BRS, we love you.

[Grigs]

BRS and this forum have completely changed my reefing experience. I love their videos, the solid pricing, and reviews. It's generally a one stop shop. I do believe that good intentions and marketing can co-exist. Call me a fanboy if you like. I love that website and couldn't appreciate more the time and energy they invest in educating me and others. Thanks, BRS!

 

[Tim Olson]

I truly appreciate the education videos and customer service. I've used them to make many positive changes in my reef system. Although, I also do significant research outside of BRS to confirm or deny their suggestions before I make a change.
I also believe that much of what they do is being emulated by other companies in our hobby, which improves the industry for everyone.
BRS is not perfect, but like any good company they learn from their mistakes.

 

[Pete1968]

Brs, is a great company who cares about there customers

 

[Rich Klein]

+1 - I buy everything from BRS, and have always received top-notch customer service. They have a customer in me for life.

 

[mspad]

BRS is the best!!!

 

[Ryanbrs Verified Sponsor]

I know I am not the only one, and, in fact, I am most likely in the MAJORITY when I say that BRS gets way too much crap for, in my opinion, MINUTE problems (recently ones that are not even in their control and definitely have no business being posted on public forums ;)) and not enough praise for the GREAT things they do provide - sales, rewards, FREE giveaways weekly, community support, great customer service, etc.. Heck, whenever I look up questions that I have about proper reef keeping or DIY stuff or just what certain equipment is used for, a BRS YouTube link is usually the first thing that pops up and they almost always have the answers to my question.

Not here to get into any type of arguments. Just here because, recently, I have been seeing WAY too much negativity and too many complaints towards a company that is pretty much the "reefing-foundation" for a lot of people. They definitely need to more credit and appreciation.

Thanks for the kind words. This made my day :)

 

[Ryanbrs Verified Sponsor]

Guys, relax. It’s a corporation. Everything they do and say is to get your money. “BRS investigations” are just thinly veiled marketing videos. They tried their best to scare the community away from black box leds using scare tactics and misinformation. I totally get why they would market products that are profitable for them, but come on now, do we really need to write love letters to them for it?

I don’t think I’ll ever have to stop apologizing for that black box video :) In hindsight my personal opinion or bias came though stronger than it should have. In the end the safety discussion is just a “hot topic.” It’s also been 2 years since that video was done and I have learned a lot since then. Based on feedback like yours I would approach the black box video differently now.

That said, once we get past the safety misstep, the rest of the video is just data and the light is reviewed the same way as all the others were. Most of my hardest critics that have gone back and reviewed it with a open mind have agreed that the actual data was accurate and helpful to know.

As to the videos being marketing. It’s 100% true. It is my strong belief that hobby isn’t lacking a faster cheaper shipper. It lacks easy, organized access to information that makes reefing easier and in turn more fun. Awesome tanks and a fun hobby is the best path to success for everyone involved.

I thank you for the healthy criticism . It serves to make us try harder and often the most helpful thing to hear in the day!

 

[ScottR]

The only thing I hate about BRS is they don’t ship to where I live!!! Cmon BRS, just throw it in a DHL box. I’ll pay for the shipping.

But the BRS YouTube vids have been extremely informative and helpful. My 6 year old watches with me! The only thing that both of us enjoy watching together.

 

[ScottR]

And to add to this, I have a large group of reefing friends and we are going to place a big order, have it shipped to my uncles home in Illinois and then he will ship to me. I want Reef Chili so bad!!!

 

[homer1475]

While I love, and do 99% of my reefing shopping on BRS, my only complaint would be how painfully slow their servers are. I often skip shopping for small items just because of how painful it is to get their site up. I'll wait and put in a big order at one time once a month, instead of several small orders throughout the month.

I don't know if it's the amount of traffic lately, but it seems to be getting worse.

 

[John Neuzil]

While I love, and do 99% of my reefing shopping on BRS, my only complaint would be how painfully slow their servers are. I often skip shopping for small items just because of how painful it is to get their site up. I'll wait and put in a big order at one time once a month, instead of several small orders throughout the month.

I don't know if it's the amount of traffic lately, but it seems to be getting worse.

I've never experienced there site to be slow. Maybe your issue is in house.

