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Post by Pokahpolice on Sept 14, 2015 9:34:58 GMT -5
There are some corals that have amazing colors and are hard/slow growers that deserve the $65-$100 price tag they carry for a 1/2" fresh cut frag. The flip side of that is the absolute craziness and trend of $500, $1,000, and even $2,000 frags. Many of these "designer" corals are plain Jane corals that look great under magnification and some simple photo filters. I just can't get on board with buying high end stuff online because I can't trust it's an accurate view of what the coral will look like in real reef lighting settings. I wanted to give an example so I took a very common Lobo I paid $20 for and dressed it up. Before...under 14K MH magnified  After...under just T5 actinics magnified a ton, filtered a ton! you can tell it's filtered but you can see how easily even an ameatur can get 'rainbow' colors out of a coral.  On the flip side, if you shop at places like Petco and know what you're buying. Items that are somewhat healthy but look like crap because of terrible lighting you can get some really good deals on high end corals. Point of my rant...do some research, don't be an impulse buyer, and know what you're buying before you overpay for an item. |
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Post by Pokahpolice on Sept 14, 2015 9:42:47 GMT -5
Ohh, and these were taken with an Iphone, a coin magnifying glass, and Photobucket. Imagine what someone that has a nice camera and know what they are doing could do with these pics.
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Post by shaneb on Sept 14, 2015 10:53:15 GMT -5
I'm also new to the hobby but have got all my stuff from cultivated reef and they have steered me in the right direction and have a huge selection
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Post by jasonandsarah on Sept 14, 2015 11:13:44 GMT -5
Ohh, and these were taken with an Iphone, a coin magnifying glass, and Photobucket. Imagine what someone that has a nice camera and know what they are doing could do with these pics. I completely agree and not only just doctored up pics but also just charging ridiculous prices for teeny tiny frags is also stupid. I don't care if it's a ULTRA RARE FLAMING UNICORN BLOOD CHALICE if your gonna charge $500+ for it then it should be a decent sized piece at the very least. |
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Post by reefkprz on Sept 14, 2015 18:31:38 GMT -5
anyone notice how tracyphyllia and welsophyllia have pretty much dropped out of the hobby all together? if it cant be chopped and dropped in less than 3 months there's no market.
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Post by Pokahpolice on Sept 14, 2015 18:48:04 GMT -5
anyone notice how tracyphyllia and welsophyllia have pretty much dropped out of the hobby all together? if it cant be chopped and dropped in less than 3 months there's no market. Not sure I agree. I still see some really sick open brains. The problem is the ones with color go for stupid money so no one can afford them and no one wants the ugly ones. Scollies are sort of in the same boat. |
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Post by reefkprz on Sept 14, 2015 18:53:51 GMT -5
I used to have a bitchin collection of brains of various sorts, the hardest part was getting them home alive because of the skeleton structure and all the flesh. i'll have to paw through and find some of my old pics and see if I can find em. I wouldn't mind a couple ugly brain corals.
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Post by reefkprz on Sept 14, 2015 19:00:03 GMT -5
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Post by reefkprz on Sept 14, 2015 19:01:10 GMT -5
its funny all I can find are my maze etc brain coral pictures and i'm too lazy to dig
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Post by Pokahpolice on Sept 14, 2015 19:03:44 GMT -5
I've never had good luck with Brains, Scolys, or Lobos. I had a gorgeous neon orange Scoly for about 2mths that was fine one day and completely gone the next. Same thing happened to the Lobo in the pics above. The very large LPS are just not my coral I guess. I do fine with other LPS. I love Acans (which reminds me, I don't have ANY right now.)
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Post by jasonandsarah on Sept 14, 2015 19:12:53 GMT -5
its funny all I can find are my maze etc brain coral pictures and i'm too lazy to dig Is that a cresty? (Crested Gecko?) |
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Post by jasonandsarah on Sept 14, 2015 19:14:59 GMT -5
I've never had good luck with Brains, Scolys, or Lobos. I had a gorgeous neon orange Scoly for about 2mths that was fine one day and completely gone the next. Same thing happened to the Lobo in the pics above. The very large LPS are just not my coral I guess. I do fine with other LPS. I love Acans (which reminds me, I don't have ANY right now.) I have some nice ones when your ready! They need to heal up from my A$$Ho!e Potters angel but I'm pretty positive it won't take long now. |
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Post by Pokahpolice on Sept 14, 2015 19:19:59 GMT -5
^^  |
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Post by jasonandsarah on Sept 14, 2015 19:30:53 GMT -5
^^ Lol sorry but that's what he is! I guess I shouldn't be so harsh because Acan munching is way better then Acro munching! |
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Post by reefkprz on Sept 15, 2015 7:12:52 GMT -5
thats a tokay gecko not a crested, tokays are really mean geckos, and awesome looking that was Sid, he died last year.
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