Quote:
Originally Posted by medhatreefguy
So what you're saying is these corals from Walt Smith that are of such high quality and sell for a premium because of it, were kept secret? Sounds a little lame to me. It seems like any coral that can get a funky name or get tagged to a known supplier demands a higher price and has people lining up to get it, I highly doubt anyone is going to keep this a secret. I've been guilty of buying into it myself, I've paid $120 for a 3 head micromussa and $120 for a setosa, among others, that there was nothing exceptional about. Another thing is these coral frags never look anything like the pictures anyway, if the average reefer were to run as much actinic as is used to take the pictures for the website there wouldn't be enough useable light left to keep the coral alive. Whether it's a name that makes a coral sound good enough to eat, a brand/supplier that is supposed to be better than all the rest, or the photoshopping and exaggerating of pictures, they are all a means of demanding a higher than normal price for coral and IMO on false pretenses. There aren't many vendors out there that won't take the opportunity to use any of these techniques to make more money (some are insanely worst that others). Just my two pennies.
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The two corals you mentioned were certainly not purchased through Coral Master and as far as Walt Smith goes I advertised the name so people would know what I was offering not to try & charge more money for the corals and although WS does carry some premium stuff I have not charged a premium "designer coral" price on any WS I sold. There is nothing "secret" about the Walt Smith name, he has been well known for years on Reef Central & other US boards especially for his Live Rock & Cultured live Rock.
I also assume you are talking about corals in general that you have bought and those complaints and photoshop accusations are best brought up to the individual vendors you are talking about.
