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I have a new worry about all these almost-beyond-belief colorful corals. I just got a frag of tropic thunder that arrived today, which in pictures is on the level of most of those insanely amazing corals, like cornbreds stuff(maybe it IS a cornbred?), but in regular reef lighting it's VERY unimpressive! In fact, It's less colorful than most "plain" looking corals. Shining actinic moonlight on it, I'm getting the colors to come out, which makes me wonder if that's how all these corals are, that are so colorful and bright that it looks like they're under a blacklight. Are they standard, and less than standard looking corals in some cases, most of the time, and only actually impressive looking when the tank is under non-normal viewing conditions (night time/moonlight actinics, or just while being shown off)? It's pretty obvious that at least most of the pictures Ive seen, if not all, are under heavy actinics, but that definitely doesn't necessarily mean they wouldn't still be amazing otherwise, but is that why I only see actinic flooded pics? 
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I have seen many tanks with corals that pop with color not using magic lighting.  It often takes time for a coral frag to mature and then color up.  The tank also has to have very good, stable parameters and good lighting.

 

Best of luck

Bruce

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Yea, unfortunately that’s why many vendors run heavy blues then take photos using various filters to make them really shine on screen.

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9 hours ago, Still_human said:

 

I have a new worry about all these almost-beyond-belief colorful corals. I just got a frag of tropic thunder that arrived today, which in pictures is on the level of most of those insanely amazing corals, like cornbreds stuff(maybe it IS a cornbred?), but in regular reef lighting it's VERY unimpressive! In fact, It's less colorful than most "plain" looking corals. Shining actinic moonlight on it, I'm getting the colors to come out, which makes me wonder if that's how all these corals are, that are so colorful and bright that it looks like they're under a blacklight. Are they standard, and less than standard looking corals in some cases, most of the time, and only actually impressive looking when the tank is under non-normal viewing conditions (night time/moonlight actinics, or just while being shown off)? It's pretty obvious that at least most of the pictures Ive seen, if not all, are under heavy actinics, but that definitely doesn't necessarily mean they wouldn't still be amazing otherwise, but is that why I only see actinic flooded pics? 

Unfortunately, it's has been typical practice for as long as I can remember. Some even Photoshop images. When I purchase high-ended frags, I always ask for an un-edited photos in normal lighting. 

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Yea I have seen a few tanks with these high end frags only that looked beautiful under normal lighting, but, each coral is different.  Some of these unproven corals that are going for hundreds of dollars a nub are new and might not look that nice under normal light.  Most people with stunning tanks with high end stuff know what they are buying and know how it will look under normal light before they buy them.  I stay away from any corals that are high dollar unless its a specific species and color variant that I have never seen.  But if its pictured under all blue led and or has a filter I quickly pass unless I know I can get a daylight shot from the vendor. 

Unfortunately since the indo ban the variety of coral out there is really low so I have not even been looking for any new acros.  Crazy new stuff coming out of aussie and tonga is kinda rare, and you can tell because many vendors don't have any new releases anymore. If they do its not as special as it looks most of the time.  But like Bruce said, most corals might look bad as a frag, its when you get them growing well that the real colors start coming out.  You can't really judge a frag that was just shipped to you on its color straight from the bag.  Get it growing well and it could be a gem.

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3 hours ago, Piper27 said:

most corals might look bad as a frag, its when you get them growing well that the real colors start coming out.  You can't really judge a frag that was just shipped to you on its color straight from the bag.  Get it growing well and it could be a gem.

Yeah, that makes sense. It seems all the "standard" corals look just as good as frags, as they do big pieces, or colonies, but I can definitely see that potential with dull newer eyepopping corals. This is a very disappointing realization for me:( I'll definitely ask for pictures of things without   all the actinics! Thanks for the advice!

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Something to keep in mind is that the more "common" or "popular" corals are referred to in that way because they look good enough in almost any tank capable of supporting them for people to want them. Sure the red montipora or green slimer/green millepora are common but they look darn good in virtually every tank I have ever seen them in. (Including mine) I've never actually seen a large colony of many of the crazy expensive corals that you see around today because most people frag them as soon as possible. Do a search for Walt Disney Acropora and pop over to the image search, the largest walt disney acro you'll see is at best *maybe* 3-4 inches in diameter, which by my reckoning is a really small colony. I would be interested to see what a large colony of that would look like but I've never seen anyone grow one out. And honestly all of the pictures you'll see of the walt disney are always until heavy blue light, which makes just about any coral pop.

 

My recommendation would be to find some corals you think you may like, get your tank stable enough and able to grow them out and see what they grow into. If you don't like how they look you can likely sell a large colony for enough to purchase a new frag and try again.

 

 

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There has also been a pretty big shift in how we light tanks as well. Going back 10, 15, 20 years ago, I don't remember ever seeing tanks that were run so heavily blue where it is quite common now (e.g. the AB+). Lit in this manner, you can enjoy those colors in your own home provided you enjoy a tank that blue (not I). There are some that believe the colors will fade over time under the heavy blue spectrum however. 

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14 hours ago, Matt LeBaron said:

Something to keep in mind is that the more "common" or "popular" corals are referred to in that way because they look good enough in almost any tank capable of supporting them for people to want them

Oh, yeah, ur absolutely right, I'm definitely not disparaging them! If these mind-blowing corals were just what they appeared to be tho, then it WOULD be hard to look at "normal" corals the same way again:/

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1 hour ago, madweazl said:

There has also been a pretty big shift in how we light tanks as well. Going back 10, 15, 20 years ago, I don't remember ever seeing tanks that were run so heavily blue where it is quite common now (e.g. the AB+). Lit in this manner, you can enjoy those colors in your own home provided you enjoy a tank that blue (not I). There are some that believe the colors will fade over time under the heavy blue spectrum however. 

Yeah, I def like the balanced whiter daylight, not the really unbalanced super blue. Except at night.

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