Yes I like the update! I noticed it yesterday! I like how it shows what lights are currently connected. Looking forward to using the acclimation feature over my QT tank! Will give me the power to slowly adjust new corals to higher par.
We appreciate you and everyone’s patience as we continue improving the app. It is still new, and we are constantly working on making it better. We hear all the feedback and are doing everything possible to address concerns as quickly as we can. Like you, we are hobbyists at heart. This is what we have loved since we were kids, and it is what inspired us to get into this industry.
ReefBreeders is not a big corporation with investor backing or massive funding. It is just the two of us handling the day-to-day operations, and we have built this company from the ground up. Logan started it 13 years ago when he was just 14, culturing phytoplankton in empty water bottles and selling it online. Since then, we have grown through passion, dedication, and reinvesting every dollar we can back into the business.
We run a lean operation, keeping our overhead low so we can put as much money as possible into making the best products on the
market. We do not pay ourselves extravagant salaries. We cover our bills and put the rest back into innovation. We are not in this to get rich. Our goal is to push the limits of what is possible in this industry. Things have been stagnant for a while, and we recognize that, including our own products. The Photon V2, for example, was around for a decade. Moving forward, our focus is on reinvesting as much as possible into our products to drive innovation in ways this industry has never seen before.
Every year we plan to push new limits and bring something better than the year before. We are not stopping anytime soon. If we priced our products as cheaply as possible, we would not have the ability to reinvest and make better products in the future. We keep our pricing as low as we can while ensuring we have the ability to improve and innovate. Unlike many large companies, we are not driving around in exotic cars or living in mansions. Logan drives a 2018 Honda Accord, and we both live in modest homes. Nobody looking at our lives would think we are wealthy because that is not our goal. We want every dollar possible to go back into making our products better.
With bigger companies, a large part of what you pay goes toward massive overhead, expensive facilities, and large workforces. That is why many of them produce lower-quality products. Labor and space are some of the highest costs in manufacturing. As much as we would love to hire more people, we have to choose where to allocate our resources. We could either spend more on staff and facilities or put that money into our products, and we will always choose to invest in making the best products possible.
This is a long-term project. It is a marathon, not a sprint. The app is still in its early stages, but we built it with the vision of making it much more than it is today. We have invested a massive amount into it, and that investment is ongoing. We are committed to constant improvement.
Balancing everything is not easy. We want to provide the best prices for customers while also making sure retailers can earn enough to survive. Many stores struggle because they do not make good profit margins on dry goods and they have to rely on services or livestock sales. If we do not support retailers with strong margins, they will not be able to stay in business, and that hurts the entire industry. At the same time, we need to reinvest in product development to keep pushing innovation forward. It is a tough balance, and we do our best to make sure all three areas are taken care of.
ReefBreeders has been in business for 13 years, and we have intentionally kept our workforce small to ensure that every possible dollar goes into our products. Some companies focus on hiring large teams and expanding facilities, but that would take away from our ability to innovate. We would love to hire more people, but we have to make choices. You cannot have the lowest prices, the most advanced products, the best retailer margins, and a large workforce all at the same time. It is like a game where you have a limited number of points to allocate across different categories. We prioritize what matters most.
The good thing about us is that we have no investors. That is important because it means nobody is forcing us to turn a profit every year. We have actually lost money over the past few years because of how much we have invested into the Meridians. A big corporation could not do that. Their investors would demand profits, and if they did not get them, people would start losing jobs or entire departments would get shut down.
Since we run a lean operation with no investors to answer to, we put every dollar we can back into improving our products. That means when you buy from us, you are not paying for a massive corporate overhead. You are investing in better, more advanced gear for yourself. Every purchase helps us push innovation further so you get the best products now and even better ones in the future.
