Help coloring up hammer coral

[Nixmo]

I purchased a mint/blue tip and gold stem hammer coral online and it's very dull compared to the pics shown. To be fair they said it was a little dull hence the cheaper price but it's much more than a "little"
Is it going to stay dull or will good parameters, nutrients and feeding reef roids make it brighter over time?

I'm a noob and have only started adding corals to my tank a few weeks ago

 

[VintageReefer]

Can you post selling pics and actual pics?

 

[Nixmo]

I don't have an orange filter lens so when I take photos, all my corals look a lot more blue. It makes it look a lot brighter than it is when I take a photo

 

[VintageReefer]

Makes sense. Can you post sellers pics? Some of us are good at looking for editing/enhancements

 

[Nixmo]

Here's my little rasta for reference. I turned up the room lights to try get a more accurate color. It's looks completely different in the photo. It's more mint in color and very dull. BTW they're closing up for the night and lights are dimming down

 

[VintageReefer]

1) Rasta - pic you took

2) hammer in tank, pic you took

3) seller hammer pic

Is this correct ?

 

[Nixmo]

correct

 

[VintageReefer]

Pic 1 looks how Rasta should look

Pic 2 coral looks pale and should color up a bit more


Pic 3 is an enhanced image. Those gold stems are likely there, but won’t glow like that in person. It is possible enhancing the brightness of whatever to make the gold more noticeable, also mage the green brighter than reality

 

[Nixmo]

I can see the gold stems, doesn't show in photos. Was just wondering if it could color up over time or am I stuck with a dull hammer? I've seen much more brighter torches in common colors than this. TBH would rather one of those than a dull harder to acquire color combo

 

[VintageReefer]

Orange lens coral glasses would bring out the effect more. You probably can’t photograph it without a orange camera lens also. Trust me. I photograph a lot. You need blue lighting and a orange lenses to get true to life photos of coral color.

Same thing happened to me, but I somewhat expect the outcome / what to expect

Seller pic

Reality - in fairness this is arrival day, and coral was stressed from shipping, isn’t inflated fully yet, and dropped about 25 hammer tips in the shipping bag -

In person…yea I can tell it’s a gold stem but the website pics really make things seem to stand out more than they do in person. I’m going to give it a few days to see how it recovers. The pics I took are extremely close to in person viewing

 

[VintageReefer]

And I agree. I have common color torches that are extremely vibrant like these. They stand out much more

I think the “gold stem” hammer is a effect of lenses and enhancing. Yea it’s there in person but it’s not “vibrant”

 

[Nixmo]

That HG torch is amazing

 

[VintageReefer]

That HG torch is amazing

Thank you! Started as 1 head, about 2”