Reef Breeders Meridians

[sl0th]

We announced our premium app plans publicly on Reef2Reef back in February 2025. In that post, acclimation mode was listed as part of premium, so this has been public for roughly a year and a half.

I understand the comparison to other brands offering acclimation mode without a separate charge. The only thing I would point out is that those features are still paid for somewhere. App development, support, updates, connectivity, and long-term maintenance all have to be covered. Some companies build that into a higher fixture price. Some charge separately for hardware or connection options. Some make other tradeoffs. Every company has to choose its own structure.

That is how we have had to look at this as well. When premium was first discussed, Bluetooth was also grouped with premium. As development moved forward, we decided that all new Meridians would include the hardware needed for Bluetooth control at no additional charge. Bluetooth support is being added through the app as part of this rollout.

The hardware part is important though because Bluetooth is not something that can be added to earlier Meridian units with a software update, because those lights do not have the required Bluetooth hardware inside them. New Meridians going forward will have that hardware included.

The reason we made that choice is because Bluetooth can affect basic access to the light for some customers. Network restrictions, firewall issues, unreliable WiFi, or setups without practical WiFi access can make Bluetooth important for normal app control. When something affects someone’s ability to reasonably connect to and control the light, we do our best to include it where possible.

Acclimation mode is different. It is a convenience feature. A useful one, and one I think people will like, but it is not required to run the light or even to acclimate corals. Customers can already manually acclimate by creating schedules, lowering intensity, and adjusting over time. The premium feature only automates and simplifies that process.

When people compare feature lists between brands, I think the full picture matters. Meridian includes WiFi control, app control, and we offer an affordable manual controller option. New Meridians will include Bluetooth-capable hardware at no additional charge. We are doing our best to include the things that affect access and normal control of the light.

For the more advanced software tools, we could build those costs into every light, but that would raise the price for everyone, including customers who may never use those tools. Our approach is to keep the light price as accessible as possible, include the control options people need, and make the advanced convenience features optional for customers who want them.

The bigger goal here is continued development. The more support premium gets, the faster we can put resources back into new app features, updates, and improvements. The goal is to keep building the app into something far beyond basic light control and to ultimately push the limits of what reef lighting can do.

That may not be everyone’s preferred model, and I understand that. But this is the direction we announced from the beginning, and it gives us the most realistic way to keep improving the app over time without building every future software feature into the upfront price of every light.

Your goal is to push the limits of what reef lighting can do and yet won't include acclimation mode as standard with your lights at cost?

I understand smaller companies may not have the same resources, but it's hard to justify choosing your lights plus a subscription when you could just choose any other premium light on the market at the moment and get these features like acclimation mode included at cost.

What you are doing is shifting the burden of paying for your app development onto customers who gain effectively nothing at present for the subscription. And it's clear that you are including acclimation mode under this "premium" feature because you know some people will actually pay just to have that.

 

[jt0117]

We announced our premium app plans publicly on Reef2Reef back in February 2025. In that post, acclimation mode was listed as part of premium, so this has been public for roughly a year and a half.

I understand the comparison to other brands offering acclimation mode without a separate charge. The only thing I would point out is that those features are still paid for somewhere. App development, support, updates, connectivity, and long-term maintenance all have to be covered. Some companies build that into a higher fixture price. Some charge separately for hardware or connection options. Some make other tradeoffs. Every company has to choose its own structure.

That is how we have had to look at this as well. When premium was first discussed, Bluetooth was also grouped with premium. As development moved forward, we decided that all new Meridians would include the hardware needed for Bluetooth control at no additional charge. Bluetooth support is being added through the app as part of this rollout.

The hardware part is important though because Bluetooth is not something that can be added to earlier Meridian units with a software update, because those lights do not have the required Bluetooth hardware inside them. New Meridians going forward will have that hardware included.

The reason we made that choice is because Bluetooth can affect basic access to the light for some customers. Network restrictions, firewall issues, unreliable WiFi, or setups without practical WiFi access can make Bluetooth important for normal app control. When something affects someone’s ability to reasonably connect to and control the light, we do our best to include it where possible.

