I’m an avid consumer of product reviews for certain types of products and services. But only those that pertain to experiences and opinions. The results are instantaneous, and the review can be written with all pertinent details available. I check out Yelp when researching restaurants, IMDB when looking for a movie, and various websites when looking for new books and music. I respect the experience of the consumer public more than critics. I want to know how others in my position feel, not the professionals. The other day, I was looking for a good hot dog joint. Dog Haus Biergarten does well on Yelp, and I checked it out and had a wonderful meal. I’m just going to assume they do not have a Michelin star.

But there are certain product types for which I do not rely on customer reviews on retail websites. Purchases that are expensive and have long-term use, where the complete results cannot be discerned in the first week, month, or even year of ownership. These types of products include cars, appliances, and power tools. For these products, I check out Consumer Reports and similar verified professional services. Why? Because product reviews are typically done early in ownership, when the purchase is top of mind, and are based on opinions rather than facts. For example, when it comes to cars, it’s important to know what brands and models are known for longevity. It’s also important to know a car's safety record, which cannot be discerned just by driving it. These are metrics I would not trust the average Joe to tell me with 100% certainty, especially when it comes to investing large amounts of money into my purchase.

Aquarium products are an investment, in both time and money: a filter or pump you will use for years to come, or a supplement that will require weeks to months of dosing. These fall into the category of products more like cars and appliances than movies and food. How long will a heater, pump, or light last? You won’t know that in the first week. Is the filter easily serviceable or repairable? This could take a month to a year to find out. Perhaps the most important question to ask about anything you put in your aquarium, much like cars, is whether it can be trusted to be safe, reliable, and to keep my fish alive and healthy.

So, where can you turn for aquarium products? The industry experts, of course! Before we were MarineAndReef.com, our owners were just hobbyists with a passion. We have been in the industry professionally since 1998, that’s over 25 years and counting. We sell products we trust and believe in, and we use them in our own aquariums.

We know and stand by the Iwaki pump, Kessil light, Aqua Ultraviolet UV, and Reef Octopus protein skimmer brands. They are tested, long-lasting, and reliable. They are quality products, which is why they command a high price. Other lights, pumps, UVs, and skimmers might perform just as well in the first week, month, or year. But how about a decade later? That might not be true for lower-quality or cheaper options.

Other factors to consider when judging a product too soon:

-While many lights look good to the human eye, they might not be providing enough UV light. The corals will suffer and not reach their full potential, possibly even regressing, without proper lighting. Kessil lights make coral look good from day one. They will also make the coral look good a year later. This is verifiable with light meters and other specialized tools that the average aquarist is not likely to own. This will not be true of cheaper lights with less near-UV spectrum.

-Additives, salt, and filtration media are hard to judge. It is only natural to assume that when going through an order of cause-and-effect events, the last thing that happened is what caused your failure. While this course of thinking may be true in simpler scenarios, aquariums are complex ecosystems where many small events can lead to a larger, disconnected failure. For example, your fish die right after adding calcium. Did the calcium cause the fish to die, or was it actually an underlying, unnoticed ammonia issue? We see many reviews that jump to incorrect conclusions like this too quickly.

-We find that chillers, pumps, UVs, additives, controllers, meters, lights, and protein skimmers are often misunderstood. They also often do not come with the best instructions. These products, especially protein skimmers, are often returned because customers conclude they are defective. We test these returned products and often conclude that the user did not really understand how the product was supposed to be used or what the product was supposed to do. We fear what the reviews might look like in these situations.

Our product expert, Jaron, has some very strong feelings about protein skimmer returns. See:

-Jaron Rant #1: Protein Skimmer Returns
-Jaron Rant #3: Hang-On-Back Protein Skimmers

Of course, there is always the question of honesty with reviews. Biased reviews created by manufacturers or by people who receive an incentive from them are prevalent across industries. You might wonder whether negative or unfavorable reviews were deleted. A question you might ask is: Are the negative reviews exaggerated?

It is only natural to want to warn others about a negative experience. A warning often takes precedent over praise. This often causes reviews to skew toward negative insights. The one customer who was unhappy is more likely to reach for their phone to leave some strongly worded feedback to do something about their problem than the hundreds of customers where everything went perfectly. Or the reverse, in the case of an ecstatic consumer who is over the moon with a product in the first few days, they leave a glowing review, but when the weeks pass, and their new toy gives out, will they remember to update or change their review? We have a great many somewhat obscure products and parts that sell only a couple of dozen a year and would have few reviews. With a small pool of buyers and an even smaller number likely to leave reviews, those few reviews might give an unwarranted, very favorable, or even unfavorable impression of the product.

In the absence of reviews, how can you make a product-buying decision? With other websites, I don’t have an answer, but with MarineAndReef.com, I hope you can trust our judgment. We don’t want to sell you junk just to make a quick buck. We sell products we believe in and use in our own aquariums. We carry a wide range of higher-priced products and lower-priced products, and for the most part, you get what you pay for. With new innovations and brands in the industry popping up all the time, it’s hard to know their long-term quality, but we listen to feedback, test, and research all the products we sell. With some of the more established products and brands, we have extensive data and experience. We were the first retailer to carry Kessil lights. We’ve been selling Red Sea, Two Little Fishies, Coralife, Aqua Ultraviolet, Poly-Bio-Marine, CaribSea, Seachem, Lifegard Aquatics, Milwaukee, Python, O.S.I., Sera, Emperor, Hydor, and Iwaki for over 25 years.

For more help, you can check out our Aquarium Tutorial Articles & Videos page. We have over 100 articles written by our staff of product experts to help you choose the right products for your aquarium's needs. In these articles, we break down and explain products and generally offer advice on how to care of your aquarium. Our recommendations are based on our experience, what we’ve heard from our customers (including many retail stores and aquarium service companies), and what we've heard from the manufacturers themselves. We also have 85 YouTube videos demonstrating how to use, set up, maintain, and troubleshoot some of the more complicated products we carry. You can also contact us for help by emailing [email protected] or calling (480) 491-5283. We are here to support you and your aquarium. Please reach out to us if you have any questions. We are here to offer advice to help you make buying decisions and to support you with any problems with a product you have already purchased from us.

-Crazy Dave*

*Note: This article was rewritten by my Gen Z cohort, Celestia. I instructed her to make me sound less old, arrogant, grumpy, and elitist. Check us out on TikTok!