What You Ordered vs What You Received

[Liquid360]

It's an issue anybody who's ever ordered Coral online has dealt with. What you ordered vs what you got. I understand photos are made to present pieces "under a certain light". I NEVER expect anything I order to look like it does in the pictures. There are just too many variables at play. I'd very much like to see the photo presented online and a photo of what you received. Which vendors present the most accurate images?
I'd love for this NOT to be a vendor bashing thread, only actual coral you ordered, actual experiences/photos and not hyperbole.
I quite literally just ordered this torch not 5min ago from ExtremeCorals. I'll post photos once it arrives. I'm very curious how much blue is in the actual specimen.

 

[Ty Hamatake]

You must have yet to order from Adam at battlecorals yet then. His photos are as true to life as I've seen. I'm guessing he has a better camera and lighting than I do, but you can still see how close they are.

 

[Medic755]

I order from www.skyslagooncoral.com His shipping is cheaper than anyone else and he only does WYSIWYG. And everything has matched the picture perfectly. Prices are good too. He can do custom orders as well and will hand pick items for you.

 

[AcroNem]

I've posted in one of these threads before with what I ordered and received, I'm usually good at picking the right ones to buy from but with 1 vendor have I been the most disappointed. That vendor was extreme corals, I don't want to start a bashing thread either as this is a big enough problem with a lot of vendors already. But I'm sorry you ordered from them, a lot of people have similar stories about their pictures being horribly doctored.

Ordered

Received, through dirty glass 16,000k but you get the idea. Their pictures are heavily saturated under only actinic.

 

[lauderdalestunner]

Lucky to have a bunch of LFS around home. My favorite lets me adjust the lights how I have it set at home. And the online dealers seem to be more expensive then the retail/store front shops and that doesn't make any sense to me at all.

 

[drtrash]

A lot of blue to bring out that green

 

[Liquid360]

You must have yet to order from Adam at battlecorals yet then. His photos are as true to life as I've seen. I'm guessing he has a better camera and lighting than I do, but you can still see how close they are.

Funny you mention that!! I ordered a lg colony of Bonsai Acro from Adam that should ship Monday. I love his selection and website design! Brilliant stuff and a great reputation!

 

[thaitopher]

I order from www.skyslagooncoral.com His shipping is cheaper than anyone else and he only does WYSIWYG. And everything has matched the picture perfectly. Prices are good too. He can do custom orders as well and will hand pick items for you.

Those prices are as cheap as I have ever seen!

 

[Ty Hamatake]

Funny you mention that!! I ordered a lg colony of Bonsai Acro from Adam that should ship Monday. I love his selection and website design! Brilliant stuff and a great reputation!

You won't be disappointed.

Not a bonsai, but looks about the same.

 

[ReeferMaddness843]

I've ordered live sale orders from Cherry Corals, ReefRaft USA, Joe Knows Reefs, and WWC. All of which have been pretty spot on to what I've received. No complaints with any of those vendors. Great communication, service, and products.

 

[Liquid360]

You won't be disappointed.

Not a bonsai, but looks about the same.

That's beautiful!! I've been wanting a bonsai colony for awhile but I've only been able to find frags. I sent him an email asking why is it everyone only sells 1in frags. He sent a very reasonable explanation and said he could do a bonsai colony and that "I will be lobbing off a massive hunk with the saw". Exactly what I wanted to hear!
Can't wait to see it!

 

[Medic755]

Those prices are as cheap as I have ever seen!

I'll post some pictures today when I get home.

 

[thaitopher]

I have never ordered online before. Closest LFS is 1.5 hours away. Think I might give it a shot. My next two to order are a green frogspawn and orange sun coral

 

[Medic755]

Here's some of what I've gotten from him. Albeit about a month or so in tank now but they looked exactly as advertised and acclimated incredibly fast as h

e keeps his salinity up.

 

[njtiger aquariums]

I just ordered from Pacific East Aquaculture and I have to say the pictures from the website match 99% to 100% of what I got. I ordered a rock nem and a hammer and both came in looking just like their photos.

Now my camera sucks at taking photos. Also my lights are low so they are not opening up fully yet. Also my pictures are a couple of hours after putting them in my tank.
The items look just like their images when view in person.

Website photos

My photos

 

[Medic755]

The other good part is he has an auction page on Facebook where you can get stuff even cheaper.

 

[mtraylor]

Just as reference. When you buy corals on line. They will most likely be taking pictures of the coral from a top view in a shallow tank. Some of us reefers only take pics of our corals through the glass. They will not look remotely the same. For example....clams are a good reference of what a specimen will look like from the top of the aquarium or through the glass. They will look like 2 different clams outside of the markings. This is one of the biggest misconceptions that you will experience outside of the spectrum of light when reviewing your corals, etc.

That being said. The only corals that I can for sure say IMO that look exactly like the picture when I get them in my aquarium as they did on the website that I bought them from is WWC corals. They even send you a color print out of the corals for identification when you get them. I purchase allot of corals and that is truly the only one I have found.

 

[BoomCorals]

I placed a large order with aqua SD last week. Everything looked accurate though the corals browned a lot in shipping. But for sps that seems normal and they color up after a bit. I placed another large order with them again this week. Once my corals color up again I can post comparisons.

 

[smokin'reefer]

Here you go:
from Blue Seas Aquarium out of Fla.

Versus what I got:

Every thing from this vendor has been spot on and done well in my tank. I guess because he also uses Radions lights but I have been extremely happy.

Here's one from Joe knows Reef:

And what I received:

I could show a few not so happy shots, but that's not productive. There are several other vendors that have been mostly right on that I haven't mentioned

 

[Meccaman96]

I've posted in one of these threads before with what I ordered and received, I'm usually good at picking the right ones to buy from but with 1 vendor have I been the most disappointed. That vendor was extreme corals, I don't want to start a bashing thread either as this is a big enough problem with a lot of vendors already. But I'm sorry you ordered from them, a lot of people have similar stories about their pictures being horribly doctored.

Ordered

Received, through dirty glass 16,000k but you get the idea. Their pictures are heavily saturated under only actinic.

So what does it look under actinic?