Novum Coral

[Kasrift]

Sorry if the word “snake oil” hurts your feelings, but there’s nothing immature or childish about being skeptical of a product with pretty wild claims and obscene prices. Only an immature child would just take a company’s word, hand over their hard earned cash, without more legitimate proof. The onus is on the company to provide proof, not us. We’re the ones with the cash that they seek.

I don't think there is anything wrong with being skeptical, but putting down a product that is new without any first hand knowledge or at least letting people try it with out pre judgement is vindictive.

Yes, it is expensive, but the whole hobby is. If people have the money to buy Hungs Rainbow Acros, then they should absolutely seek out what they believe is best for the acros health and growing it.

Lastly, innovation in the reefing hobby should be encouraged and not critiqued immediately (people can be skeptical if they want to be though). Encouraging companies to take risks and come up with new solutions should be the standard and not the exception. Think about things that were new years ago that were crazy expensive like LED lights, or UV, or things that are still expensive like ozone. The hope is that as things expand in the market and find success that the price will be driven down.

Just my two cents, and to be honest I'm excited to see people trying this product out and will be following along to see if they achieve the success intended.

 

[A Young Reefer]

I don't think there is anything wrong with being skeptical, but putting down a product that is new without any first hand knowledge or at least letting people try it with out pre judgement is vindictive.

Yes, it is expensive, but the whole hobby is. If people have the money to buy Hungs Rainbow Acros, then they should absolutely seek out what they believe is best for the acros health and growing it.

Lastly, innovation in the reefing hobby should be encouraged and not critiqued immediately (people can be skeptical if they want to be though). Encouraging companies to take risks and come up with new solutions should be the standard and not the exception. Think about things that were new years ago that were crazy expensive like LED lights, or UV, or things that are still expensive like ozone. The hope is that as things expand in the market and find success that the price will be driven down.

Just my two cents, and to be honest I'm excited to see people trying this product out and will be following along to see if they achieve the success intended.

The whole hobby isn’t expensive, you have the choice to make it so. I could buy this product or stick to a normal cheap frag disc.
There is no issues with innovation and taking risks, that’s something good, but be ready to back it up with sensible research and studies. They could’ve also gave a few samples for people to try so that there is a trustworthy collection of reviews to avoid the “snake oil” and “scam” labelling, basic marketing no?

 

[Kasrift]

The whole hobby isn’t expensive, you have the choice to make it so. I could buy this product or stick to a normal cheap frag disc.
There is no issues with innovation and taking risks, that’s something good, but be ready to back it up with sensible research and studies. They could’ve also gave a few samples for people to try so that there is a trustworthy collection of reviews to avoid the “snake oil” and “scam” labelling, basic marketing no?

I don't disagree with you at all about the marketing. I follow the Koralito on Instagram and it looks like Novum sent him some frags and he has been running an experiment with even frags on the discs.

I also agree it doesn't have to be an expensive hobby, but I also don't think it's very productive bashing a company on a forum when the OP and it looks like one other are looking for constructive feedback on if people have tried it, and I assume they have the funds to throw at that experience if they want.

I'd love to see feedback from people on the forums, marketing like you mentioned with people like Andrew Sandler trying it out, Tidal Gardens or other vendors like Jason Fox or SBB, but I also know I'm not the demographic for this product and am more curious than anything else. Like I said, interested in seeing the outcomes and reserving opinions until then.

 

[Graffiti Spot]

The website is a bit confusing, it looks like your paying 200 bucks for just one 1.75” frag plug. I am guessing the 300% increased growth is only on the encrusting parts which are actually touching the frag plug right? So cultivating birdsnest fragments on these disks would not be beneficial?

 

[Cichlid Dad]

I went to the website and read. They don't even except returns. The wording is very vague and stinks of nothing really here I just want to see what people would pay for a frag plug

 

[RedoubtReef]

$200 rip-off. We've all been doing great with the variety of plugs out there for a long time.

