It was more like a question...but I hope you have good news for BK owners. :mrgreen:

you should not make statements such as this. I really don't think you have any inside info about what has happen with the two companies.

from my understanding is proline has a invested interest in vertex but that does not mean they own the company! there for vertex is not going anywhere, so warranty of any kind in the vertex line up should not a problem.


from my understand RE aka bubble king will be going the a direct to customer model and there for no distribution is needed, that is just what i have heard but no real info on this either. i myself think if this happens most stores will be dropping this line as the same thing happen when euro-reef did this.

As for warranty on bubble king i would hope a company like RE would not have an issue fixing or replacing product, i just can't see why they would not do this! i know i just had a pump replace by them within two months for a customer so i am not sure what the story is with your unit but i would go back to the store you bought this from and have them fight it out for you.


best of luck this this Dave

Torsten emailed me and told me to contact either Aquarium Specialty or Premium Aquatics for all my BK needs.

He said "We had cancel the relationship with ProLine. We don´t have an exclusive distributor in future anymore.". So I assume I will be able to buy my replacement parts from either of those stores.

Just my assumption though.

Well Dave maybe you should do some reading like go on Reef Central before stating what you just said and its all over Reef central ,but you as a vendor and your knowledge knew that right:lol:.

so before telling me that I should not make statements go on RC and look under Premium aquatics

will it is true that i haven't been on reef central for quiet a while but what i know is not some hear say from a public forum, now i also can't say for sure if it was bs blown up my a!! or not:redface: time will tell

what i do know it the vertex alpha skimmer design was bought from RE and was produce under the vertex brand and the new omega skimmer has more similarities with the new coralvue skimmer than any bubble king that i have seen. I also have heard the the manufacturing of the vertex skimmers have been moved to a new plant and will be up and running soon.


and again i will say again, proline has an invested interest in vertex, inventory and parts are still available for order, so i will ask again why would anyone buying vertex product would be screwed?


like i said before, i am not 100% sure if RE is going direct to customer but it is not hard to figure out what RE intent is, just go to their web site and look for the parts store.

FYI for everyone. I have an actual RE skimmer, a BK mini180. And my pump recently died. Well as you all know, no one in n. America can help so I email RE directly. Couple emails later, they are going to send me a new motor block + impeller. Which is awesome cuz it's only the motor block that's dead.

So I think warranty service for BK products are still great.

Where ppl are getting screw is a Vertex product that has the RD pumps. Now Vertex have no access to RD pump/parts for warranty replacement.

:suspicious:

Okay, let's clear some things up:

1. RE is moving to a direct sales model. Some of you may recall EuroReef did this a while back. It wrecked their business model. Why did they do it? Who knows, but it was BS.

Unfortunately, there is nothing Proline, nor Vertex for that matter, can do about this. When a small company (RE) decides they want to change the direction of their business, there is no board or committee to recommend against toxic actions. It's sad and it f**ks a lot of us, but it's happening.

2. Vertex has moved manufacture of the entire Alpha line to their own factories in Germany. There will be a slight lull as they retool everything, but all molds and designs are owned by Vertex and were previously commissioned to RE for assembly.

3. The pumps will be available once retooling is done. RE pumps are not magical. They're an Askoll motorblock with some well thought out custom components, components that should be readily/easily engineered by a competent firm. I may be going out on a limb here, but I feel (given my affinity) that Vertex is a competent firm.

4. The rest of what you get on the forums is hearsay.

Edit: Dave is right - Parts for Alpha skimmers are still readily available. In the future, they will no longer bear the Red Dragon moniker. That is all.

As an added bonus, removing the commissioned manufacturer will open a few doors for the sake of making improvements and/or price reductions, especially on parts.

Perhaps this is a really naive question, but I know nothing about retail or supply chains: Why is a direct to customer model considered bad? Why would that make stores drop a line of products?