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Post by mmfed01 on Jul 3, 2018 22:33:47 GMT -5
Perhaps it is just my opinion but I feel like the aquarium market has sort of stagnated with innovation in some departments. The LED market is naturally evolving...and I'd love to see TMC put out a fixture on a goose neck mount that offered color mixing. I'm a freshwater guy and my Grobeam 600's and 1500's are my workhorses but I'd like multi channel control on a supplement fixture to mix colors to soften up the crisp whites and or make night viewing colors...very similar to the Maxspect Ethereal's capability... I'd also love to get my pants knocked off (figuratively speaking) with a killer canister filter with all the bells and whistles WITH a solid build quality. I've just retired my Fluval FX-5 after the pump crapped out for the last time. My Filstars have been retired due to leaking in the filter body, my Eheim classics have been retired because they are a pain in the ass to clean. I'm only running Sun Suns, Eheim 2080's (that I picked up used) and my Tunze internal filters. I love the "spirit" of the Fluval G6 but it fell terribly short. The ability to cut water flow and remove filter cartridges is something I'd like as well as the various readouts given they were accurate...coupled with a competitive flow rate. Just some hopes and wishes on my part....Christmas IS coming and it shouldn't be just for kids Mike
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Post by Carl on Jul 4, 2018 10:28:07 GMT -5
I hate to say this, but innovation and improved quality are likely mostly a thing of the past in our brave new world of aquarium keeping dominated by Amazon, Chewy, BRS, eBay and other discounters.
The problem is EVERYTHING is now driven by price, few give a cr## about expertise, mentoring, etc. So products have to continually cheapen (the Filstar has thinned out walls and provides less parts). Myths have now become facts to sell a lot of this cr##, with BRS leading this charge.
Even in medications, I give out so much advice online both directly and ia my article, yet sales are but a shell of what they once were. As an example, we were selling Furan 2 and moving a reasonable amount, but it was because we were matching pries that once shipping was counted, were selling at cost. Once we added a lousy dollar, sales ceased almost 100%, so people were all about getting my advice, but paying me for it was no OK.
UV Sterilizers have been over whelmed by cheap imports that are now mostly Category C UV Clarifiers, not sterilizers.
As for AquaRay, sales of this line has gone down considerably worldwide due again to cheap discount products masquerading as quality, so it is doubtful TMC will dump much more money into expanding the line. In fact TMC has dumped several lines of cutting edge products.
As another example, a distributor of professional aquarium products I've dealt with for decades has only about 1/3 the SKUs they had just 8 years ago. For me, this speaks volumes.
Carl
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Post by devonjohnsgard on Jul 4, 2018 11:07:55 GMT -5
I think there's a bit more exploring other markets. I know TMC started marketing in the food industry now for lighting. A bigger market to pay bills.
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Post by mmfed01 on Jul 4, 2018 20:29:16 GMT -5
Yeah, I know it is some California Dreaming on my part. Part of the problem goes back to education. People who don't frequent this site don't know all the factors that go into having a quality light on their tank. The thinking that just because you see a cheap import light on Ebay that "looks" like a quality brand name doesn't mean it's going to perform just as good....given that so much of light quality is not always apparent to the naked eye. I read a few stories about people who bought what they are calling "black box" lighting units and they catch fire in some cases. Unacceptable...given that I'm not always home when my LED's are on. I don't worry the slightest about my TMC's... Mike
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