Cory

We have removed aquahuna from the approve vendors list. Now that they're selling plants against us, it doesn't make sense for us as a company to let them be promoted. There will be plenty of spaces on the internet where people can discuss who to buy plants from. However on our forum, it will be aquarium co-op that is talked about and recommended for live plants. Or your local retail stores.

Every market will be different. Every store will be different. We retail Endlers at 4.99. Most customers only want males. Also the easier something is to breed the more competition you'll have. Routinely someone just drops off 50+ endlers at the store for free because they are crowding their tank. You quoted me saying operate like a business. But you also asked, do I need a business license. You're already on a path to no operating like a business. You need a business license. Any store wanting to do actual volume, needs you to have a business license. This allows them to properly account for them tax wise. You'll likely need to store their wholesale/resellers permit on file to be able to sell to them without charging tax. Both parties will want invoices so that they can deduct the items from taxes. You'll want to justify writing off foods, electricity, partial rent, tanks etc. They'll want to be able to show it as a COGS and deduct it from the profit. Just because a store isn't selling something doesn't mean there isn't a market for it. I don't sell lots of stuff, but it's because we focus on a specific thing, planted community aquariums. My best advise would be get started, learn along the way, run a legit company. Every time you step away from a legit company you're 1 step closer to just being a hobbyist. Get a business license, get a checking account and credit card in the business name. Buy everything with the credit card to make tax time easy. Then take cash, check, credit from the stores, with invoices. The easiest will be paypal invoices/credit cards at the beginning. I don't mention this in videos, but lots of people are never meant to be the face of their business. People assume that's how it works because they watch me do it. But most companies have lots of people who aren't good at selling, but great at running day to day operations. You may be terrible at getting stores to buy, but a great breeder. Or vise versa. You'll need to learn where you struggle and improve on it. Often times you may have to create and supply marketing materials for the stores about your products. Theres a reason they don't sell it, could be education, could be marketing etc. My advice is to start with something that's already selling at the stores. If they sell 50 red platies a month. And sell 0 endlers per month. Which do you think will be easier to get them to buy from you and have them sell volume? As you learn to supply necessities you can gamble some of your time/profits on what you think might be missing from the market.

Thought I’d share some pictures from building our new warehouse in Kentucky. 4x the space of our old warehouse, closer to the majority of our customers, the hope is even faster delivery. Now for some pics.

I believe the metal leeches into the water and is harmful over time.

I've never had a problem making my own ant bait with borax. I haven't seen any problems from it. I'm not saying it could never be a problem, but it hasn't ever been one for us. We get ants in the store and sometimes in my fish rooms over the years. They seek out the warmth and water during the cold months.

Crypt nurii.

Thought I'd post some information. First data and graphic for our light PAR values. We'll be making modifications to fit the website. All testing was done on a 65 gallon aquarium. So the 8 inches from center data won't be correct for small tanks like a 5 gallon.

We didn't end the partnership with Aquahuna, they requested to end it with us. They wanted to stand on their own 2 legs without our advertising. They'll be treated like all other vendors on this forum for us.

This discussion is becoming aggressive. Shutting it down.

What a character. love it.

I wanted to follow up. Someone did a comparison on this AQQA heater vs the co-op heater. There is now some data that shows they are indeed different heaters using different parts even though they look similar. The Blue and orange lines are two Co-Op heaters, while the red and green lines are two of the knockoff heaters. Each is heating approximately a 20-gallon tank (though the green one may be more like 25-30 gallons, in the rubbermaid trash can). They're not the same heater! The Co-op heater has incredibly-stable temperature control, probably the best I've ever seen, and as good as much more expensive models like the Fluval E series. Notice that the fluctuations are no more than the resolution of the temperature probe itself! The AQQA knockoff is not nearly as good -- notice the .6 degree fluctuation -- more in line with most bi-metallic strip heaters like the Eheim Jager. The electronics are all sealed in black epoxy, so I have no idea if the brains are different between the two, or if it's just different programming. Maybe it's the more accurate programming that caused the failures prompting all the returns? I don't know. It's probably good enough for most folks. But it's not the same heater. RIP the Aquarium Co-Op heater. 🙂

Dang, some real deals in that bargain bin. $1 female bosmani rainbows?!

I don't think we ever got to the bottom of it, because with our testing it worked.

@Maximus This is good feedback. @bnaturally and I will look into if there is anything we can optimize to help it stand out on the nearby maps.

I use 1 pound of crushed coral per 10 gallons of water mixed into the substrate. or 1 pound in a filter bag in a filter, replace it as needed.

Whats the pH of this water? I've seen this type of thing affect ranchus when the pH is below 7. I treat it with fixing water parameters, and then Salt at 1 tablespoon per gallon of water.

Hmm, I haven't run into that. Any firmware updates to apply to it through the app?

Just normal tan aquarium gravel is what I've been using.

I don't know, seems no manufacturers are really working on that. Amazon has hundreds of cheap heaters. When you're a heater manufacturer you want to sell to everyone. We were prioneering getting closer to a better heater and it was a battle as all their other customers want cheaper, so they spend their R&D time making it cheaper, not looking for better parts or more expensive designs. Since I haven't seen it, i could only speculate, maybe the perfect heater can cost 3 dollars, or can't be done for $50. I don't really have the answer.

I'd caution people to assume they are the same. Easily could be different factories. They are at least using the old software on the chip. We made several updates to it since the first one that displayed EL. There's actually a lot of options when it comes to having a product made. Like used parts. You can save money if you used parts from recycled electronics. We would never do that, but you can see this a lot in the random Chinese brands. It's not meant to scare you, but also just keep in mind, just because it looks similar doesn't mean it is. You can see in the car industry, the same exact car using the same parts, put together in a different country has different issues. My advice is approach any brand, whether it's eheim, tetra, chinese brand, Aquarium Co-Op Etc. How do the heaters do over 1-3 years, with 10 units. That's a baseline to start from. However, I'd say there is just as much chance of the AQQA heater doing well as a sicce, eheim, etc.

Been too long since I posted here. Today was a giant cleanup of projects day to get ready to film with keeping fish simple tomorrow.

You can always catch the replay 😉

8pm Eastern time is when it starts.

My opinion is air stone/sponge filter always, every time.

Going head to head with the super bowl. Lots of giveaways, mark your calendars.