Idea for Aquarium Co Op: "seasoned" sponge filters

[Galabar]

So, "in the back", you can have a heavily stocked tank with 20-30 sponge filters, with a tag on the tubing to say when you added them to the tank.  When a new fish keeper comes in, you can not only offer them advice, but also a sponge filter that will save them from "Newbie Fish Death Syndrome."

Thoughts? 🙂

p.s.  Add $10 to the price for the seasoning... 🙂

[Pepere]

If I owned a fish store, I think I might be of the school of thought that bacteria in a bottle is so much more profitable….

[Galabar]

So, let me think about this.  You could sell the customer a new sponge filter and bottled bacteria for $10 - $15.  Or, you could sell a seasoned sponge filter for an extra $10 - $15 (if you find folks are interested in such a thing).  That bottle will last a while and could be used on multiple tanks.  Without the bottle, the customer might just come back and buy another "seasoned" sponge filter for their next tank.  So, that is an extra $10 - $15 of revenue (you have to take into account the cost of seasoning the sponges).

However, looking past all that, a customer that has a positive experience with a new tank is going be a repeat customer.

Another thought: you can buy a cheap sponge filter on Amazon.  You have to go to the store for a "seasoned" sponge filter.

 

Edited May 25 by Galabar

[Pepere]

I speak from having but multiple bottles of bacteria in a bottle when I started out.  Dosing repeatedly trying different brands….

 

had I bought a cycled sponge filter I would have bought 1.  
 

I hate to think how much money I spent on bottled products.   In the end it still took me about 8 weeks…

 

I dare say vendors made a whole lot more money off of me from bacteria in a bottle then they would have from a cycled sponge.

 

it was ruefully toungue in cheek.

[DeadStang]

I have given away cycles sponge filters to friends starting up their tanks, but I am not confident enough in a cycled sponge jump starting a new tank to sell one. I have put old sponges in new tanks and STILL spent dozens of dollars on bottled bacteria in the new tank and done 100s of gallons in daily water changes to cycle the tank(s). I am 100% certain the cycled sponge helps somewhat, but there is still a lot of work to get the new tank(s) up and running.