Hammer coral color

WhitePanther93 · Jun 2, 2021

When I ordered my coral from wwc the wysiwyg picture was the:

But what it currently looks like is this:

I’m still very new to corals so I could just be paranoid. Am I doing something wrong, or do I just have to wait for it to color up.

the light is a kessil a360x
It’s running on the preset sun up/down program no changes to color

Is there anything I could do better or is this just a patience thing?

Pistondog · Jun 2, 2021

Hard to see color if light is all blue.
Turn up the whites and try again

WhitePanther93 · Jun 2, 2021

Pistondog said:
Hard to see color if light is all blue.
Turn up the whites and try again

Whoops

Pistondog · Jun 2, 2021

Lots of variables.
Flow makes a big difference to my hammers.
You want them moving/waving like tall grass in a field.

vtecintegra · Jun 3, 2021

WhitePanther93 said:
I’m still very new to corals so I could just be paranoid. Am I doing something wrong, or do I just have to wait for it to color up.

My opinion: Most of the photos online will not look the same at home. I'm convinced there is manipulation with lighting, the camera, or software with many companies trying to out do each other. I automatically assume anything I buy online isn't going to look as good. The only company I've found whose photos I think look accurate is Austin Aqua Farms. No black background, no funky colors of plugs or egg crate, or over hype of contrast and saturation.

WhitePanther93 · Jun 3, 2021

vtecintegra said:
My opinion: Most of the photos online will not look the same at home. I'm convinced there is manipulation with lighting, the camera, or software with many companies trying to out do each other. I automatically assume anything I buy online isn't going to look as good. The only company I've found whose photos I think look accurate is Austin Aqua Farms. No black background, no funky colors of plugs or egg crate, or over hype of contrast and saturation.

I mean I understand that. But I should be able to get it to a somewhat similar color. Otherwise it would be downright false advertisement.

Uncle99 · Jun 3, 2021

It’s what it looks like under your lights.
So unless you match that picture combination, can look a bit less poppy.

176327 · Jun 3, 2021

WhitePanther93 said:
I mean I understand that. But I should be able to get it to a somewhat similar color. Otherwise it would be downright false advertisement.

Nah, that’s photography these days. Especially if it’s going to be on social media.

it looks healthy to me at least, how long has it been in your tank?

I’m in Tampa, so I actually buy from them pretty frequently and just take the drive out there. It wouldn’t be more than like an hour away if it weren’t for the god awful traffic.

i can’t tell the coloration from your photo but I can say two things.

First, they absolutely take those photos in the best lights, filters, lenses, etc to make their corals look better. Just like Apple does with products it wants to sell, or autos, models, etc.

Second, they want your money. They want everyone’s money. They may or may not care if you’re happy, but they for sure want you to say good things about them and your experience. So much so that they have customer service. Reach out to them, and I think they’ll address your concerns much better than us saying “yeah man, that photo is a glamor shot”.

Edit: I feel like that reads as rude. I don’t think I’d be wrong in saying most of us are pretty jaded about online coral photos, and probably also the way marketing negatively affects aquaculture in general. Go to Austin aquaculture’s website. See the difference in their approach. Basically all top down photos of the colonies in their grow tanks. They don’t even bother taking a solo shot. Just top down and centered on what you want.

WhitePanther93 · Jun 3, 2021

straysheep said:
Nah, that’s photography these days. Especially if it’s going to be on social media.

it looks healthy to me at least, how long has it been in your tank?

I’m in Tampa, so I actually buy from them pretty frequently and just take the drive out there. It wouldn’t be more than like an hour away if it weren’t for the god awful traffic.

i can’t tell the coloration from your photo but I can say two things.

First, they absolutely take those photos in the best lights, filters, lenses, etc to make their corals look better. Just like Apple does with products it wants to sell, or autos, models, etc.

Second, they want your money. They want everyone’s money. They may or may not care if you’re happy, but they for sure want you to say good things about them and your experience. So much so that they have customer service. Reach out to them, and I think they’ll address your concerns much better than us saying “yeah man, that photo is a glamor shot”.

I believe I received it may 26th so just over a week at this point. As for color it’s mostly been tanish though in the past couple of days I think it’s been getting lighter in color. I hope I’m not bleaching it. I’ve been using the acclimation setting in the app but I’m not sure if it’s too much. I really wish par meters weren’t so dang expensive.

176327 · Jun 3, 2021

WhitePanther93 said:
I believe I received it may 26th so just over a week at this point. As for color it’s mostly been tanish though in the past couple of days I think it’s been getting lighter in color. I hope I’m not bleaching it.

Did you acclimate it to your lighting? Because a week isn’t much time. At all.

they really don’t need much, I learned that the hard way. On the bright side, they (IME) bounce back pretty well. Has it been open like that daily, is it opening more with time or less?
does it look better at difference times of the day?

WhitePanther93 · Jun 3, 2021

straysheep said:
Did you acclimate it to your lighting? Because a week isn’t much time. At all.

they really don’t need much, I learned that the hard way. On the bright side, they (IME) bounce back pretty well. Has it been open like that daily, is it opening more with time or less?
does it look better at difference times of the day?

I have been running the built in acclimation program since I got it. But I think the base program I’m running it on might be too bright for my tank.

WhitePanther93 · Jun 3, 2021

here’s an up to date pic

WhitePanther93 · Jun 3, 2021

Though I may have reset the acclimation program due to additional corals.

Jekyl · Jun 3, 2021

I'm a firm believer in only buying from local reefers if at all possible. Always know what you're getting and the health is much better.

176327 · Jun 3, 2021

WhitePanther93 said:
here’s an up to date pic

Since this is a different angle, I can’t really tell but it looks like it’s probably the same amount of open.

I feel you on par meters, I have a WWC freaky neon tip that got it good when my reefled lights decided to run at 100% and my dumb butt looked at the tank and thought “wow it’s really popping” without immediately knowing my lights were running 60% brighter. It’s looked like crap since, but it isn’t dead... so hopefully it works out.

I’m running my lights lower than I was to begin with, but it’s all based on calculations I made from measuring the area I’m lighting and what redsea says their lights do in a given space with a known starting height.

may this point I’ve spent enough on corals to own a par meter. Certainly to have rented one.

what’s the fun in making smart choices though right?

ReefRy · Jun 3, 2021

That's what WWC does. The pics they post online often look nothing like what you see in person. Al ot of companies misrepresent their corals by creative editing and oversaturation, but WWC are one the more aggregious offenders in my opinion.

176327 · Jun 3, 2021

Jekyl said:
I'm a firm believer in only buying from local reefers if at all possible. Always know what you're getting and the health is much better.

and you usually get free GSP.

but even more so, the cost. I recently picked up three more hammers from a local. All frags from his branching hammers in his personal DT. Had like fourteen hammer frags last I was there, I grabbed three for $80. Normal all green, purp with green tips, green with purp tips.

176327 · Jun 3, 2021

ReefRy said:
That's what WWC does. The pics they post online often look nothing like what you see in person. Al ot of companies misrepresent their corals by creative editing and oversaturation, but WWC are one the more aggregious offenders in my opinion.

I agree with you, but I acknowledge that those colors aren’t impossible, you’d just need to match the lighting conditions they used (that’s not going to change the saturation if it’s straight up changed on a slider in post).

so a little of column A and a little of column B.

is it deceitful, sure. Is it an outride fabrication that’s not possible to produce. No, not at all.