Hi. This is Ian Tepoot from New Life Spectrum. I had noticed some concerns regarding buoyancy of our various generation products, new labeling, and customer satisfaction approach and wanted to chime in just to provide some clarification.
1. The labels on our newest generation foods have changed from labeled as "sinking" to listing the Buoyancy accompanied with the more precise description "High Density: Most Pellets Will Sink". We want to be clear that this isn't a response to a change in our pellet buoyancy.
For our new generation product, we decided it would be better to have a spec that provided greater clarity for users on what to expect with an organic product (and thus subject to natural variation from pellet to pellet) meant for aquariums -- each of which is a specific microcosm environment.
Our target is that our negative buoyancy pellets will majority sink under typical/common aquarium conditions. When we launched in 1996 this was the case, and it is the case now. In tanks with a moving water column and surface movement, this should be enough to overcome surface tension for most of the pellets.
As a side note: you may also notice that we did similar increased precision with our sizes, noting the specific size ranges you could expect from each class of pellet. We think these are improvements to our labeling.
2. We understand skepticism in general when companies claim to be improving -- such as with 'new pellet forming techniques'. We think it's healthy. And while true we aren't going to go to be publishing a how-to guide for creating our new pellets
there are a few items we can clarify:
- One of the improvements is less starch in favor of seaweed-based binders (which are more effective and nutritious). This is a big factor in the new technique because it creates a more water-stable pellet and expands less when it cools, making it closer to the 1mm hole it came out of. The combination of smaller surface area with existing density in our tests actually made them sink better than previous versions. However, again, different aquarium systems may cause any individual user's experience to be different.
- Naturox preserved proteins are more costly and premium. The Krill we used is actually without preservatives, and sourced using new techniques the don't use trawlers so they are fresher.
- We added a whole new protein to the mix: Squid
Together, these changes are the opposite of cutting corners.
As a side note: Our announcement and Q&A videos didn't go into depth regarding the specifics of our pellet forming techniques in the interest of length and general interest. However, for more serious hobbyists looking for more in-depth information, Hilary also now does an NLS livestream Mondays at 10:30 am EST on our YouTube channel where she answers your questions -- and I often monitor and can drop in if there's anything she can't answer.
3. Another factor that can affect any given pellet from sinking is dryness. All of our pellets are dried to between 5% and 9% moisture content. The more dry the surface, the more the film of water surface tension will repel and thus not immediately sink. Small variations can affect this: as mentioned, organic variance in natural products means pellets in which 100% of pellets sink 100% of the time when dropped in dry is not, nor has ever been, possible.
However, water with some surface movement definitely helps, and is the typical case. In our systems, it has never been an issue. If 'spiking' the food into the water to break the surface tension isn't for you, nor is swirling the pellets in water drawn for the aquarium and a auto-feeder is a requirement, a feeding ring under the outlet (store-bought or hand-crafted from a bit of air line tubing) can hold food in place until it moistens enough to sink. One surface tension is broken, the pellet density will take the pellets to the bottom.
4. I notice that many of the concerns expressed were re: Naturox Series, as was the reference to the new labeling. However, the product cited in this thread was part of our previous generation foods. Although we receive very few complaints of non-sinking foods in general, we work to improve the non-Float formula's negative buoyancy year over year, and have received positive feedback regarding Naturox in this regard. As we reduce wheat, seaweed-based binders are less dense -- which we have compensated with increased Omega-3 oil and other ingredients.
5. We were unhappy to hear that Alex had a negative experience, and we did offer from his first communication to replace the food sight unseen with our new series (with a request for a return so we could examine it for QA). I understand that he has moved on to a different brand, which if he feels it suits his needs better we totally understand.
