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Bulk Reef Supply Acquires Marine Depot!
Last updated on November 17th, 2023
What Happened?
Bulk Reef Supply (BRS) purchased the long time reef aquarium store Marine Depot! This means there will be changes for many of us in the aquarium hobby. Some for the better, some, maybe not. Only time will tell!
In early February, 2021, news about Bulk Reef Supply taking an investment from Bertram Capital. Though, based on their site, it should appear the actual investment took place in December of 2020. The terms of this investment were not released, however, I think we can infer at least part (though likely most) of where the investment was slated.
You can read about the Bertram Capital Investment in Bulk Reef Supply Here
On June 23rd, 2021, it was announced the Bulk Reef Supply has acquired Marine Depot! Marine Depot will still be accepting orders until July 30, 2021. At which point, they will be closing their doors.
What does this mean for customers of Marine Depot?
For Marine Depot customers, it means you will need to find a new source for your saltwater fish tank equipment. You will have until July 30, 2021 to make purchases, however, purchases made on or after June 23rd are final. Returns can be processed on purchases made before that date, though if it is after July 30, you will need to contact Bulk Reef Supply.
If you're looking to Make Any Final Purchases with Marine Depot, do so quickly!
SHOP THE MARINE DEPOT LIQUIDATION SALE
What does this mean for customers of Bulk Reef Supply?
For customers of Bulk Reef Supply (BRS), and the saltwater aquarium / reefing community, this acquisition is great news! Bulk Reef Supply provides a great deal of content via their YouTube Channel and blog posts on their website. In addition to this, they have amazing customer service and have a large number of exciting sales and givaways!
There are a number of questions that came from this. Rather than try to repeat them, I will provide the video below where Ryan and Randy will provide more details about the acquisition of Marine Depot.
Bulk Reef Supply + Marine Depot: A Journey to the Dark Side or Using the Force for Good?
What does this mean for Reef Stable and Other Affiliates?
With Marine Depot closing their doors, it brings bad news to many affiliates such as reef tank blogs and social media influencers. In terms of being an affiliate, it means that social media influencers and blogs (such as reef stable) would provide links to products we recommend, and if you chose to purchased this equipment via the link, the affiliates would receive a small (~5%) kickback for referring customers to Marine Depot.
Usually, this was used to offset the cost of hosting a website, or equipment for influencers. As much as I wish it were, sharing this information with everyone is not free. Which is why we tend to rely on affiliate marketing to help pay for the costs, and some of the time spent in writing articles or creating content.
Unfortunately, at this time, Bulk Reef Supply is not offering an affiliate program to replace that of Marine Depot. So many content creators (myself included) will be converting affiliate links to other sources, or finding other ways to offset costs.
Please don't get me wrong, this is the right move for Bulk Reef Supply at this time, and I hold nothing against them. In fact, I still place personal and business orders through them and will continue to support them Bulk Reef Supply is a great company, with a strong vision for helping reefers. This is simply a hiccup that us content creators will work through.
What does this mean for Reef Stable Specifically?
Unfortunately, this means that a large amount of the blog's income from affiliate links has been lost. After contacting Bulk Reef Supply, they would not offer anything in terms of affiliate programs and essentially it means you either had to buy/sell the products from BRS, or find a new affiliate program.
This likely will lead to less blogs/forums and therefore less information in the hobby. At Reef Stable, I took it as a focus to further develop and reduce web hosting costs to make up the difference.
Conclusion
Though this acquisition likely took most of us by surprise, I think it is great to see this kind of growth from such a good company! Bulk Reef Supply does a lot to support the Reefing community, including sales and content creation. I am excited to see them grow and look forward to see what amazing things Bulk Reef Supply is able to do for the saltwater aquarium community! While we may be sad to see Marine Depot go after all of these years, we can look forward to the great things BRS has in store.
Don't forget to support creators, influencers, and blogs that utilized Marine Depot's affiliate program as we shift to other plans so that we can continue to bring you more content!
About the Author
John Krenzer
John is a Software Engineer with a passion for saltwater aquariums, as well as the founder and president of Reef Stable. He started in the aquarium hobby as a child with a 20 gallon freshwater aquarium. His interest in aquarium life grew and in 2008, John set up his first saltwater aquarium.
Today, John maintains an over 300 gallon reef tank system, consisting of a 120g reef and a 210g reef. These large tanks are contained within the same system, sharing a sump as a means to reduce total maintenance and increase total water volume.
John writes articles for the blog as a means to learn about more reef aquarium topics. These articles act as a reference for the readers as well as himself. John updates these articles frequently to provide additional information or make corrections as new information becomes available.
If you would like to request an article, tank tour article, or to collaborate, let me know via the Contact Me Page!
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