 

[Sabellafella]

It's definitely high priced. But 8 mb mini hard drives for cameras cost 600 bucks back in the 10s. With innovation comes high price.

From my conversation, and for what it's worth. They are actively trying to get the product out to see what results people can achieve. They are going off limited research and are open about it. As for the high price, not sure, definitely not cheap to source compared to some plasters and ceramic.

If HA mixed with calcium chloride works better then a standard plug I'm sure at some point the price will come down to a more manageable place.

 

[sfin52]

hi all, we're not currently on reef2reef, since we're a small starting company we're focused on mostly instagram for now to talk to people. Someone pointed out there was some discussion here, and I just wanted to let you know we will take your feedback/comments and include feedback in our upcoming update to the website. We will introduce a list of frequently asked questions and the answers we're able to provide at this point. You're right about the initial study being relatively small. For us the main purpose of that study was to establish a reliable way to measure growth. We had done testing with 3d photogrametry and weighing frags but couldnt establish reliable data that way. We are also working on getting independent reviews in, and for independent researchers to work on further understanding what's going on. We also understand the price point is challening, and that this is not a product for the masses at this point (and probably ever). It's expensive to manufacture and small scale for now. That being said, there's some very serious people in the industry looking into the blocks, and hopefully we can share info on that. @Anemone_Fanatic you make some good points, which make it clear to me we might have not worded things well enough on the one hand, but on the other hand a lot these points will be answered by the ongoing follow up studies.

It's interesting that people throw around terms like "snake oil" a lot. Everyone has their right to an opinion of course, and I hope that as more data becomes available people will re-evaluate their position (it's simply not very nice being called snake oil salesmen..). We're 4 guys who discovered something that amazed some people who know what they're talking about when it comes to growing corals, and we're doing our best to be transparent and truthful. If you have questions, ideally send us a DM on instagram (#novumcoral) or via our website contact form (as we don't actively part-take on this site currently). As mentioned the website should be overhauled within about 2 weeks to include more information, including a list of other types of corals we are testing (or that are being tested by others). We're not great at marketing, so we might have underdone our initial website being focused on getting product made and ready.

kind regards,
the Novum Coral team

There's so much more to growth than a grow media.
Light,flow, alk, cal, nutrients and water chemistry. How does one get coral to grow faster by gluing them to a plug. Do they uptake nutrients by the skeleton. Is this easier for them to attach to?

 

[sfin52]

I think I saw they used the tile to grow a Hollywood Stunner to show the tile works.

I’ve got a bridge to sell for anyone interested.

I have farm land in the artic.

 

[reefiniteasy]

I have farm land in the artic.

If the land yields 300% more than normal, I’ll lease a piece. Hahahaha

 

[Matthijs]

Any news on this? They have sent out a bunch of plugs to testers but I can't seem to find results?

Grtz,
Matthijs

 

[Anemone_Fanatic]

Any news on this? They have sent out a bunch of plugs to testers but I can't seem to find results?

Grtz,
Matthijs

Too soon for any significant coral growth to have happened. Maybe in a couple months somebody will post an update. I think that we know what the results will be, though.

 

[Drao05]

Not gonna lie I'm getting total MindStream vibes from this....iykyk

 

[Matthijs]

Too soon for any significant coral growth to have happened. Maybe in a couple months somebody will post an update. I think that we know what the results will be, though.

These have been delivered to multiple influencers 3 months ago. If the coral grows 300% faster (as they claim) you should have a colony in 3 months time
I guess the results are not as expected.

Grtz,
Matthijs

 

[thedon986]

Well, here we are 5 months since the last post on this thread…

 

[reefiniteasy]

Well, here we are 5 months since the last post on this thread…

Yep, seems like the company has disappeared. Haven’t seen anything on any platform in a long time.

 

[Anemone_Fanatic]

There was another thread on this. Lots of fun, good times. Absolutely no increased rate of growth from the person who tested it. Here's the link.

this hobby is ridiculous

www.reef2reef.com