Acclimation mode is different. It is a convenience feature. A useful one, and one I think people will like, but it is not required to run the light or even to acclimate corals. Customers can already manually acclimate by creating schedules, lowering intensity, and adjusting over time. The premium feature only automates and simplifies that process.

When people compare feature lists between brands, I think the full picture matters. Meridian includes WiFi control, app control, and we offer an affordable manual controller option. New Meridians will include Bluetooth-capable hardware at no additional charge. We are doing our best to include the things that affect access and normal control of the light.

For the more advanced software tools, we could build those costs into every light, but that would raise the price for everyone, including customers who may never use those tools. Our approach is to keep the light price as accessible as possible, include the control options people need, and make the advanced convenience features optional for customers who want them.

The bigger goal here is continued development. The more support premium gets, the faster we can put resources back into new app features, updates, and improvements. The goal is to keep building the app into something far beyond basic light control and to ultimately push the limits of what reef lighting can do.

That may not be everyone’s preferred model, and I understand that. But this is the direction we announced from the beginning, and it gives us the most realistic way to keep improving the app over time without building every future software feature into the upfront price of every light.

Having already got off to a bad start with getting the meridian 45 and being told to pay for new boards to get the 0.1% night feature .. which I have yet to receive through the company I bought the meridian, and now this.

In relation to cost, I honestly cannot see the argument in it. I could buy Straton, Orphek, AI, Maxspect you name it and it will have acclimation mode. How I can pay less for my life insurance but need to pay £8.99 for this and some other basic features is mind boggling. Okay if you created something really unique and different that only your light does and has a good use, maybe. But this is taking the cake.

It's such a shame, the hardware is honestly worth the money but the software is rubbish.

Finally these lights HAVE A PREMIUM PRICE TAG. They are not cheap and we really thought hard about the purchase. I love all the nice adds on for it such as more light bars and manual controllers. But adding it all up the overall cost is ridiculous. We simply can't afford to sink over £2k into a light that only then has a 2 year warranty and 1 year warranty on a power supply which itself is criminally charged at £265..

Just so disappointed

 

[sl0th]

Also to everyone who keeps parroting that nobody is being forced to buy the lights... yeah we know.

It's frustrating having yet another company push more subscriptions as the solution to these things. If you can't afford to develop your app from your existing profits then why should we pay more money to help you do that..? Where does it bloody end

 

[t5Nitro]

Also to everyone who keeps parroting that nobody is being forced to buy the lights... yeah we know.

It's frustrating having yet another company push more subscriptions as the solution to these things. If you can't afford to develop your app from your existing profits then why should we pay more money to help you do that..? Where does it bloody end

You keep the lights you have without the sub.
As an above poster mentioned, there are some exceptional lights on the market for new users to take their pick from.
The subscription cost for owning and paying for reef breeders app is enough to buy a quanta light bar every 1.5-2 years. I’d rather get a brand new light bar every 2 years than pay for another app that isn’t that useful. The most useful features of any lighting unit are “ON” and “OFF”. Just another perspective. All comments are subjective opinion. No right or wrong here.

 

[sl0th]

You keep the lights you have without the sub.
As an above poster mentioned, there are some exceptional lights on the market for new users to take their pick from.
The subscription cost for owning and paying for reef breeders app is enough to buy a quanta light bar every 1.5-2 years. I’d rather get a brand new light bar every 2 years than pay for another app that isn’t that useful. The most useful features of any lighting unit are “ON” and “OFF”. Just another perspective. All comments are subjective opinion. No right or wrong here.

Yeah the subscription cost is enough to buy a new light every two years. So how can anyone justify that cost for an app? You're basically saying the same thing I'm thinking.

I'm not saying existing customers are being forced into the subscription. I'm just saying that I disagree with the principle of it and I find subscription models to be completely ridiculous.

 

[tharbin]

Can someone point me to the article where Reef Breeders announced the premium app? I never saw it. I would like to have a better feeling about this as I do like the lights very much so I would like to know what is going to be in the basic app and what will be in the premium app.

