Some of you know me and some of you don’t . I moved to Florida to join a company that does aquarium maintenance and coral wholesale.I now co-own the company and I am trying to get it to grow faster in any means possible. Figured I would spread the word on here,since I know some of you from Eddies Aquarium ( my old job ). We ship corals from the Indo-Pacific , Australia and other parts of the world. You can view and make orders on the website Aquateq.org/shop . Most of the quirks are out and its now live. We were shipping corals across the United States to retail stores like Eddies Aquarium . We are now switching gears and selling to the general public. Prices are a lot cheaper then other online stores as well as local retail stores. You can find us on Facebook under Aquateq for updated information on shipments and inventory. Any questions email me at Bobby@aquateq.org .
** Please keep this thread clean **
Pictures are of some of the stuff we have in stock .
Good deal, I’ve told some people that I work with about your products, but I had no idea you were doing it as a business! Congrat, and I’ll keep spreading the word!
Just a tip from someone who used to be big into the hobby… Make sure you take shots of your stock with and without actinic lighting so that potential buyers can see it’s true colors. Yeah, all the neon colors look cool under the actinic bulbs, but that’s not how the pieces are actually viewed 90% of the time, nor how true collectors base their purchases. I’m not saying throw it under a set of 10k’s, but some 12k’s or modest 14k’s that don’t overly saturate the piece with the blue spectrum making it light up like a Vegas strip sign will garner extra points with people who do more than slap together a BioCube and throw in a couple clownfish and a yellow tang
There taken under Vega LEDS during the daylight cycle . Some of the colors flare up the camera shots and also the photos are taken looking down thru water . Try to get it as accurate as possible. Corals constantly change colors depending on water conditions etc. My biggest thing is to not do any type of filters or distorting to make the colors look unrealistic . So many people out there change up the hues,contrast and the light spectrum on there photos its insane. Perfect example is reef gardener or southsidecorals.com. They are known for instagram status photo shopping .
LMAO come on down ! When are you coming back again with scam ?! I come back in feb at some point hopefully . We are looking at buying another company to incorporate jellyfish and tanks. Depends if that deal happens and when it does.
Just looking at your photos, there’s a LOT of actinic in those LEDs
Here are some photos of some of my old frags to give you an idea of what I’m talking about for representing “true colors” (granted, it’s through the glass…) but this is under 20k halide bulbs in 3d reflectors with 65W PC actinics- not even a 12k or 14k. There’s NO WAY your pics show the true colors of your corals man :lol Just sayin, let the true colors speak for themselves, they really don’t need that much help… I understand your lighting situation, but for the sake of realism, you might want to re-think it for photographic purposes
No need to shit on another members thread. I’ve seen his tank in person while in florida, I’m no expert or know what type of lighting is used, but the coral does infact look like this in person. It’s a pretty cool setup, Dukey knows his shit.
It’s not my intention to “shit on” his thread. He has nice stuff, but to post things under super blue lighting (look how the eggcrate “fluoresces” in the pics- it’s supposed to be white, as in my pics not blueish purple) is misleading. I’m merely trying to offer advice, with photographic examples for reference, of how he could represent his pieces to be more appealing to die-hard collectors who care about a more true-to-life representation of the coral’s color. In my experience, as you become more seasoned in the reef keeping hobby and come to appreciate high-end, premium pieces, you tend to move away from overly saturating with blue light. People who are willing to pay a premium price for those pieces typically want to see what they are buying, not some neon version of it.
Like I said, no harm intended and best of luck to you. I’m just trying to offer some advice.
Too many variables to really say. It all depends on what you want out of the tank. Fish only, Fish only with live rock, Softie tank, mixed reef, monti tank, acros, predators… I will tell you this, the tank and stand will be the cheapest part of setting up a saltwater tank
When you buy several 700.00 LED pendants and take a picture under the “day light” . You are getting 2 different blue LEDS, reds,violets,greens and whites . Pictures are taken when all those are on “daylight spectrum”. Different light have different spectrums. So the same coral will look different under another light regardless. I do not take them under pure blue or violet or physically changing the contrast . We could be in a pissing match over this forever. When you deal with LEDS they are in a different ball park then halides and t5 lighting . Everything changes … the PAR ,spectrums , colors , UV etc . Everything can be controlled independently. Unlike halides or t5 what you see is what you get . Only thing you can do is change out the whole bulb and your stuck . I have been in the industry for almost 10 years now . I have sold t5,metal halides and LEDs through many vendors at Eddies and now wholesale. I’ve dealt with Deep blue, coral life, Eco tec ,AI,wave point etc. Every single unit is different …
If you are here to criticize ,leave . Simple as that . I am not here to argue about what lights I am using and what not . When you deal with taking pictures under Vega LED’s with a camera let me know . All I am stating is that I am taking them under what I use for daylight . Corals will change color due to water conditions,flow,food ,temperature,age. Even if I take a "perfect " picture it will still look different when you receive it. Due to stress and your water conditions .
I do this job 40-60 hours a week and its all I do . I bought a decent amount of Aussie Corals a few days ago and sold almost all of them I use the same pictures on the website and sent them to local customers or they ordered off the website.ALL have not complained and said they would order again.
Tank setups vary depending on what equipment you use and what direction you want to do in wether it be fresh , planted fresh ,reef,fish only . There are several filter options,lighting options and brands. If you have a budget you are working with I can do a quote or a rough estimate to play around with different manufactures.
I know nothing about aquarium stuff and this is a random question. But how exactly do you ship coral? I’d assume it’s pretty sensitive. Just curious how it’s done lol.
Basically each coral has it’s own bag . Bag sizes depend on the size coral . They all go in a syrofoam box and that goes inside of a cardboard box . Depending on the weather … You ship heat packs with it or cold packs . Then it’s overnighted via FedEx,Southwest Airlines,usps or ups .
