I bleached all my Acros **Conclusion**

I don't see how this is Dyonopses fault for not being an avid lurker. He has obviously put full blame at Kent for selling the product. His biggest complaint to MD is that they sat back and did nothing, knowing the recall had been issued. I think he's already pointed out how he'll resolve the discrepancy on his own terms by moving his money elsewhere. This was an issue where a customers whole coral collection, something to which we all know, how much time and effort we've put into each and every one, was destroyed. I think he has the right to place blame where ever he chooses.

 

I don't want to speak for anyone but myself, but forgive a little speculation. I don't think anyone is trying to blame OP. I do think we may be being a little academic, myself included, while someone is going through a really unhappy circumstance and to the extent I've been a bit cold, I apologize.

I'm an attorney though, and figuring out who the law is going to hold responsible is valuable information for OP. That is where he is most likely to find redress. If he chooses not to shop at the distributor as well, I can't blame him.

Money isn't gong to fix the tank and if I lost my corals, money would be cold comfort after all the work and care I put in. That said, compensation is better than none.

 

Marine Depot sent me a PM this afternoon. No luck reaching Kent today but I will keep you posted on how this all plays out.

 

I hope it all works out for you. I find it funny still how you and others blame Marine Depot and vow to never shop there again. Yet not one of you has vowed never to buy Kent products? It's funny how we still have a lynch mob mentality after all these years. Threads with titles like this just disgust me. That feeds into the mob mentality. If I was Marine Depot I wouldn't lift a finger to help you.

Well even though I may be coming across as harsh, I contacted folks at Marine Depot in hopes that they could help you. My advise is for you to stay humble ad try not to be so angry. You just might have a fairy godfather that would be willing to help you toward recovering the lost acros. ;D Happy reefing!

 

KENT Marine Reef Carbon: RECALL

Hi Dyonopses1,

Thank you for responding swiftly to our PM yesterday afternoon.

We've investigated this issue internally since our correspondence began yesterday and here is what we have discovered thus far.

Central Aquatics (Kent Marine) notified us of the recall on February 22, the day before Reef Builders/Advanced Aquarist posted the recall information on their blogs. Central stated: "We are experiencing a quality concern with KENT Marine Reef Carbon manufactured between December 5th of 2011 and February 8th of 2012. The concern is that the batch of carbon contained unusually high levels of heavy metals which have an adverse effect on stony corals and clams in marine settings. When used in freshwater applications this concern would most likely be unnoticeable."

They asked us to inspect our inventory to find all KENT Marine Reef Carbon products with manufacturer dating between 12/5 and 2/8. They also requested we remove any expired KENT Marine Reef Carbon from our inventory for quality control purposes.

We complied with Central Aquatics' request the same day, February 22, and destroyed the affected products (31 total).

You placed your order May 11 when there should have been no bad inventory of KENT Marine Reef Carbon left in our warehouse. Do you still have the package for the product? The date can be found imprinted on the product label or stamped on the product bottom.

We issued you a refund for the product on Monday, December 31, per Scott Rabe of Central Aquatics. However, it would be helpful to know if the product you purchased was in the bad lot. It certainly should not have been—unless we were shipped more affected inventory.

We believe you are right: we should do a better job of notifying customers of a recall in the future. Our management team will be discussing this very topic next week. Had we contacted customers we knew were affected by this recall, those notification calls/emails would have gone out at least a couple of months before your purchase.

We appreciate your business and are truly sorry your corals may have been adversely affected by a product you purchased from us. You have our deepest sympathy for the unfortunate results that occurred in your tank. We appreciate you bringing this situation to light and promise to better communicate with our customers about recalls in the future. If you are able to locate the lot number of your carbon, please let us know or contact Central Aquatics directly at 1-888-255-4527.

 

Just a quick note...

This is not the first mega-disaster in the hobby regarding a defective product. Maybe 7-8 years ago a LARGE manufacturer of submersible pumps had a bunch of pumps kill entire aquariums when the epoxy seal cracked allowing an oil to leak into the aquarium. It was a brutal effect, similar to the GAC issue with dead corals and fish within hours. We were contacted by an attorney's office to be an expert in litigation. The manufacturer ended up taking care of people directly and it never ended up in court.

And I would like to delicately add...

The pumps that caused the crashes weren't made by Tunze.

And the killer GAC wasn't produced by Norit USA (the mfg of ROX and a host of quality GAC)

Remember your aquarium is a delicate living thing and what you add to the aquarium will sustain the animals or kill them. Research what you use on your system. Shop quality not a price tag.



Dyonopses1, I really feel your pain. You expect a commercially marketed product to be safe. At this point you're going to need to rebuild and I hope Central helps you out. And I'm not sure that blaming MD is the right way to go. They are a retailer, they sell and ship items made by other manufacturers. Marine Depot didn't put toxic GAC in a jar and stick a label on it. And they responded correctly to Central when they found out about the bad GAC.
Do a lot of water changes and prepare to restock after a few weeks. Please let me know if I can do anything to help. Seriously, let me know. In addition I wouldn't be surprised if some livestock dealers offer you some great deals to get you going again...

 

Thank you Marine depot. I do still have the original container with the product label on it. The expiration stamp reads lot# Ex21Dec14 as listed in the advanced aquarist article. I would like to take a photo of the label and the container and send it to you if possible.

 

Would changing the title be appropriate?

 

KENT Marine Reef Carbon: RECALL

Thank you for the prompt response, Dyonopses1. We'll PM you an email address you can send the photo to so we can forward it to Central Aquatics. Since we physically destroyed the affected inventory we had back in February, hearing we may have shipped bad KENT carbon out as late as May is revelatory. We'll continue to follow this down the rabbit hole to see where it leads us. It would be truly reprehensible to discover we were shipped more affected stock months after the recall. If that turns out to be the case, we presume it was inadvertent. Central Aquatics has been an honorable and fair business partner, so it's difficult to believe they would intentionally dupe us and end-users such as yourself. There is nothing to gain and much to lose. Hopefully by being transparent with one other about the events that have transpired, we can better our businesses in terms of quality control, customer service and communication.

 

following.....