Also, to clarify, to my way of thinking the only time acclimation mode is used is when adding or changing the light fixtures over a tank. I would never use it when adding corals. That means I would use it once per fixture per tank setup.

If I understand correctly the BlueTooth interface is a part of the new fixtures and the BlueTooth mode is included in the basic app. If so that is a very good sign.

 

[Reef Breeders Verified Sponsor]

Your goal is to push the limits of what reef lighting can do and yet won't include acclimation mode as standard with your lights at cost?

I understand smaller companies may not have the same resources, but it's hard to justify choosing your lights plus a subscription when you could just choose any other premium light on the market at the moment and get these features like acclimation mode included at cost.

What you are doing is shifting the burden of paying for your app development onto customers who gain effectively nothing at present for the subscription. And it's clear that you are including acclimation mode under this "premium" feature because you know some people will actually pay just to have that.

Every manufacturer makes business decisions about what is included, what requires additional hardware, and what they continue investing in after the light is sold. EcoTech, for example, is one of the most premium-priced lights in the industry, yet Wi-Fi access still requires an additional purchase. Nobody is grabbing pitchforks over that because people recognize it as a business decision, and that’s completely fair. They chose where to draw the line. We chose where to draw ours.

When we first announced Premium over a year and a half ago, Bluetooth was planned to be part of it. We later made the decision to include Bluetooth with every new Meridian at no additional cost because, for some customers, Bluetooth is not just a convenience feature. It can be the difference between being able to use the light or not. In my opinion, anything that affects a customer’s ability to use their light belongs in the core experience.

Premium exists so we can continue building features that go beyond simply controlling the light. Many of the capabilities we’re developing today are only possible because we created a way to keep investing in the app, and our plan is to reinvest what Premium generates directly back into its development.

The success of Premium doesn’t just determine the features available today. It determines how far we can take the app tomorrow. Every subscription helps fund more development, more testing, more refinement, and more ambitious ideas. If hobbyists want reef apps to become more powerful instead of remaining basic controllers, there has to be a sustainable way to support that work.

If you’ve ever wondered why so many reef apps have remained relatively stagnant over the years, I think that’s a big part of the answer. Continuous software development is expensive, and without a sustainable way to fund it, innovation inevitably slows down.

You can look at this glass half empty or half full. The half-empty view is seeing Premium as an extra expense. I see it as an opportunity to push reef lighting software further than this industry has before. We’d rather build an app that continues evolving year after year than settle for another app that reaches “good enough” and doesn’t meaningfully improve.

 

[MegabiteOG]

Can someone point me to the article where Reef Breeders announced the premium app? I never saw it. I would like to have a better feeling about this as I do like the lights very much so I would like to know what is going to be in the basic app and what will be in the premium app.

Also, to clarify, to my way of thinking the only time acclimation mode is used is when adding or changing the light fixtures over a tank. I would never use it when adding corals. That means I would use it once per fixture per tank setup.

If I understand correctly the BlueTooth interface is a part of the new fixtures and the BlueTooth mode is included in the basic app. If so that is a very good sign.

Here is some of the conversation from 2/2025.

 

[Reef Breeders Verified Sponsor]

Having already got off to a bad start with getting the meridian 45 and being told to pay for new boards to get the 0.1% night feature .. which I have yet to receive through the company I bought the meridian, and now this.

In relation to cost, I honestly cannot see the argument in it. I could buy Straton, Orphek, AI, Maxspect you name it and it will have acclimation mode. How I can pay less for my life insurance but need to pay £8.99 for this and some other basic features is mind boggling. Okay if you created something really unique and different that only your light does and has a good use, maybe. But this is taking the cake.

It's such a shame, the hardware is honestly worth the money but the software is rubbish.

Finally these lights HAVE A PREMIUM PRICE TAG. They are not cheap and we really thought hard about the purchase. I love all the nice adds on for it such as more light bars and manual controllers. But adding it all up the overall cost is ridiculous. We simply can't afford to sink over £2k into a light that only then has a 2 year warranty and 1 year warranty on a power supply which itself is criminally charged at £265..

