Marine Depot Announces Best of 2015 Award Winners

GARDEN GROVE, Calif. - Oct. 13, 2015 - PRLog -- Popular online aquarium supply store MarineDepot.com announced the winners of their fifth annual Best of Awards last weekend, which honor the top brands and products in the aquarium industry.

Twelve winners were presented with beveled teardrop-shaped awards during the world’s largest aquarium show, Reef-A-Palooza, October 10 and 11 at the Orange County Fairgrounds in Costa Mesa, CA.

“Aquarium owners now have the luxury of choice when it comes time to buy a new light, pump or protein skimmer,” said Wayland Wong, Chief Operating Officer at Marine Depot. “Whereas hobbyists in the past had too few options, now aquarium keepers have so many possibilities that purchasing paralysis occasionally sets in. The Best of Awards are a way we can help hobbyists distinguish which brands go above and beyond the norm to create exceptional products and back them with quality customer support.”

190 brands from across the globe were considered for this year’s Marine Depot Best of Awards, which recognize aquarium supply manufacturers and products that have demonstrated outstanding performance throughout a one-year period.

Cerritos, CA based Innovative Marine earned three awards, including Best Aquarium for the fourth consecutive year.

“We could not make this journey alone,” said Steve Yim, Chief Executive Officer at Innovative Marine. “Every hobbyist who wants something more has played a role when we craft a new product. We actively seek out thoughts, different points of view and feedback from the community. Those diverse perspectives guide us to ‘build a better mouse trap’ for the hobbyist that is easy to use, elegant and, most importantly, innovative.”

Product winners were selected based upon key performance metrics including sales volume, internet searches, website searches, customer rankings and call center data.

Maxspect, creators of the world’s first gyre-generating water moving device for aquariums, earned Best in Show honors last year for their revolutionary Gyre pump. The Gyre has gone on to become Marine Depot’s most popular pump in 2015, edging out the competition to become this year’s Best in Flow.

“As the Maxspect Gyre approaches its one year anniversary, it is an honor to be awarded Best in Flow,” said Chris Conti, Vice President of Sales at CoralVue, Maxspect’s United States distributor. “Hobbyists can now experience massive horizontal water movement leaving little to no dead spots. Along with the XF130 and XF150 models, Maxspect will release the XF180 in early 2016 for aquarium sizes from 250 to 2,000 gallons. The Maxspect Gyre is now recognized as the new standard in water moving technology.”

Another multi-year winner, Two Little Fishies, took home the Best Reactor award for the second time.

“We work very hard to make our products the best they can be and support them with the best customer service,” said Julian Sprung, co-founder of Two Little Fishies. “This is the fourth time we’ve been recognized in Marine Depot’s Best of Awards and the second time our Phosban Reactor has won Best Media Reactor. It is no wonder: our reactor is simple to use for so many applications and the price is right.”

A newcomer to Marine Depot’s Best of Awards this year is Euroquatics, who took home Best in Show honors at the 2015 Reef-A-Palooza show for their new E5 Retro Series Aquarium Lamps, which are an economically and environmentally friendly alternative to standard T5 high output fluorescent bulbs.

“The E5 Retro Series is a product concept we've been working on for quite a while now and it really took flight once we partnered with the team at Transcend Lighting,” said Scott Bogner, Director and co-founder of Euroquatics. “We know there are a lot of people using T5HOs that, until now, didn't have any option but to replace the lamps every nine to 12 months. To us, that just didn't make any sense and we wanted to change it. This award from Marine Depot and the great response from customers highlights just how ready the industry is for a fresh approach to tube-style lamps. We couldn't be more excited about bringing the new E5 to market!”

Below is the complete list of Marine Depot’s Best of 2015 award winners:

> Best New Product: EcoTech Marine Vectra DC Water Pumps
> Best Protein Skimmer: AquaMaxx ConeS Q-Series In-Sump Protein Skimmers
> Best Aquarium Light: AquaIllumination Prime LED Light Fixture
> Best in Flow: Maxspect Gyre Generator Flow Pumps
> Best Aquarium: Innovative Marine Fusion Lagoon Aquariums
> Best Media Reactor: Two Little Fishies GFO Phosban Reactor 150
> Best in Show: Euroquatics E5 Retro Series Aquarium Lamps
> Best Test Kits: NYOS REEFER Water Tests Kits
> Best New Gadget: Innovative Marine AUQA Gadget Gourmet Gadgets
> Best Food: New Life Spectrum Fish and Coral Foods
> Best Filter Media: Boyd Chemi-Pure Elite Filter Media
> Best Propagation Gear: Innovative Marine AUQA Gadget ReefRack Coral Frag Racks

“The Best of Awards are largely determined by the aquarium keepers that use and love these products,” revealed Wong. “We merely compiled the data points to shed light on which items customers can expect to get the greatest value and performance from.”

Visit http://www.marinedepot.com/marine-depot-best-of-awards-20... for more information about MarineDepot.com’s Best of 2015 Award winners.