors of my corals instantly from decent to everything is brown, just by swapping out bulbs or twisting the kessil color knob.

This is the best I can do:

white light:



kessils 100% color:


kessils 30% color:


t5 only (actinic and blue+):


shots were taken in a 30s window.
now pay attention to the red plating monti, for example. It went from ugly brown to super cool red/pink just by recieving different spectrum. Also note the added brown tint between the 30% and 100% kessil color pictures. Once again, I’m not saying lighting is your only problem here, what I’m saying that purple plus bulbs and high color settings on the kessil aren’t helping it.

This might be one of the most informative and dramatic examples of what everyone is talking about! Thank you for taking the time to show this. Totally understand this is only part of the issue for the OP, but I've never seen the same coral under so many lighting conditions before.

 

[LC8Sumi]

This might be one of the most informative and dramatic examples of what everyone is talking about! Thank you for taking the time to show this. Totally understand this is only part of the issue for the OP, but I've never seen the same coral under so many lighting conditions before.

And it is 10 times more dramatic in person. I’d really wish the camera could really pick up the difference.

 

[robbyg]

This might be one of the most informative and dramatic examples of what everyone is talking about! Thank you for taking the time to show this. Totally understand this is only part of the issue for the OP, but I've never seen the same coral under so many lighting conditions before.

One of my problems with Heavy Blue light is that the areas that seem to pop with blue are actually the areas on the coral that are sometimes white. Look at the top photo and notice that the aeas of the coral that are white, maybe bleached are now the ones that reflect back the blue light and make the coral pop. Also in my own tank I have noticed that when the coral layer is thinning the royal blue light will pop off of its skeleton underneath. I am not saying it does not enhance other aspects of the coral but you have to examine them daily under white light to see what is really going on.

 

[Mical]

I think the Major point here is if some sellers can ship corals to you in absolute prime condition why don't they all? There is a multiple part answer.
1. They don't care
2. They're lazy
3. Their packaging is horrible
4. Their photo are highly edited
5. Maybe they hire incompetent packers?

But, there is a responsibility to the buyer as well.

Stop buying from these subpar vendors! And if you don't get what was promised post it everywhere you can so other's won't buy from them. It's up to US, the buyers, to force them to sell and ship absolute top quality corals.

Fish of Hex is one of my favorites. Travis is awesome to deal with, ships each coral in it's own little plastic container and his prices are great. On top of all that he follows up with folks.

 

[BornHandy]

* Update *

Taken from an email response from WWC.

"The color will always look a little different since our photos are taken top down/close up under 100% Radion Actinics.... They can also lose a little color in shipping due to stress but I agree the color on the Blue Heron and BOP do not look as nice as they should....."

WWC and I have reached a resolution, but this just demonstrates even more the need for a place to post pictures for comparison.

I would venture to guess that not many reefers keep their tanks at 100% actinic, and a place that catalogs images of frags in real tanks would be amazing!