Just so disappointed

Hi,

I do want to set the record straight on the moonlight upgrade because the way it is being presented is not accurate.

The light you purchased was manufactured last year, before the 0.1% moonlight board became part of production. It was not defective, it was not missing an advertised feature, and it was built exactly the same as every other Meridian from that production run.

The 0.1% moonlight board was a later improvement, not a fix for a defect. That distinction matters. A product enhancement released after your light was manufactured does not make your light defective.

We were under no obligation to provide a free hardware upgrade for a product that matched the specifications it was sold with. Even so, because this was one of the first Meridian sales through our new UK retail partner, we offered the upgraded boards as a one-time courtesy at no charge. The only thing we asked was that you cover the cost of international shipping if you wanted them sent right away.

You chose not to pay the shipping. That was your choice. The alternative was to have the boards sent with your UK retailer’s next order. They have not placed another order with us since then, which is why the boards have not reached them yet.

The situation is very simple: you were offered a free courtesy upgrade with 2 options. Pay the shipping to receive it directly, or wait for the retailer’s next order. You chose to wait.

What is not accurate is presenting this as though you were sold a defective product, denied support, or asked to pay to correct a defect. None of that happened.

We stand behind our products, but we also have to correct the record when the facts are being misrepresented. We offered you a courtesy upgrade for a later product enhancement. It was not a warranty repair, and the delay is the result of choosing not to have the boards shipped directly.

 

[tharbin]

Here is some of the conversation from 2/2025.

Thanks

 

[sl0th]

Every manufacturer makes business decisions about what is included, what requires additional hardware, and what they continue investing in after the light is sold. EcoTech, for example, is one of the most premium-priced lights in the industry, yet Wi-Fi access still requires an additional purchase. Nobody is grabbing pitchforks over that because people recognize it as a business decision, and that’s completely fair. They chose where to draw the line. We chose where to draw ours.

When we first announced Premium over a year and a half ago, Bluetooth was planned to be part of it. We later made the decision to include Bluetooth with every new Meridian at no additional cost because, for some customers, Bluetooth is not just a convenience feature. It can be the difference between being able to use the light or not. In my opinion, anything that affects a customer’s ability to use their light belongs in the core experience.

Premium exists so we can continue building features that go beyond simply controlling the light. Many of the capabilities we’re developing today are only possible because we created a way to keep investing in the app, and our plan is to reinvest what Premium generates directly back into its development.

The success of Premium doesn’t just determine the features available today. It determines how far we can take the app tomorrow. Every subscription helps fund more development, more testing, more refinement, and more ambitious ideas. If hobbyists want reef apps to become more powerful instead of remaining basic controllers, there has to be a sustainable way to support that work.

If you’ve ever wondered why so many reef apps have remained relatively stagnant over the years, I think that’s a big part of the answer. Continuous software development is expensive, and without a sustainable way to fund it, innovation inevitably slows down.

You can look at this glass half empty or half full. The half-empty view is seeing Premium as an extra expense. I see it as an opportunity to push reef lighting software further than this industry has before. We’d rather build an app that continues evolving year after year than settle for another app that reaches “good enough” and doesn’t meaningfully improve.

I'm not going to continue going back and forth after this as I believe I've said my piece and I don't have anything else to add beyond this.

I completely agree that all businesses make decisions about how to run their businesses and how to develop their products. I disagree with the choice you have made and am voicing that here. I'm sure others won't mind and will support your app development. I just don't personally believe that it's right to shift that to consumers without material gain for them. As I said, you're shifting the burden of financing your app development to people who currently won't gain much from this. If people want to do that, fair enough.

I just fundamentally don't believe subscription models are ethical. Plenty of companies use them now because they work and they make them money. But as a consumer it is getting tiring.

You say it's a sustainable way to fund future development, but if every company follows suit and starts moving towards subscription models then things quickly become unsustainable for the individual.

You can call my outlook a glass half empty view if you want. But if I spend £8.99 this month, what do I actually get? What do you get? It's clear why you see it half full. You get your app development paid for by people that don't gain much from it except promises for the future.

