I like to compare the freshwater planted aquarium hobby with the reef saltwater hobby. They always seem to be years ahead of us in spite of the much higher cost of maintaining a reef.
Reef2reef.com is a very successful reef forum that I follow to gain inspiration for us here at ScapeCrunch. Today, they have 201,285 members and over 13 million posts. It's a big business and community.
However, back in November 2006, they were very different. They started as Club-Zoa, a forum for zoanthid lovers. You can see the stark difference using the Way Back Machine: Club-Zoa - Club-Zoa
In a recent post, the owner mentioned that a few years after starting, they had about 4-500 members. Just like where we stand. Of course, back then there was no social media to compete with forums. The big 800 pound gorilla in the reefing space was Reef Central.
I'm proud to say that I started Aquatic Plant Central back in 2004, so before Club-Zoa. At least planted aquariums were represented back then. Today I would say that PlantedTank is probably the biggest site for us planted aquarium hobbyists.
That being said, a big difference today (for the better, I think) is that we don't look at total members. We look at total active members. This is what I'm focused on growing.
I can't thank you enough for being here and participating. We are only as fun and engaging as we make it. We are all in it together.
Reef2reef.com is a very successful reef forum that I follow to gain inspiration for us here at ScapeCrunch. Today, they have 201,285 members and over 13 million posts. It's a big business and community.
However, back in November 2006, they were very different. They started as Club-Zoa, a forum for zoanthid lovers. You can see the stark difference using the Way Back Machine: Club-Zoa - Club-Zoa
In a recent post, the owner mentioned that a few years after starting, they had about 4-500 members. Just like where we stand. Of course, back then there was no social media to compete with forums. The big 800 pound gorilla in the reefing space was Reef Central.
I'm proud to say that I started Aquatic Plant Central back in 2004, so before Club-Zoa. At least planted aquariums were represented back then. Today I would say that PlantedTank is probably the biggest site for us planted aquarium hobbyists.
That being said, a big difference today (for the better, I think) is that we don't look at total members. We look at total active members. This is what I'm focused on growing.
I can't thank you enough for being here and participating. We are only as fun and engaging as we make it. We are all in it together.
