What's the hype with Walt smith corals?

windcoast reefs · #1 06-04-2012, 01:58 PM

So a few lfs have Ordered in Walt smith sps saying that they would be amazing but I have yet to see a single piece that I would even consider putting in my tank. They seem very over priced for something like a plain pink birdsnest or a green pocci. Is this just me or have others noticed this to?

Proteus · #2 06-04-2012, 02:06 PM

I have a monti. (pink with green polyps) it grows flat and but vertical creating a fan. Now it's a nice piece but nothing crazy. It sat at the lfs for a few months before I got it.
I'm not sure about any named breeder as I have some nice generic pieces.

reefermadness · #3 06-04-2012, 02:16 PM

Dont get it myself......

I think the higher price is demanded because of the better business practices of the walt smith name.

Proteus · #4 06-04-2012, 02:28 PM

I'm willing to pay more for better collection practices but it's not worth it if they are bland pieces.

Aquattro · #5 06-04-2012, 02:47 PM

I unpacked a couple of boxes a while back, and there were some really nice pieces that I've never seen before. Unfortunately the boxes sat at the airport for an extra day, and most of the shipment died. I did get a large A. humilis, but it RTN'ed on me. I still have a piece of pink table that should end up as a nice piece.
Overall, the pieces are wild harvested, often brought up from deeper down, blanched in shallow water to really make the colors pop, then shipped. The colors tend to reverse once in a tank, and the overall mortality of the wild stuff is too high.

Borderjumper · #6 06-04-2012, 02:58 PM

Yeah.. I don't get it either. Maybe its like any other coral shipment.. Hit or miss depending on what's availale and what's ordered?

wickedfrags · #7 06-04-2012, 03:18 PM

all the rage in the late 90's and early 2000's, and we stood in line to pay $250 per colony.............while there are some unique colors and species they generally don't fare well in captivity long term, most hobbyists can't keep the colour also because they come from such clean water and such a high light environment. proceed with great caution...

Proteus · #8 06-04-2012, 04:40 PM

I will say the piece I have was brown when I bought it and has colored nicely. Ive had it for about 4 months and it's in good health

windcoast reefs · #9 06-04-2012, 05:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Titus99

I'm willing to pay more for better collection practices but it's not worth it if they are bland pieces.

Yeah I agree but the pieces I saw were pretty boring.

TimT · #10 06-04-2012, 06:39 PM

Hi Everyone,

Every shipment of coral will be different when you are dealing with wild collection. They collect from many different reefs around Fiji to distribute the collection pressure. Walt Smith is MAC certified.

Since the beginning of the year Fiji has been struck by numerous tropical storms. They have caused lots of flooding and siltation of the reefs. This has caused the acros to take a hit and they lose colour and strength.

Certain times of the year the water is very hot(89 - 91°f) so this tends to weaken the sps as well.

Walt goes to great lengths to provide a high quality product. He used to use 1000watt 20k Radium Halides over the holding tanks to help the corals keep their colour while in the warehouse. Earlier this year he upgraded to LED lights as power is not cheap in Fiji.

Here is a pic of an A sarmentosa that I brought in about 6 months ago. It came in this colour and has not browned out or faded. Granted a green coral is kinda boring but there are some amazing pieces as well. It is kept under a 400watt 20k Radium Halide.

Here is another pic of some WSI acros from last year.

Walt is putting a lot of effort into the farming of corals. These are smaller colonies, similar in size to the corals from the ocean based farms around Bali. These will do much better in captivity as they are smaller and will ship better.

Cheers,
Tim