Fundamentally we just disagree. I think subscription models are bad and I struggle to support companies who use them. I do appreciate that you are here engaging with people who are discussing this but yeah, I just can't agree with this.

 

[jt0117]

Hi,

I do want to set the record straight on the moonlight upgrade because the way it is being presented is not accurate.

The light you purchased was manufactured last year, before the 0.1% moonlight board became part of production. It was not defective, it was not missing an advertised feature, and it was built exactly the same as every other Meridian from that production run.

The 0.1% moonlight board was a later improvement, not a fix for a defect. That distinction matters. A product enhancement released after your light was manufactured does not make your light defective.

We were under no obligation to provide a free hardware upgrade for a product that matched the specifications it was sold with. Even so, because this was one of the first Meridian sales through our new UK retail partner, we offered the upgraded boards as a one-time courtesy at no charge. The only thing we asked was that you cover the cost of international shipping if you wanted them sent right away.

You chose not to pay the shipping. That was your choice. The alternative was to have the boards sent with your UK retailer’s next order. They have not placed another order with us since then, which is why the boards have not reached them yet.

The situation is very simple: you were offered a free courtesy upgrade with 2 options. Pay the shipping to receive it directly, or wait for the retailer’s next order. You chose to wait.

What is not accurate is presenting this as though you were sold a defective product, denied support, or asked to pay to correct a defect. None of that happened.

We stand behind our products, but we also have to correct the record when the facts are being misrepresented. We offered you a courtesy upgrade for a later product enhancement. It was not a warranty repair, and the delay is the result of choosing not to have the boards shipped directly.

First off, calling me out by name is not exactly professional in your response...

"What is not accurate is presenting this as though you were sold a defective product, denied support, or asked to pay to correct a defect. None of that happened"

I never said I was sold a defective product, denied support or asked to pay to correct a defect.

I purchased the light after the moonlight features had been advertised and had no idea of knowing that the lights had been manufactured a year ago.

My issue was that I had no way of knowing my light had been manufactured before the features that were currently being advertised were added. And then when I asked about it I was told I would have to pay for it.

How am I meant to know I'm buying an older model if nothing said that and nobody told me? So yeah it was good of you to offer the upgrade for free but it isn't exactly my fault that I was not given any indication I was purchasing an older model?

Saying I'm mischaracterising the situation and then you do the same by acting like I knew I was buying the model that I did.

I had said nothing about the chips in that post I just put out.. it was around the waiting time. I would have hoped that from April till now you could have had the boards sent over. Your right I could have paid for priority shipping but my whole statement has been around how I should not have paid for these in the first instance.

Now please correct me if I am wrong but are not all meridians going forward including this new chip set as standard also?

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

Side note: I'm thankful for manufacturers who still care enough to come to the forums and talk directly to customers! Shows they care!

 

[Marco_99]

I’d be scared to death what future upgrades are gonna bring. They’ve already made it 100% clear you aren’t getting anything for free and they’ve already made it 100% clear they are well aware of what a subscription based model looks like and they aren’t afraid of using it in some shape or form. Acclamation mode is the stove on the second notch,and you’re the frog in the pot of water on the stove.

And before you say well, my lights work as intended just like I bought them to be. Yeah, and in two months who’s to say they won’t send out an email or go on reef 2 reef and say, well our greatest app ever is costing a lot of money and we just can’t absorb costs so moving forward starting on such and such a date you’re gonna have to buy a $29.99 hardware upgrade and moving forward with this product you’re gonna have to buy a subscription. We know you love our lights and understand that we as a small homegrown company just can’t absorb these cost and unfortunately we’re just gonna have to move it onto the customer.

And even if the current lights are all good to go with no monthly cost with the model they want to implement in their business decisions I would not be surprised if the next model or iteration being a pay to play system. They are offering a subscription rate of $9.99 to use a mode on a Reef Light. Go sit in a quiet room and let that bounce around your head a while, a REEF LIGHT MODE $9.99 A MONTH. Does that sound like somebody that has their customers in their best interest? Yeah no

And you giving the example that acclamation mode means dink even puts more emphasis on exactly that, it means dink, but RB thinks it’s worth $9.99 so what else do they think is worth $9.99 if some stupid feature that you care less about means $9.99, where does it go from there?