 

[homer1475]

100mbit line and BRS is the only website I have issues with. Well not the only one, but......

I wouldn't necessarily say their servers are slow, I can see the page loading(firefox says it's loaded), but it takes an additional 3 to 4 seconds for the page to actually show up on my screen after I see it fully loaded. If that makes sense? Like the page fully loads in the background, but does not show up on my screen right away.

And it only started doing this after they upgraded their servers a few months back.

 

[puffy127]

I don’t think I’ll ever have to stop apologizing for that black box video :) In hindsight my personal opinion or bias came though stronger than it should have. In the end the safety discussion is just a “hot topic.” It’s also been 2 years since that video was done and I have learned a lot since then. Based on feedback like yours I would approach the black box video differently now.

That said, once we get past the safety misstep, the rest of the video is just data and the light is reviewed the same way as all the others were. Most of my hardest critics that have gone back and reviewed it with a open mind have agreed that the actual data was accurate and helpful to know.

As to the videos being marketing. It’s 100% true. It is my strong belief that hobby isn’t lacking a faster cheaper shipper. It lacks easy, organized access to information that makes reefing easier and in turn more fun. Awesome tanks and a fun hobby is the best path to success for everyone involved.

I thank you for the healthy criticism . It serves to make us try harder and often the most helpful thing to hear in the day!

Wow, the level of honesty and humility from Ryan earns my respect.

 

[ScottR]

Wow, the level of honesty and humility from Ryan earns my respect.

They don’t seemingly have big heads like others would have in their position. Being humble gets more respect than anything. The fact that he personally handles petty matters here speaks volumes.

 

[Bulk Reef Supply Verified Sponsor]

While I love, and do 99% of my reefing shopping on BRS, my only complaint would be how painfully slow their servers are. I often skip shopping for small items just because of how painful it is to get their site up. I'll wait and put in a big order at one time once a month, instead of several small orders throughout the month.

I don't know if it's the amount of traffic lately, but it seems to be getting worse.

Hi @homer1475 I want our tech team to look into this, but I'll need some more info. PM incoming.

 

[Stang67]

I [emoji173]️ Brs
The combination of a great website, great customer service, the videos and overall longevity of the company. I have only been in the hobby a short time but they have already gained a loyal customer for life.

 

[FO_Reef]

I don’t think I’ll ever have to stop apologizing for that black box video :) In hindsight my personal opinion or bias came though stronger than it should have. In the end the safety discussion is just a “hot topic.” It’s also been 2 years since that video was done and I have learned a lot since then. Based on feedback like yours I would approach the black box video differently now.

That said, once we get past the safety misstep, the rest of the video is just data and the light is reviewed the same way as all the others were. Most of my hardest critics that have gone back and reviewed it with a open mind have agreed that the actual data was accurate and helpful to know.

As to the videos being marketing. It’s 100% true. It is my strong belief that hobby isn’t lacking a faster cheaper shipper. It lacks easy, organized access to information that makes reefing easier and in turn more fun. Awesome tanks and a fun hobby is the best path to success for everyone involved.

I thank you for the healthy criticism . It serves to make us try harder and often the most helpful thing to hear in the day!

Wow, thank you for the honest and humble response. I don’t think you owe anyone an apology for that video, I mostly just expect a certain level of healthy skepticism from my fellow reefers. I have learned a lot from BRS videos (although I hope you will forgive me for seeking out corroborating evidence from other sources, it’s just my style) and I thank you for that as well.

Wow, the level of honesty and humility from Ryan earns my respect.

Couldn’t agree more.

 

[Scurvy]

Hi @homer1475 I want our tech team to look into this, but I'll need some more info. PM incoming.

Just passing along that the site has had a pretty substantial improvement for me of late both on the iPad using IOS and the Windows laptop. The iPad is what I tend to use most often and what used to freeze on me without fail is no longer doing so. Thx for having the tech team dive into it for us!

 

[Bulk Reef Supply Verified Sponsor]

Just passing along that the site has had a pretty substantial improvement for me of late both on the iPad using IOS and the Windows laptop. The iPad is what I tend to use most often and what used to freeze on me without fail is no longer doing so. Thx for having the tech team dive into it for us!

That's great to hear! If anyone else in the community has feedback on that topic, we'd love to hear it.