I don’t own their lights but having a company implement this kind of a business model into a Reef light is very very concerning and I hope it fails miserably and I hope people don’t support it. This is how this stuff starts and pretty soon you’ll be paying $80 a month just to run your reef equipment. I don’t agree with it, and I don’t have to agree with it, and I think it’s a very predatory business model of the pay to play game and Holding features back and manipulating you to be in their ecosystem and all the stuff that goes with it. Once you accept it and let it in the door it will be everywhere.

 

[Justfebreezeit]

Not being invested in reef breeders at all.

I do think them coming to the forums to discuss this is amazing.

Vote with your wallet. Maybe this is a good idea, maybe it isn't. Time will tell.

 

[Reef Breeders Verified Sponsor]

I'm not going to continue going back and forth after this as I believe I've said my piece and I don't have anything else to add beyond this.

I completely agree that all businesses make decisions about how to run their businesses and how to develop their products. I disagree with the choice you have made and am voicing that here. I'm sure others won't mind and will support your app development. I just don't personally believe that it's right to shift that to consumers without material gain for them. As I said, you're shifting the burden of financing your app development to people who currently won't gain much from this. If people want to do that, fair enough.

I just fundamentally don't believe subscription models are ethical. Plenty of companies use them now because they work and they make them money. But as a consumer it is getting tiring.

You say it's a sustainable way to fund future development, but if every company follows suit and starts moving towards subscription models then things quickly become unsustainable for the individual.

You can call my outlook a glass half empty view if you want. But if I spend £8.99 this month, what do I actually get? What do you get? It's clear why you see it half full. You get your app development paid for by people that don't gain much from it except promises for the future.

Fundamentally we just disagree. I think subscription models are bad and I struggle to support companies who use them. I do appreciate that you are here engaging with people who are discussing this but yeah, I just can't agree with this.

I completely understand fatigue around ongoing payments. A lot of companies have moved to subscription only models, and I understand why people are tired of that.

That is not what we are doing.

Premium can be purchased once and owned permanently. The monthly access option exists for flexibility. It gives people a way to try Premium before buying it, which I think most customers would want to have that option, or to use it short term if they only need the advanced features temporarily.

The alternative would be removing that option and only allowing people to buy Premium upfront without trying it first. We do not think that is better for customers.

Some people will decide Premium is worth it today. Others may wait until more features are added. That is completely fine. We are confident enough in what we are building to let the value of Premium speak for itself over time.

 

[Reef Breeders Verified Sponsor]

I’d be scared to death what future upgrades are gonna bring. They’ve already made it 100% clear you aren’t getting anything for free and they’ve already made it 100% clear they are well aware of what a subscription based model looks like and they aren’t afraid of using it in some shape or form. Acclamation mode is the stove on the second notch,and you’re the frog in the pot of water on the stove.

And before you say well, my lights work as intended just like I bought them to be. Yeah, and in two months who’s to say they won’t send out an email or go on reef 2 reef and say, well our greatest app ever is costing a lot of money and we just can’t absorb costs so moving forward starting on such and such a date you’re gonna have to buy a $29.99 hardware upgrade and moving forward with this product you’re gonna have to buy a subscription. We know you love our lights and understand that we as a small homegrown company just can’t absorb these cost and unfortunately we’re just gonna have to move it onto the customer.

And even if the current lights are all good to go with no monthly cost with the model they want to implement in their business decisions I would not be surprised if the next model or iteration being a pay to play system. They are offering a subscription rate of $9.99 to use a mode on a Reef Light. Go sit in a quiet room and let that bounce around your head a while, a REEF LIGHT MODE $9.99 A MONTH. Does that sound like somebody that has their customers in their best interest? Yeah no

And you giving the example that acclamation mode means dink even puts more emphasis on exactly that, it means dink, but RB thinks it’s worth $9.99 so what else do they think is worth $9.99 if some stupid feature that you care less about means $9.99, where does it go from there?

I don’t own their lights but having a company implement this kind of a business model into a Reef light is very very concerning and I hope it fails miserably and I hope people don’t support it. This is how this stuff starts and pretty soon you’ll be paying $80 a month just to run your reef equipment. I don’t agree with it, and I don’t have to agree with it, and I think it’s a very predatory business model of the pay to play game and Holding features back and manipulating you to be in their ecosystem and all the stuff that goes with it. Once you accept it and let it in the door it will be everywhere.

You said yourself that you do not own our lights, so this is not based on your experience as a ReefBreeders customer. It is based on a hypothetical future you created.

Our history says the opposite. We have had app controlled lights for many years and have never charged for core light control.

We also announced Premium roughly a year and a half ago. We have tried to be as transparent as possible about where the app and Meridian platform were going well before launch. We did the same thing with Meridian itself. We announced it well in advance, even though that likely hurt Photon sales in the short term, because we believed customers deserved to know what was coming.

The claim that customers are not getting anything for free does not match what we have actually done. Bluetooth was announced as part of Premium over a year and a half ago. We later made the decision to move it into the core Meridian experience at no additional cost

We have also continued adding improvements to the free side of the app. Premium helps fund continued development, and some of that work benefits free users too.

Premium is optional, it can be purchased once and owned permanently, and monthly access only exists so customers can try it before buying or use it short term.

Predicting that this turns into $80 a month to run reef equipment is not based on anything we have done or announced. That is speculation, not reality.

 

[tharbin]

I completely understand fatigue around ongoing payments. A lot of companies have moved to subscription only models, and I understand why people are tired of that.

That is not what we are doing.

Premium can be purchased once and owned permanently. The monthly access option exists for flexibility. It gives people a way to try Premium before buying it, which I think most customers would want to have that option, or to use it short term if they only need the advanced features temporarily.

The alternative would be removing that option and only allowing people to buy Premium upfront without trying it first. We do not think that is better for customers.

Some people will decide Premium is worth it today. Others may wait until more features are added. That is completely fine. We are confident enough in what we are building to let the value of Premium speak for itself over time.

Not to beat a dead horse but I do have one other question, well actually two, just so I can understand where Reef Breeders is taking their light fixtures in the future.

1. Is the lifetime premium option tied to my account or to the devices? If tied to the devices then if I buy different Reef Breeder light in the future I would need a new subscription but if it is tied to my account then if I decide to sell the lights and go in a different direction then the new owner would need to buy the premium features if they want them and I would have a lifetime license in case I bought more Reef Breeder lights in the future.

2. Will there be a way to buy the premium subscription other than an in-app purchase? My phone has no knowledge of any of my credit cards or banking and will not have it until someone builds a more secure smartphone os.

 

[Reef Breeders Verified Sponsor]

Not to beat a dead horse but I do have one other question, well actually two, just so I can understand where Reef Breeders is taking their light fixtures in the future.

1. Is the lifetime premium option tied to my account or to the devices? If tied to the devices then if I buy different Reef Breeder light in the future I would need a new subscription but if it is tied to my account then if I decide to sell the lights and go in a different direction then the new owner would need to buy the premium features if they want them and I would have a lifetime license in case I bought more Reef Breeder lights in the future.

2. Will there be a way to buy the premium subscription other than an in-app purchase? My phone has no knowledge of any of my credit cards or banking and will not have it until someone builds a more secure smartphone os.

Great question. That’s what we are here for.

1. Premium is tied to your account, not to a specific light. If you sell your light, the next owner would have access to the core app features, while your Premium access would remain with your account. If you purchase ReefBreeders lights again in the future, your Premium access would still be available.


2. As for purchasing Premium outside of the app, we are actively looking at additional options. One possibility we are exploring is a hardware based activation, which would provide another way to access Premium without requiring an in app purchase. We are still evaluating the best approach, but it is definitely something we are considering.

 

[js-3Design]

Well I can cross Reefbreeders of my list.
I see absolutely no reason why a very expensive reeflight needs a subscription and won’t support any company that does…